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By Karen AbbottDenver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
Families of victims of the Columbine High shooting have accused the sheriff's office of stonewalling their efforts to obtain information they need for their lawsuits. They contend that Jefferson County sheriff's deputies, school officials and others should have acted months before the April 20, 1999, school attack to prevent it — and they want to know why that didn't happen. Documents filed this week in U.S. District Court in Denver said lawyers for victims' families want to ask sheriff's officials such questions as, "What is the policy of the Jefferson County sheriff's department when they have advance notice of a massacre?" "The Jefferson County sheriffs department's report on the Columbine tragedy, which was delayed until more than a year after the assault, is virtually devoid of any information about the sequence of events in the 13 months leading up to the shootings," lawyers for the families of victims Lance Kirklin and Sean Graves said in the documents. The sheriff's office, school employees and others among the more than three dozen defendants in the Columbine lawsuits have asked the court to throw out the suits. They contend that teen gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who are dead, are to blame for the attack. They also contend the victims' families haven't stated enough facts in their lawsuits to present legitimate legal claims. But the victims' families claim that's partly the fault of the sheriff's office and school district. "The sheriff's department and teacher defendants should not be permitted to hide facts and place a watered-down spin on their investigation, knowledge, procedures and policies — and then claim that plaintiffs' allegations are insufficient based on a lack of facts," plaintiffs' lawyers said in the new legal documents. September 27, 2000
Families of victims of the Columbine High shooting have accused the sheriff's office of stonewalling their efforts to obtain information they need for their lawsuits.
They contend that Jefferson County sheriff's deputies, school officials and others should have acted months before the April 20, 1999, school attack to prevent it — and they want to know why that didn't happen.
Documents filed this week in U.S. District Court in Denver said lawyers for victims' families want to ask sheriff's officials such questions as, "What is the policy of the Jefferson County sheriff's department when they have advance notice of a massacre?"
"The Jefferson County sheriffs department's report on the Columbine tragedy, which was delayed until more than a year after the assault, is virtually devoid of any information about the sequence of events in the 13 months leading up to the shootings," lawyers for the families of victims Lance Kirklin and Sean Graves said in the documents.
The sheriff's office, school employees and others among the more than three dozen defendants in the Columbine lawsuits have asked the court to throw out the suits.
They contend that teen gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who are dead, are to blame for the attack. They also contend the victims' families haven't stated enough facts in their lawsuits to present legitimate legal claims.
But the victims' families claim that's partly the fault of the sheriff's office and school district.
"The sheriff's department and teacher defendants should not be permitted to hide facts and place a watered-down spin on their investigation, knowledge, procedures and policies — and then claim that plaintiffs' allegations are insufficient based on a lack of facts," plaintiffs' lawyers said in the new legal documents.
September 27, 2000
