School shooting victims talk to House lawmakers

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Students who experienced school violence firsthand spoke in quiet, nervous tones Tuesday of shootings and bomb threats that left them scared and feeling helpless -- and they urged House lawmakers to work to prevent such tragedies.

The teenagers made several suggestions to a House subcommittee, ranging from more parental involvement to more opportunities for troubled students to get counseling. They also sparked a discussion of gun control, with one student saying parents shouldn't have a gun when there are young people in the house. "There's no reason why a young person should have a gun, period," said Carla Williams, a student from Sandy Spring, Md. Ryan Atteberry, a student from Thurston High School in Springfield, Ore., told how May 21, 1998, started like any normal school day when he was visiting with friends as he headed to his first class. "The next thing I know I'm laying down on the ground, paralyzed, my head filled by a deafening ringing sound," Atteberry said. "I realized something terrible had happened when I saw the blood coming out of my side." Atteberry, who spent five days in the hospital, said he still has a bullet lodged near his spine because doctors feel it would be too dangerous to remove it. Thurston High student Kip Kinkel has been charged in the shootings that killed two and injured more than 20. Stephen Keene, a senior at Heath High School in Paducah, Ky., said he still feels fear, anxiety and depression from the December 1997 shooting by fellow student Michael Carneal that killed three students and injured five others as they ended an informal prayer meeting in the school's lobby. Carneal pleaded guilty but mentally ill to murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. "If a person has a bad heart, you cannot change it; only God can change a bad heart," said Adam Campbell of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. That's where two fellow students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, fired guns and set off homemade bombs, killing 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves last month. Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., said Atteberry and Campbell seemed to be saying, " 'Hey, there's not much you can do.' You don't give much hope that you can reach these high-risk kids." The students testified before the Education and the Workforce Committee's early childhood, youth and families subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del.

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