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Denver-area shooting
Date: April 22, 1999
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
Email: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

99b-26

	LITTLETON, Colo. (DNS) -- Five members of a 
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 
congregation here escaped injury during the April 
20 massacre at a local high school. The carnage 
at Columbine High School left 15 persons dead; 12 
students, one teacher and the two gunmen, who 
committed suicide.

	Four of the surviving students and a teacher are 
members of South Suburban Christian Church, here. 
The church is approximately seven miles east of 
Columbine High School, according to the Rev. H. 
Deral Schrom, senior minister. 
 
	"Everything began to happen around 11:30 
(a.m.)," Schrom said. "As we became aware of it, 
we were concerned about some of the families in 
our own congregation." Word began to "trickle in 
over the course of the afternoon" after church 
officials made several calls to inquire about 
members' safety.

	Schrom said music teacher Leland Andres "really 
did a tremendous job in keeping a number of 
students safe." While the gunmen were on the 
rampage, Andres locked several students in an 
assembly room and instructed them to get on the 
floor, to stay calm and to pray. 

	"They were in there for about 15 minutes," said 
Schrom. "After the shooters passed that area, a 
custodian was able to come by and let them out." 

	Also escaping injury was Andres' son, who 
teaches at Columbine High School. He is not a 
member of South Suburban Church.

	The congregation held an impromptu prayer 
service that evening (April 20). "There were 
people who just needed to be here," said Schrom. 
South Suburban held a more formal service April 
21 for families whose students were affected by 
the tragedy. "We want to offer our love and 
support to them," he said.

	The service was to include the reading of 
several electronic mail messages received by the 
congregation. "We got a stack of e-mail from 
across the country," Schrom added. A communion 
service and candle lighting ceremony also were 
held to honor slain students and faculty and 
survivors.

	Sunday's worship theme also will change, 
according to the pastor. The church's choir will 
sing a song composed to commemorate the Oklahoma 
City bombing "plus what we've just gone through." 

	Besides the liturgical observances, the 
congregation will offer its counseling center to 
help persons deal with grief resulting from the 
catastrophe. "Our counselor has already said that 
she's available for students in need of any 
help," Schrom indicated.

	The church's young adult or "GenX" group 
provided invaluable assistance on the day of the 
disaster to emergency personnel gathered at 
Leawood Elementary School. The group took pizza 
to workers staffing a hastily arranged 
communications center at the school. "They also 
provided care and support for those folks," said 
Schrom. 

	Schrom also offered thanks for prayers of 
support for South Suburban Church. "We know that 
we are supported and lifted up in prayer," he 
said. "We hope those prayers continue. The 
healing is going to take a long time."

	In fact, prayers will be needed over the next 
few months, for the students especially, and the 
faculty at Columbine High School. "Their 
innocence was just stripped away yesterday," 
Schrom said. "This is the kind of situation that 
people say always happens somewhere else. That 
naivete was taken away yesterday."

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