Gunman's Parents Want Autopsy Sealed

By KATHERINE VOGT
Associated Press Writer

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) -- The parents of one of the Columbine High School gunmen are fighting a judge's order to release their son's autopsy report.

"To release the autopsy report of our son, Dylan Klebold [right, with Harris, left], would additionally inflame the passions and the emotions of the public by unnecessarily opening a Pandora's box," said Susan and Thomas Klebold in a sworn affidavit filed Thursday in Jefferson County District Court. District Judge Henry Nieto last month sealed the autopsy reports for Klebold, gunman Eric Harris, the 12 students and teacher who died in the April 20 rampage. He said releasing the reports would do substantial harm to the public's interest by prolonging grief for families in the community.

The Denver Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post then sued to have the gunmen's reports released. Nieto ordered both reports unsealed, but agreed Thursday to withhold the Klebold report for 10 days to give the family time to appeal.

Their attorney, Gary Lozow, was not available for comment Friday. The Harris autopsy was released Thursday. The coroner found Harris, 18, died of massive head injuries consistent with a self-inflicted wound from a shotgun to the roof of the mouth. The autopsy reports for the victims remain sealed.

On Friday, the parents of Isaiah Shoels, 18, who died in the second-floor library, released a copy of the autopsy report on their son. "I think the world should see the ugliness of what's going on in our schools," said Michael Shoels, Isaiah's father. "I think everybody should release them."

The autopsy determined Isaiah [funeral on left] died of a single gunshot wound to the chest. Previously, it had been reported that Shoels was shot in the head.

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Our opinion

  TODAY'S [Wednesday, June 30, 1999] Miami Herald has a four page story on the two boy killers and their parents and their motivations. Mysteriously, Adolf Hitler is no longer mentioned. "Der Mohr hat seine Schuldigkeit getan und kann gehen".