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Colo. School Attack 'Sexual in Nature'
Asked about his decision to storm the classroom, Wegener said:
"Being a sheriff in a small community, knowing all the parents, knowing the kids _ my daughter graduated last year, my son's a junior here _ it is very difficult. Because I'd want whoever was in my position to do the same thing. And that is to save lives," he said.
  Park County, Colo., Sheriff Fred Wegener, left, hangs his head during a news conference in Bailey, Colo. A gunman in this mountain town shot and fatally wounded a girl and then killed himself as a SWAT team moved in, authorities said. (David Zalubowski - AP)
VIDEO | A firsthand look at the fear and sadness during a school standoff in Bailey, Colorado that turned deadly. One student was killed. A friend of the family describes the teenage girl who died.
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Morrison began the takeover by ordering students to line up at the chalk board as he tapped each with his gun and told them to stay or go, a student in the classroom said.
"We are a community in mourning," schools superintendent Jim Walpole said. "Our thoughts, our prayers are with our students, staff and their families. Especially the family of the student we lost."
Residents gathered quietly Thursday morning at the Cutthroat Cafe, where Keyes had been a waitress for about two years, to grieve and remember, said Bobbi Sterling, a waitress and cook there.
"It's very sad here. You know, the family lost their daughter but as a community, we lost a child," she said. "We're just sitting here, numb and in shock. We're all just kind of stunned. People are here for mutual support."
Wegener was at a loss to explain a motive.
"I don't know why he wanted to do this," Wegener said, his voice breaking.
The gunman claimed he had explosives in a backpack and was wielding a handgun, authorities said. He released four hostages one by one, then abruptly cut off communication with authorities and set a deadline that forced authorities to act.
He said authorities used explosives as they entered the classroom, only to have the suspect fire at officers, shoot one of the girls and then himself.
School was canceled for the rest of the week at the high school and the adjoining middle school in this tiny mountain town.
The lines of students fleeing the schools, the bomb squads and the frantic parents scrambling to find their loved ones evoked memories of the Columbine attack, where two students killed 13 people before taking their own lives.
Michael Owens, who has one son at the middle school and another in the high school, said the anxiety was worse because the memory of Columbine was still fresh.
"Things that are out of your control, you just do what you can do," he said. "It's like an earthquake."
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On the Net:
High school site: http:/
