美콜로라도 고교 총기사고 부상 17세 소녀 사망

Published : Dec 23, 2013 - 09:58 Updated : Dec 23, 2013 - 09:58

지난 13일 교내 총기사고에서 총상을 입고 병원에서 치료를 받던 소녀가 끝내 사망했다고 병원과 유가족들이 22일(현지시간) 밝혔다.

올해 17세의 클레어 데이비스는 콜로라도주 덴버 외곽 센테니얼에 위치한 아라파호 고등학교에서 일어난 총기사고 당시 표적거리 내에서 총상을 입고 병원에 입원, 치료를 받다가 사고 발생 9일 만인 이날 유명을 달리했다.

병원 대변인은 "클레어 데이비스가 가족이 지켜보는 가운데 22일 오후 4시29분 잠들었다는 소식을 무거운 마음으로 전한다"고 말했다.

그는 "병원의 최대의 노력과 클레어의 투지에도 불구하고 부상이 너무나 심각해 최첨단의 의료기술로도 목숨을 잃는 비극을 막을 수 없었다"며 "클레어의 죽음에 지역 사회와 병원 관계자, 가족은 애통함을 금할 수 없다"고 애도했다.

클레어 가족은 "17년 동안 딸로서 함께 있어 주어 감사하다"고 애도 성명을 냈다.

17세 소녀의 목숨을 앗아간 총기 사고는 한 교사에 원한을 갖고 있던 칼 피어슨(18)이라는 남학생에 의해 저질러졌다. 피어슨은 지난 13일 엽총을 지닌 채 등교, 자신이 속해 있던 토론 팀을 지도한 교사를 찾다가 발견하지 못하자 데이비스 등 두 학생에게 총격을 가한 뒤 자살했다.

총격을 당한 다른 한 학생은 경미하게 부상했다. (연합뉴스)

<관련영문기사>

Colorado school rampage lasted less than 2 minutes

Colorado's governor on Sunday credited security procedures adopted after the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School for helping to put a quick end to a shooting attack at nearby Arapahoe High School by a teenager who may have been nursing a grudge against a teacher and intended to harm him and inflict numerous other casualties.

Karl Pierson, 18, fired six shots from a pump-action shotgun between the moment he walked into Arapahoe High School on Friday and the moment he killed himself in a library as a school security officer closed in on him, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said. Arapahoe senior Claire Davis, 17, who was sitting with a friend when Pierson entered the library, was shot in the head. She remained hospitalized in critical condition Sunday. Hundreds of students held a candlelight vigil for Davis on Saturday night at a park near the school.

Pierson's attack lasted just 80 seconds but reopened scars in a community traumatized by mass shootings in nearby Denver suburbs _ at Columbine High School in 1999 and at an Aurora movie complex in 2012. It came a day before the first anniversary of the Dec. 14, 2012, massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six educators were killed.

Gov. John Hickenlooper told CBS television's ``Face the Nation'' Sunday that he had visited Davis and her family at Littleton Adventist Hospital.

``She's obviously in a coma, in critical condition,'' Hickenlooper said of Davis. ``We all have to keep Claire in our thoughts and prayers. Her parents ... I can't imagine what they're going through. It's unspeakable.''

Robinson has said investigators think Davis was shot at random by Pierson, who had gone into the school looking for a teacher with whom he had a dispute.

Fellow students described Davis as a vibrant senior and equestrian with a lot of friends.

Pierson may have been nursing a grudge against the teacher _ a librarian and head of the school debate team _ since September. Pierson was on the team and had been disciplined by the librarian for reasons yet to be disclosed, the sheriff said. He said Pierson had threatened that teacher in September.

Pierson excelled at speech and debate and was passionate about the team, friends said. They described him as a smart student who apparently didn't shirk from confrontations in class.

``He's a funny kid. He's smart. He's in the Eagle Scouts, a very intelligent kid. Did not like being wrong,'' said August Clary, who was a friend of Pierson. ``If you're arguing with him, it's going to be, that's a feat if you win an argument against him.''

``He would not be afraid to tell someone how he feels,'' said Zach Runberg, 18, a senior in Pierson's English class.

Pierson legally bought a shotgun on Dec. 6 at a local store, and he purchased ammunition the morning of the shootings. Anyone 18 and older is allowed to buy a shotgun in Colorado; only those over 21 can legally buy a handgun. Pierson arrived at the school toting the shotgun and wearing the ammunition on his body. He had a machete and, in a backpack, carried three Molotov cocktails, the sheriff said.

Pierson managed to ignite one Molotov cocktail inside the school library before he killed himself as a fast-acting school security officer, a deputy sheriff, closed in, Robinson said.

That officer's aggressive response prevented more casualties, Robinson said. It's a tactic adopted nationwide after Columbine, in which first responders cordoned off the school before pursuing two student gunmen inside. The two killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves.

Hickenlooper said that there are ``strategies and protocols in place, where we had a deputy sheriff in the building who immediately ran towards the trouble.''

``That's a remarkable response, and I think everybody from the sheriff out here, Grayson Robinson, his entire team, they deserve a lot of credit for what could have been much, much worse.''

Arapahoe High officials also immediately instituted a lockdown _ something well-rehearsed at the school _ with teachers and students hiding in closets and locking classroom doors.

After the Aurora theater shootings and the Newtown school shootings, Colorado's Democratic-led legislature this year implemented gun control measures that limited the size of ammunition magazines and instituted universal background checks for gun purchases. Colorado also appropriated more than $20 million for mental health hotlines and local crisis centers.

The measures were intended to address violence associated with so-called assault rifles, not shotguns that are widely owned for hunting and sport.

Hickenlooper noted that Pierson was not a loner but cautioned that the investigation was in its early stages. Pierson, whose parents are divorced, lived at least part of the time with his mother in a higher-end neighborhood in suburban Highlands Ranch.

``He didn't seem to have a mental illness,'' the governor said. ``He had a lot of friends, he was outspoken. But again, there's no rhyme or reason. We can't _ there's nothing that says, ah, now I understand.' (AP)