Anne Marie Hochhalter, who was shot and paralyzed within the Columbine Excessive Faculty mass capturing in 1999, died on Sunday of pure causes, Fox Information Digital has discovered. She was 43.
Hochhalter, considered one of 23 individuals who had been injured and survived the Littleton, Colorado, bloodbath, was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life because of her accidents and is being remembered as a “pillar of power” in her group.
She was shot within the again and chest as she ate with buddies within the college’s cafeteria. Twelve college students and one trainer had been killed within the assault when twelfth-grade college students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened hearth. The shooters then killed themselves.
Frank DeAngelis, her former principal, introduced Hochhalter’s passing and mentioned she was admired for her resilience and tenacity.
“My Columbine Insurgent Household. It’s with nice unhappiness and sorrow that I share with you that Anne Marie Hochhalter handed away … of pure causes,” DeAngelis mentioned in a press release supplied to Fox Information Digital.
“Anne Marie was a 2000 graduate. She was a pillar of power for me and so many others. She was an inspiration and exemplified by no means giving up. Please preserve her household in your ideas and prayers. She might be missed however by no means forgotten. Rebels for Life. We love you Anne Marie Hochhalter.”
DeAngelis mentioned that funeral association particulars haven’t but been launched.
Hochhalter’s youthful brother Nathan was additionally on the college on the time of the capturing. He was trapped in a classroom with about 30 different college students because the gunfire rang out. After 4 hours later SWAT officers rescued them.
A number of months after the capturing, their mom, Carla Hochhalter, took her personal life after combating despair, per experiences.
Anne Marie Hochhalter spoke out in 2016 in help of Sue Klebold, shooter Dylan Klebold’s mom, who launched a e-book reflecting on the mass capturing, particularly regarding her relationship with grief and battles with disgrace, Fox 21 reported.
Hochhalter wrote a prolonged Fb submit on the time wherein she wasn’t certain if she would ever learn the e-book however mentioned she had forgiven the mass assassin’s mom.
In 2012, Hochhalter additionally spoke publicly in help of the households and survivors of the Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty capturing in Newtown, Connecticut.
Final April, a vigil was held on the eve of the twenty fifth anniversary of the Columbine capturing which Hochhalter attended. She mentioned on the time that she was unable to attend a vigil marking the twentieth anniversary because of her affected by post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD).
“I’ve really been in a position to heal my soul since that terrible day in 1999,” Hochhalter wrote in an April 2024 submit, including that everybody’s grief and therapeutic journey is totally completely different.
“It ebbs and flows, triggered by sure moments, taking us again to reminiscences we as soon as thought had been frozen in time.” She wrote.
“I’ve had that occur fairly a bit this anniversary, reminiscences from that point interval I assumed had been buried endlessly have come again to the floor, completely satisfied reminiscences of being a teen who was so targeted on the boring mundane issues like music movies, basketball, sleepovers at my buddies’ homes, and at last beating Tetris on the pc (I used to be very happy with that accomplishment).”
“No unhealthy reminiscences have affected me this time. It’s like my coronary heart has wished to flood my thoughts with happiness as a substitute of trauma.”
She went on to write down about her emotions of unhappiness about those that had misplaced their lives that day however mentioned she felt their presence on the vigil.
“When the track ‘Over the Rainbow’ began enjoying, I regarded on the empty chairs and instantly felt all of them sitting there, with smiles on their faces, wanting us to recollect the great occasions. The completely satisfied reminiscences,” she wrote.
“They might need us to recollect and chuckle at their foolish goofy antics once they had been alive, as a substitute of specializing in how their lives sadly ended. These 13 are all the time with us. They’re by no means forgotten. We’re Columbine.”
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