Kristin Hermeler, 29-years-old, took
her own life last week in Colorado. |
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Twins' Suicide Pact and the Columbine Connection
Bullied as teens, the tragedy of nearby sensational high school massacre never left them
by Robert Mackey
REUTERS
November 22, 2010
Twin sisters from Australia, who complained of bullying as teenagers, might have chosen to shoot themselves at a gun range outside Denver last week because of its proximity to Columbine High School, site of the 1999 massacre that became a global news event. |
Last Monday, Kristin Hermeler committed suicide while her twin, Candice, shot herself but survived, at the Family Shooting Center at Cherry Creek State Park, less than 20 miles from Columbine. The connection to the rampage emerged on Saturday, when a Denver television station reported that the sisters had contacted a classmate of the two gunmen who embarked on the deadly rampage in the months after the shootings.
LETTERS
Kristen wrote two letters to Brooks Brown,
a student at Columbine High School who
was once targeted by Eric Harris, one of
the Columbine gunmen. Brown and Harris
became friends before the April 20,1999
shootings at the high school.
In one letter dated June 12, 1999, Kristin
wrote, "As someone who has been rejected,
victimized and ostracized in their life, I
would like to thank you for giving him (Eric)
that chance."
She went on to write, "Thank you for not
judging and for accepting Eric and Dylan
who were, from what I have heard, rejected
and victimized by so many others. Thank
you so much. Sincerely, Kristin."
In another letter dated July 14, 1999, she
wrote, "... you felt like everyone hates you.
Words could never tell you how sorry I am
that you feel like anyone hates you. It
completely baffles me as to why anyone
would hate someone when they don't know
them, it sickens me." |
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KCNC-TV, a CBS affiliate in Denver, obtained a letter that Kristin Hermeler sent to Brooks Brown, a classmate of the two Columbine students who killed 12 people before turning their guns on themselves, in June, 1999. The station also reported that investigators had discovered a magazine cover about the Columbine shootings among the twins' possessions in their hotel room in Colorado.
The Hermeler twins were 18 at the time of the Columbine massacre, which was carried out by Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17. Their classmate, Mr. Brown, had appeared on television after the murders to describe how he had been threatened by Mr. Harris before the shootings but had given him another chance to be friends.
In two letters from Ms. Hermeler to Mr. Brown, reproduced on The Denver Post's Web site, she thanked him, “for not judging and for accepting Eric and Dylan who were, from what I have heard, rejected and victimized by so many others.” She also wrote, “As someone who has been rejected, victimized and ostracized in their life, I would like to thank you.”
According to Mr. Brown, Ms. Hermeler also told him that she and her sister had been bullied, the Denver newspaper reported. In another letter, Ms. Hermeler wrote:
"The Oprah Winfrey Show, which had you and your family on, aired in Australia on the 28th June. In this show you said that, like Eric and Dylan, you felt like everyone hates you. Words could never tell you how sorry I am that you feel like anyone hates you. It completely baffles me as to why anyone would hate someone when they don't know them, it sickens me. The only reason that I can think of in, as Charles Spence said, at Princess Diana's funeral, that goodness 'is threatening to those on the opposite end of the moral spectrum'.” |
Australia's Sydney Morning Herald reported that the sister who survived was asked about Columbine “during her emotional two-hour interview with Araphaoe County Sheriff's office investigators last Thursday.”
The newspaper added: “This was after a copy of a Time magazine cover showing both the killers and victims of the Columbine massacre was found in their luggage. In an early police account, she was said to have responded that she did not care about it and that it happened a long time ago.” |
