From: "Teresa" Subject: Columbine: Stone ought to feel shame Date: Thursday, April 18, 2002 8:52 AM Stone ought to feel shame By Diane Carman Denver Post Columnist Thursday, April 18, 2002 - No matter how many times you hear it, it doesn't get any easier. The frantic phone calls to police send a shudder through the room. One boy shot in the face. One shot in the spine. One who's not breathing. The horror creeps across your skin. So you turn your attention to science. The emotion subsides when you focus on the facts. There are the timelines with the 911 calls, the videotapes from inside the cafeteria, the bits of information from witness interviews, ballistics evidence and reconstruction of the crime scene. And there is the photo of a covered by a white sheet. It's all you'll see of Daniel Rohrbough. Sue Petrone and Brian Rohrbough requested that the photos taken after their son's death be withheld. They saw them. And they heard the story of the rescue teams that rushed to the sidewalk where his broken body lay. The paramedics picked up the injured Lance Kirklin and Sean Graves. Then they looked at Danny, genuflected and made the sign of the cross. Nearly three years after his death, Petrone and Rohrbough believe they finally know what happened. Their lips quiver when they say, yet again, that it won't bring Danny back. But they have an explanation that makes sense. They can focus on the facts. The scenario provided by the Jefferson County sheriff's investigation was "preposterous," they say. So much evidence was withheld, so many questions unanswered. Their eyes fill with tears. The 4-month-long reinvestigation of Danny's death by the El Paso County sheriff was different, though. It was unequivocal. Danny was not shot by Dylan Klebold, as the Jeffco investigation initially found. He was not shot by Denver police Sgt. Daniel O'Shea, as Rohrbough and Petrone had speculated. He was shot by Eric Harris. O'Shea was nowhere near Danny until 36 minutes after his death, and the bullet found in Danny was a "textbook" match to bullets fired from Harris' weapon in ballistics tests. Two El Paso County officers carried the evidence to Maryland so that a private lab could provide unbiased analysis. It happened to be the same lab that tested evidence in the John F. Kennedy assassination. Petrone stands before a dozen microphones, a locket with Danny's picture around her neck. She says that she is still angry, but she finally feels vindicated. They've been lied to for so long by so many people, she says. Today, for the first time, they were treated with respect. One detail they would cling to was the evidence that Danny died instantly. "He died before his hit the ground," says Petrone's husband, Rich. Jeffco District Attorney David Thomas, state Attorney General Ken Salazar, El Paso County Sheriff John Anderson and his lead investigator, Joe Breister, face the media, answering the questions about how this could have happened, how Jeffco could have gotten it so wrong and what else in the original investigation might be in error. Anderson says he hasn't spoken to Jeffco Sheriff John Stone for "several months." He didn't send him a "courtesy copy" of the report. And Stone was a no-show on Wednesday. We can only assume he was ashamed. He should be. Diane Carman's commentaries appear here Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. E-mail: dcarman@denverpost.com .