Anne Marie Hochhalter, who was shot and paralyzed within the Columbine Excessive College mass taking pictures in 1999, died on Sunday of pure causes, Fox Information Digital has discovered. She was 43.
Hochhalter, one in all 23 individuals who had been injured and survived the Littleton, Colorado, bloodbath, was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life resulting from her accidents and is being remembered as a “pillar of strength” 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 instructor had been killed within the assault when twelfth-grade college students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fireplace. The shooters then killed themselves.
Frank DeAngelis, her former principal, introduced Hochhalter’s passing and stated she was admired for her resilience and tenacity.
“My Columbine Rebel Family. It is with great sadness and sorrow that I share with you that Anne Marie Hochhalter passed away … of natural causes,” DeAngelis stated in a press release offered to Fox Information Digital.
“Anne Marie was a 2000 graduate. She was a pillar of strength for me and so many others. She was an inspiration and exemplified never giving up. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers. She will be missed but never forgotten. Rebels for Life. We love you Anne Marie Hochhalter.”
DeAngelis stated that funeral association particulars haven’t but been launched.
Hochhalter’s youthful brother Nathan was additionally on the college on the time of the taking pictures. 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 taking pictures, their mom, Carla Hochhalter, took her personal life after battling despair, per studies.
Anne Marie Hochhalter spoke out in 2016 in help of Sue Klebold, shooter Dylan Klebold’s mom, who launched a guide reflecting on the mass taking pictures, particularly regarding her relationship with grief and battles with disgrace, Fox 21 reported.
Hochhalter wrote a prolonged Fb publish on the time wherein she wasn’t certain if she would ever learn the guide however stated 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 College taking pictures in Newtown, Connecticut.
Final April, a vigil was held on the eve of the twenty fifth anniversary of the Columbine taking pictures which Hochhalter attended. She stated on the time that she was unable to attend a vigil marking the twentieth anniversary resulting from her affected by post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD).
“I’ve truly been able to heal my soul since that awful day in 1999,” Hochhalter wrote in an April 2024 publish, including that everybody’s grief and therapeutic journey is totally totally different.
“It ebbs and flows, triggered by certain moments, taking us back to memories we once thought were frozen in time.” She wrote.
“I’ve had that happen quite a bit this anniversary, memories from that time period I thought were buried forever have come back to the surface, happy memories of being a teenager who was so focused on the boring mundane things like music videos, basketball, sleepovers at my friends’ houses, and finally beating Tetris on the computer (I was very proud of that accomplishment).”
“No bad memories have affected me this time. It’s like my heart has wanted to flood my mind with happiness instead of trauma.”
She went on to jot down about her emotions of unhappiness about those that had misplaced their lives that day however stated she felt their presence on the vigil.
“When the song ‘Over the Rainbow’ started playing, I looked at the empty chairs and suddenly felt all of them sitting there, with smiles on their faces, wanting us to remember the good times. The happy memories,” she wrote.
“They would want us to remember and laugh at their silly goofy antics when they were alive, instead of focusing on how their lives sadly ended. Those 13 are always with us. They’re never forgotten. We are Columbine.”
