Columbine Autopsy Summaries to Be Released
Wednesday, January 31, 2001

By Robert Weller

DENVER — A judge on Tuesday ordered the release of the autopsy report on a slain Columbine High School student whose parents say police shot as they responded to the attack.

Jefferson County District Judge Brooke Jackson agreed to release summaries of the autopsy reports for the remaining victims and gunman Dylan Klebold. The summaries would include information such as the type of gun used and the part of the body that was injured.

But the judge refused to release those autopsies in full, citing the desire to avoid needless emotional pain for survivors and victims' relatives.

The reports for slain student Isaiah Shoels and gunman Eric Harris were released previously.

The ruling involved Daniel Rohrbough, 15, who was killed outside Columbine High School when Klebold and Harris stormed the building on April 20, 1999.

Brian Rohrbough, Daniel's father, has alleged his son was killed by police during a shootout with the student gunmen and that the autopsy supports the allegation. Police said Daniel was killed by Klebold.

Rohrbough said, "I think it is important for people to understand he was running from the gunmen who were on the hill behind him, and he was shot and killed from the front."

"The fatal bullet could not have come from Klebold and Harris. It had to come from law enforcement at the bottom of the hill."

"There is a public interest in knowing whether Daniel was killed by 'friendly fire,' as contended by the Rohrboughs," the judge wrote.

Jefferson County Coroner Nancy Bodelson said she plans to consult office attorneys and inform the families before taking steps to release the report.

Harris and Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives at the school near Littleton, Colo.