Mom Claims Teen in Columbine Hammer Attack Was Bullied
The mother of a 14-year-old girl, accused of assault after allegedly attacking two other students with a hammer, said today that her daughter was the victim of bullying.
The girl's mother, identified by KDVR TV only as Liza, said the station that bullying recently had her daughter looking at herself in the mirror and crying. The girl recently asked her, "Mom, do you think I'm ugly," Liza told the station.
"I'm upset about the fact that they claim that there's a no tolerance bully policy, when that's a big Littleton lie," the teen's mother told KDVR.
Although the attack is still under investigation, the public information diector at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, Jacki Kelly, said that there had been no evidence of the accused student being bullied at the school.
The accused teen, a freshman at the school, had recently enrolled at Columbine from another high school.
The attack happened on Monday morning, when police say the 14-year-old allegedly pulled a hammer and struck a 15-year-old female student. She also allegedly hit a 16-year-old male student who came to his friend's aid.
Aaron Flowers, the 16-year-old student, told KDVR that prior to the attack the accused teenager threatened to beat him and his friend with a bat.
"[We were] like how are you going to get a bat at Columbine?" Flowers told the station.
Flowers said that he was struck in the hands and the ribs, while the 15-year-old student was struck on her hand. Both students were taken to a hospital for treatment and later released.
The 14-year-old student was arrested and charged with first degree assault. She is currently being held at a juvenile facility.
According to police, one of the school resource officers from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office was able to reach the teenagers within a minute of the incident and stop the attack.
"Whenever something like this happens we do a thorough investigation," said Lynn Setzer, director of communications at the Jefferson County Public Schools. " If things need to be changed we change them. We're always looking to keep our kids safe."
In 1999 Columbine, located in Littleton, Colo., was the site of the then worst school shooting in U.S. history when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris shot and killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves in the school's library.