PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Before Santa Fe, Parkland and Sandy Hook — even before Columbine — there was a school shooting that captured the nation’s attention and it’s a big part of where we live.
On May 21, 1998, Kip Kinkel opened fire in the Thurston High School cafeteria, killing two and injuring 25 others.
Kinkel, then 15 years old, walked into the school with four weapons and 1,000 rounds of ammunition under a trench coat. On the patio, he killed Ben Walker, then headed to the cafeteria where he killed Mikal Nikolausen at close range.
“I ran down here as fast as I could,” student Mike Peebles said at the time. “The first one I came across was Ben laying right there. He was laying on his stomach. I could see the gunshot wound to the back of his head.”
As he reloaded, a wounded student named Jacob Ryker, tackled Kinkle and 7 other students disarmed him. Ryker recovered from his injuries and was proclaimed a hero.
At the police station, Kinkel lunged at an officer with a knife, shouting “shoot me, kill me.” At his sentencing, Kinkel’s attorney’s argued that he was mentally ill, but prosecutors said he knew exactly what he was doing.
Kinkel killed his parents the day before the school shooting. In his journal, Kinkel described himself as evil.
Kinkel is now 35 and serving more than 100 years in the Oregon State Correctional Institution. He’ll die in prison unless an Oregon governor commutes his sentence. He recently lost an appeal of his sentence.
Outside Thurston High School, a wall of flowers quickly grew into a memorial for the victims. Today, a permanent memorial stands in the southwest portion of the campus.
The plaque reads, “May we all understand the life changing impact of violence and may this memorial extent the comfort, strength and hope that comes from a caring community, state and nation.”
More than 1,400 staff and students were at school that day 20 years ago. One of them was Justeen Brown.
“When it first started happening, it sounded like firecrackers going off and we didn’t know what was happening,” Brown said. “But quickly everyone in the cafeteria was ducking down.”
Brown is a teacher at North Medford High School now and said what happened that day didn’t deter her from following what she says is her calling.
“My mom joked with me that when I graduated and I was going to be a teacher she said I’m going to give you a bulletproof vest, cause you know were on the front lines and we’re asked as teachers to do more than just teach,” Brown said. “I’m asked to care for my students to look for the warning signs to keep them safe.”
She told KOIN 6 News she connects with her former classmates, in one way or another, every year around this time to reflect on what they went through.
“[We’re] able to just bond together and remember and honor each other and see what we have done with our lives,” Brown said. “We all have a great calling in our lives when something like that happens that we say ‘OK, now what are we going to do with this?’ Cause we have the weight of it that we carry.”
Kinkel did not respond to a letter requesting an interview with KOIN 6 News.