Columbine survivor shares experience
Jenna Marson
April 27 2007
Peter Henderson was a 16-year-old sophomore at Columbine High School when the world-famous shooting occurred. A week and two days after the shootings at Virginia Tech he spoke at The Bridge, Christiansburg's Foursquare Church.
Paul Sheldon, Sr. Pastor at The Bridge, who invited Henderson to Christiansburg, added his own sympathies, saying, "my heart is so much for the people of the community."
Henderson began his speech by conceding that he is "not an expert (on tragedy)." He also said that he doesn't "pretend to know exactly how everyone affected by this tragedy feels."
To preface the story of his experience, Henderson put to rest the common misnomer that Littleton, Co. is a small town.
"Littleton has a population of 250,000 but after the shooting, we became a small community," Henderson said.
While the shootings happened, Henderson and his entire class were crouched in a ten-foot closet adjacent to the library.
"We could hear the shooters talking to each other and they were right on the other side of the door when they reloaded," he said.
Henderson's class stayed in that closet, with the doors closed, for four hours before a SWAT team found them and ushered them out of the school. As Henderson ran out, he saw two of his friends lying dead on the floor. In the end, nine people he knew had died, three of which were good friends of his. On top of this, four of his friends committed grief suicide in the year following the murder.
Immediately following the shooting, Henderson described how he wanted to escape Littleton.
"I wanted to get away, move to Guam, sell my house and car," Henderson said.
The three questions that everyone asks, Henderson explained, were "where were you when it happened", "did you know anyone who died", and "did you know the shooter." "Sometimes I would answer them before they asked because I knew they were coming," he said.
In the weeks and months following the shooting, Henderson was afraid that he would never escape the stigma of what happened, that this would become the story of his life, and his town would never be the same. As he said this members of the audience nodded in agreement.
He was able to move through the tragedy, though, and after college he moved back to Littleton and became the youth minister for his church.
Henderson concluded by laying out tips that helped him the most after the tragedy. Cards were his favorite, he said. They showed him that people cared without being intrusive. He allowed himself to grieve and realized that it was okay to not be "fine" all the time. Finally, Henderson said grieving people should guard themselves from loose words. Even when people mean well, they can do real harm, he said.
Henderson will be speaking again at The Bridge tomorrow at 7 p.m.