Columbine survivors visit Germany to share pain of school shoot

ERFURT, Germany -- Survivors of the deadly shooting spree at Columbine High School shared their grief and sympathy Friday with this eastern German city, praying on the steps of a school where an expelled student gunned down 16 others and himself.

The 12-member group from Colorado also placed a wreath of bright flowers on the steps of the Johann Gutenberg Gymnasium high school. The ribbon read in German: "With love from Littleton, Colorado. We know your pain."

Led by a youth pastor, the Americans held talks with local leaders. But officials from the school, worn by media scrutiny, declined invitations to meet. The Education Ministry declined comment, saying the visit was private and it was not involved.

Just one Gutenberg student attended the wreath-laying and shook hands with the visitors.

Beth Nimmo, whose daughter Rachel Scott died in the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, said that reticence was a sign of how long it will take this eastern German city to recover from the April killings.

"I understand where these people are, because I've been there myself," she said. "Right now, they're consumed by their personal grieving and loss, and we understand that."

'They understand'

The Gutenberg school has been closed since April 26, when Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, marched through the building shooting 14 teachers and two students. Seniors from the school are now taking exams at another site.

Kristine Gundermann, 13, a seventh-grader from Gutenberg who fled to the courtyard the day of the shootings and was uninjured, attended a panel discussion with the Littleton group held at Erfurt's city hall later Friday.

"It is a good feeling that they are here, they understand what we are talking about," Gundermann said of the visitors from Littleton.

Earlier in the day, the Colorado group spoke to an assembly of 11th-graders at another school, urging mutual respect in talks about their experiences. A youth rally and a meeting to honor police and rescue workers also were scheduled for the visit, which ends Sunday.

Among the U.S. participants was Heidi Johnson, who hid under a desk in the Columbine school library while the two gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, killed students near her. Harris and Klebold shot and killed 13 people before taking their own lives.

"When it happened in Erfurt, something in my heart just grieved," Johnson said. "More than anything I just wanted to go and be a comfort to people, knowing I may have something to offer because of what I went through."