Rashad Williams, the 15-year- old San Francisco Bay-area athlete who raised about $40,000 on behalf of Columbine shooting victim Lance Kirklin in 1999, was reportedly shot to death last month while participating in a burglary in Clearlake, Calif.
Williams, who was 21 when he died, gained national celebrity for his efforts raising funds for Kirklin, who suffered terrible wounds including being shot in the face with a shotgun during the Columbine rampage.
Kirklin couldn’t be reached Thursday night for comment.
Williams’ life path apparently changed in recent years, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday.
At the time of his death, he was about to be imprisoned for three years in connection with the robbery of two banks in Contra Costa County, Calif., the newspaper reported.
Williams and another youth were shot in the back by a man who claimed they and a third young man had invaded his home to steal drugs Dec. 7. Williams was shot twice and his friend was shot five times, the Chronicle said.
Following the Columbine shootings, on April 20, 1999, Williams, a track athlete at Archbishop Riordan High School, was inspired by news accounts of the massacre at the south Jefferson County high school to reach out to the badly injured Kirklin and assist the 16-year-old he had never met.
Kirklin was one of 23 people wounded in the shootings by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebld, who killed 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives.
Williams raised the money when he got sponsors in Kirklin’s name and ran in the “Bay to Breakers” race in San Francisco in May 1999.
A local newspaper featured Williams’ effort, and then local television and radio stations picked up the story. The day of the race, the route was peppered with signs urging him on.
“I was tired, but I kept thinking about Lance,” Williams told The Denver Post when he came to town in 1999 to turn over a check for $18,000. “I kept thinking, ‘I gotta finish for Lance.”‘
Kirklin later traveled to San Francisco to help Williams celebrate after the mayor had proclaimed a “Rashad Williams Day.”
It was speculated that Williams’ continued celebrity contributed to his falling behind in his studies and failing to graduate from high school, and turning to a different kind of life.
Staff writer Jim Kirksey can be reached at 303-820-1448 or jkirksey@denverpost.com.
