BAILEY, Colo.—About 500 people gathered Thursday to mark the first anniversary of the death of Emily Keyes, the 16-year-old student killed by a gunman after a standoff at Platte Canyon High School.
The event included a candlelight vigil but people also ate hamburgers and hot dogs, listened to music and tossed footballs in keeping with her family’s plea to celebrate life and not turn the anniversary into a day of mourning.
On Sept. 27, 2006, Duane Morrison, a 53-year-old drifter, held seven girls hostage in a classroom for nearly four hours and sexually assaulted them. He shot Keyes as a SWAT team moved in and then killed himself. He had earlier sent a suicide note to his brother.
After the shootings, Emily’s parents founded the I Love U Guys Foundation—named after the text message she had sent them during the standoff—and asked people to perform “random acts of kindness”. Signs and ribbons bearing the message later went up around the mountain town about 55 miles southwest of Denver.
On Thursday, flower pots along U.S. 285 each had a letter spelling out “kindness” and students put pink ribbons on the pots.
The gathering also featured a blood drive which drew Cpl. Amy Franck of the Park County sheriff’s office, the lead investigator in the case.
“It’s just the right thing to do, it’s for Emily,” Franck said.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
