2025 Death of Columbine Survivor, Who Was Paralyzed in 1999 Shooting, Ruled as Homicide

Mar. 15, 2025

Anne Marie Hochhalter, pictured right.Photo:Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post

Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post

A survivor of the Columbine High School massacre’s death has been declared a homicide almost 26 years after the shooting, according to a coroner’s report.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Anne Marie Hochhalter.Marc Piscotty/Getty

Marc Piscotty/Getty

The autopsy confirmed the suspicions of Hochhalter’s loved ones, including Sue Townsend, the stepmother of Columbine victim Lauren Townsend, who toldtheDenver Postshortly after her death that it appeared to be related to complications from medical issues stemming from injuries sustained in the shooting.

“She was a fighter. She’d get knocked down — she struggled a lot with health issues that stemmed from the shooting — but I’d watch her pull herself back up," Townsend told theDenver Post. “She was her best advocate and an advocate for others who weren’t as strong in the disability community.”

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Columbine High School.Steve Starr/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty

Steve Starr/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty

With Hochhalter’s death, the number of victims of the Columbine High School massacre has risen to 14, per NBC News. The count does not include the two shooters, 17-year-old Dylan Klebold and 18-year-old Eric Harris, who killed themselves before being arrested.

Hochhalter was a 17-year-old junior at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, when the two students opened fire on their classmates and teachers, killing 13 people and injuring 23 before turning their weapons on themselves.

Expressions of Grief in the Columbine Community after the Columbine High School Shooting, April 20, 1999.Sulfiati Magnuson/Getty

Sulfiati Magnuson/Getty

“I was bleeding to death,” Hochhalter said. “It didn’t look bad on the outside, but inside it felt wrong — it felt wet.”

She said, “If the ambulance had come two minutes later — even two minutes — I would have died. A lot of evil happened that day, but a lot of things went so right.”

Anne Marie Hochhalter.Anne Marie Hochhalter/Facebook

Anne Marie Hochhalter/Facebook

Hochhalter was a multi-instrumentalist who played the clarinet, piano, guitar and harp, per theDenver Post. She also had a big love for dogs throughout her life, fostering and owning many over the years.

In one of herfinal Facebook posts, on the 25th anniversary of the shooting, Hochhalter wrote that while she had previously avoided memorial services due to PTSD, she had attended the anniversary vigil and found the occasion “most healing.”

“I’ve truly been able to heal my soul since that awful day in 1999,” she wrote, noting that she felt the presence of the 13 victims “sitting there, with smiles on their faces, wanting us to remember the good times.”

source: people.com