On a spring day that would soon turn tragic, Matthew Kechter, a 16-year-old male student at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, went to the school library to study. An 'A' student and a lineman on the football team, he was known for his dedication to academics and his ready laugh. That day, April 20, 1999, his life was cut short in an act of violence that shook the nation.
He was seated at a table with a friend when two of their fellow students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, began their assault on the school.
As the chaos erupted, a teacher instructed the students in the library to take cover under the tables. Matthew hid with his friends, including Isaiah Shoels. The two gunmen eventually entered the library and began shooting their classmates. They targeted students hiding under tables, and after shouting racial slurs at Isaiah Shoels, one of the shooters, Eric Harris, killed him. The other, Dylan Klebold, then fired at Matthew, hitting him in the chest and killing him. An eyewitness account from a fellow student hiding nearby described the horrific scene of seeing both his friends shot.
The perpetrators of the massacre, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, died by suicide in the library after their rampage, which left 12 students and one teacher dead. Because the two suspects took their own lives at the scene, there were no arrests or subsequent criminal trials for the murders they committed. The investigation that followed focused on understanding the motives of the shooters and the timeline of the attack. Matthew Kechter was posthumously accepted into the National Honor Society and is remembered by his family as a wonderful role model for his younger brother.
