Columbine Survivor’s Death Ruled A Homicide, Bringing Death Toll To 14

A Columbine High School shooting survivor’s recent death has been ruled a homicide, according to an autopsy report, raising the death toll of the 1999 shooting to 14 victims.

Anne Marie Hochhalter, who was shot in the back during the school shooting, was found dead in her home in February. She was 43.

During the mass shooting, the two shooters killed 13 people and then later themselves. Because Hochhalter’s death was from complications she suffered from the shooting, the death toll has been raised to 14, not including the two shooters.

Hochhalter died of sepsis on Feb. 16, and according to the report, the two gunshot wounds that left her paralyzed were a “significant contributing factor” in her death.

“The manner of death is best classified as homicide,” the report reads.

Hochhalter, who was a 17-year-old junior at Columbine High School when she was shot, told People in 2004 that she thought the shooting was a senior prank and the shots were from a paintball gun.

The shooting left Hochhalter paralyzed from the waist down and in need of a wheelchair.

Last month, Sue Townsend, whose stepdaughter Lauren was killed in the Columbine shooting, told the Denver Post that Hochhalter was “fiercely independent” and an advocate for the disability community.

Hochhalter was also an advocate for victims of mass shootings. In 2012, she attended a vigil for victims of the mass shooting at the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

“I would tell them that with time, it does get better. But it never goes away,” Hochhalter said at the time.