Lawsuit alleges Columbine victim killed by sheriff's department bullet

Rohrbough was shot as he held an exit door open for other students; He died on the sidewalk, a few steps from safety

April 20, 2000
Web posted at: 6:32 a.m. EDT (1032 GMT)

LITTLETON, Colorado (CNN) -- On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School, the parents of one of the victims has filed a lawsuit against the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department over the death of their son.

Brian Rohrbough and Susan Petrone, whose son Daniel was one of the 13 students and teachers killed in the shooting spree, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court Wednesday. Defendants in the suit include the Jefferson County sheriff and his deputies.

According to the lawsuit, Rohrbough and Petrone allege that their son was not killed when he was initially shot in the leg by Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold. Instead, they allege "that based upon reports from a police officer who was at the scene and a teacher at the scene, the initial position of their son's body, and trajectory of the fatal bullet ... that one of the defendants fired the bullet that killed Daniel Rohrbough."

Jefferson County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Davis refuted the charge. "There is absolutely no information to support that lawsuit," he told CNN.

But Davis did say Rohrbough is so far the only parent to have viewed the entire confidential sheriff's department report on the shooting. Rohrbough saw the report Tuesday, Davis said.

Rohrbough was one of several parents who obtained a court order this week to see the investigative records of the shooting from the sheriff's department.

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