Colo. town mourns teen killed in school siege

Assault rifle found
The gunman spent time at a riverside clearing a mile north of the school. Wegener said an assault rifle found in the secluded spot apparently belonged to him.

“He’d obviously been in the area staking it out,” said Randy Marsh, a hardware store employee who remembers seeing Morrison’s Jeep as long as six weeks ago.

Video from cameras outside the school showed Morrison sitting in his Jeep in the parking lot for about 20 minutes and then mingling with students as classes changed, nearly 35 minutes before the siege began, KCNC-TV in Denver reported.

Lance Clem, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said investigators were reviewing the surveillance tapes and 911 calls.

Authorities released a recording of a 2004 call Morrison made to a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership in the Denver area after he received a holiday catalog in the mail. His call led to a harassment charge.

Threats in the past
“Hey, Duane Morrison here,” the tape begins. “I just wonder if you (slur) are responsible for sending this to me. I’d sure like to get this stopped. I guess my last threat down there didn’t carry very far.”

Later, he says: “What do you think it will take to get this stopped? Uh, maybe a visit with an assault rifle? ... I’d sure hate for it to come to that.”

Last year, someone broke into Morrison’s apartment and stole more than a dozen handguns and rifles, according to a police report. Jesse Williams, 38, who worked as a maintenance supervisor at the Denver apartment complex where Morrison used to live, said he recalled seeing at least 20 guns during a visit to the apartment.

“We had a conversation about the right to bear arms. He really liked his guns,” Williams said. “I thought it was a little odd that a guy would have so many guns.”

Classes were canceled as the community tried to come to grips with the bloodshed, which evoked memories of the 1999 shooting rampage that left 15 dead at Columbine High School, less than an hour’s drive away.

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