Rachel Scott

Rachel Joy Scott (August 5 1981 - April 20 1999) was the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre. She has since been the subject of several books and some Christians in the United States consider her a martyr.

Scott lived in Littleton, Colorado, where she attended Columbine High School (which is actually located in an unincorporated area in Jefferson County) along with her younger brother, Craig.

In the aftermath of the massacre, it was claimed that the gunmen, after having shot her in the leg while she was eating lunch, just outside the school, but before killing her with a point-blank shot to the temple, asked Scott if she believed in God, and that she had answered "You know I do."

An official investigation into the shootings, published eight months after the event, substantiated the claim that another student, Valeen Schnurr, had been asked that question and responded that way. This student was shot in the library, and survived. It is possible that Rachel and other students were faced with the same question. In the meantime, Scott's parents authored a book entitled Rachel's Tears: The Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott (ISBN 0785268480). The martyr sobriquet has stuck, especially amongst devout Christians in the Bible Belt, and the reports remain in wide circulation.

Rachel's Tears is presented as a Christian meditation on the life, death, and faith of Rachel as seen through the eyes of her parents and through writings and drawings from her journals. The book also attempts a spiritual point of view on the Columbine tragedy and a vision for preventing youth violence.

Following her death, Scott's father Darrell, a devout Christian and son of a pastor, co-authored three books about her spirituality. He also resigned his job as a salesman and set up the Columbine Redemption, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to "motivate, educate and bring positive change to many young people." As part of this work he tours the United States speaking at churches, high schools and youth centers. Scott's mother participates in similar programs.

See also