Another Funeral In Springfield

It was a poignant back-to-school day Tuesday for students at Thurston High School, site of last week's shooting rampage that left two students dead and dozens more injured.

For many students and teachers, it was the first time back in the building since a 15 year old opened fire, spraying the school cafeteria with 51 bullets.

CBS News correspondent Jennifer Sabih reports that students and teachers began the day with heads bowed, in a prayer circle outside of the school.

The high school cut the day short so students could attend the funeral of 17-year-old Mikael Nickolauson, who was buried with military honors because he had signed up for the National Guard three days before he was slain. The other student killed, 16-year-old Ben Walker, was buried Monday.

Students were taken by the busload to Nickolauson's funeral, where more than 900 people packed the Eugene Christian Fellowship to remember him as a quiet boy who loved computers and board games, and dreamed of a job as a systems analyst in the military.

``It hurts so deep it stabs at the very heart of our being,'' said the Rev. Otis Harden. ``Yesterday is terrible. Today is terrible. Tomorrow is another day.''

Kip Kinkel in court Friday
(AP)

The 15-year-old suspect, Kip Kinkel, remained on suicide watch in a juvenile detention center, charged with four counts of aggravated murder. He's accused of shooting his parents to death at their home before driving to school and opening fire in the crowded cafeteria with a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle, spraying 51 shots at his classmates.

School Violence: Web Resources

A day before the rampage, Kinkel had been arrested and suspended for allegedly buying a gun from another boy at school and putting it in his locker. He was booked and sent home with his parents.

A longtime friend of the Kinkel family, Scott Keeney, said that gun was stolen from him and that William Kinkel called the afternoon of his son's arrest to apologize.

Friends and neighbors who now have heard about Kinkel's anger and obsession with guns and bombs say they have trouble reconciling this image with the sweet and friendly boy they watched grow up.

Thousands of roses, daisies, carnations, rhododendrons and lilies were threaded through the school's chain-link fence for more than 200 yards. The display was dotted with pictures of Jesus, teddy bears and numerous signs, one with a child's scrawl reading: "I wish there never was a gunshot."

Among those released from the hospital Monday was 17-year-old Jake Ryker, the burly wrestler hailed as a hero for tackling Kinkel and ending the rampage, despite gunshots to his chest and hand.

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