School Shooting Echoes Columbine

The images were similar: frantic parents waiting for word on their kids. It ended with the death of a gunman and one of his hostages Wednesday.

At Colorado high school not far from Columbine, the first reports came in around noon, reports CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers: A middle-aged man armed with a handgun had stormed the high school and taken six female students hostage in a classroom.

The student, Emily Keyes, 16, died from a gunshot wound in the head later at a hospital.

"It's hitting close to home because this is where Columbine occurred," said Jacki Kelley, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County sheriff's office, which handled the 1999 shootings.

Some of the female hostages reportedly were sexually assaulted, reports CBS News correspondent Lee Frank.

During tense negotiations, the gunman released four of the hostages one by one but also told authorities his backpack contained a bomb and something would happen at 4 o'clock.

"He broke off negotiations and he wouldn't talk any more," said Sheriff Fred Wegener.

The decision was made to storm the building.

"Officers breached the classroom with explosives. Within seconds the suspect shot at entering swat officers, then shot one of the two female hostages, then shot himself," Wegener said.

Investigators Thursday morning still didn't know much about the gunman. There are reports he once lived in Bailey, and may have recently moved to Denver.

Many of the first responders at Platte Canyon were also the first on the scene six years ago at Columbine. Law enforcement in this tiny mountain town refuse to discuss a motive but say although they'd trained for this kind of thing they never expect it to play out in their tight-knit community.

"I was just praying that we would do the right thing," said Wegener.

Platte Canyon High School is about 40 miles, or an hour's drive, from Columbine.

When the gunman came into the classroom, one of the male students, Cassidy Grigg, asked to remain with the girls but the man would not allow it.

"He came in the room with a gun and shot the gun on the ground and said 'Get up on the (black)board or I'm going to shoot you," Grigg said on CBS News' The Early Show. "He went one by one and told us, hey, you could stay in the room, or you could leave. And he got to me and I told him that I didn't want to go, that I wanted to stay."

His mother Larina told the Rocky Mountain News her son was given an ultimatum.

"The gunman swung around, put the gun right in his face and said, 'You need to leave.'"

Larina Grigg told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith she knows the mother of the girl who was killed.

"It's a very empty feeling this morning. Definitely many, many prayers are with the family. I spent lots of time on my knees for the family already this morning," she said.

Throughout the ordeal, parents of the school district's 770 students were beside themselves, reports Bowers. Police barricades blocked access to all four local schools, and frantic calls to their kids weren't getting through.

"We've tried using the cell phone but obviously the cell phone must have been turned off," said parent Jill Lovall.

A text message from Bill Twyford's 15-year-old son did get through, but it offered little reassurance.

"It says hey there's a gun hijacking in our school. I'm fine — bad situation though," Twyford said.

The Platte Canyon high school was closed Thursday and will be closed Friday.

"We are a community in mourning," schools superintendent Jim Walpole said. "Our thoughts, our prayers are with our students, staff and their families. Especially the family of the student we lost."

Emily Keyes is shown in a yearbook photo as a smiling blonde who played volleyball and was on the debate team at Platte Canyon High School. There was no known link between Keyes and the gunman, who was not identified by authorities.

"I don't know why he wanted to do this," Wegener said, his voice breaking. He himself had a son in the school as the drama unfolded.

The situation unfolded in a narrow, winding canyon carved by the South Platte River about 35 miles southwest of Denver. Ambulances were parked in the end zone of the football field, and a tank-like SWAT team vehicle was parked nearby on a closed-down highway swamped with gun-toting sheriff's officers and police.