School Starts For Shooting Victim

As student Tony Case was nearing his final exams at Thurston High School last spring, a tragedy occurred in the school lunch room. Another student, Kip Kinkel, began shooting in the cafeteria, killing two students and wounding 22 others. With his injury mostly healed, Case is beginning a new school year. Reporter Craig Cheatham of CBS affiliate KOIN-TV in Portland, Ore., reports.

Case returned to school Tuesday, where there were only a few reminders of the frightening attack on May 21.

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"We've had a great start. The kids are here. They were excited to see their friends. I didn't see anybody in tears," principal Larry Bentz said.

Case was shot four times during the attack. His heart stopped beating in a hospital elevator and he almost died.

"I had a hole in my gastric artery," he explains. "They had to remove a foot of my intestines."

With those injuries mended, Case's biggest challenge now has been using his right leg. A bullet ripped through the leg, severing arteries and tissue, causing extensive nerve damage.

"It was unbearable pain," Case says. "But now, it's amazing. There is not near as much pain. I can put pressure on it; my leg is straight."

Case goes to a physical therapist four days a week. The star pitcher of the Thurston High School baseball team is also working on his game and hoping to rejoin the team next spring.

Despite the traumatic event he witnessed, and was a victim of, Case was not too worried about returning to school.

"I'm not concerned," Case says. "Definitely not concerned. Anxious because of the normal school feelings, you know."

Kinkel, 16, is charged with the cafeteria shootings, plus the murder of his parents. He will face trial as an adult next April.