Springfield Buries Its Young

Springfield began to bury its dead this Memorial Day with the funeral of Ben Walker, 16, who was left brain dead after a shooting rampage by a 15-year-old student. The violence left the suspect's parents and one other student dead. Walker's parents are donating his organs.

But the close-knit community was so traumatized by the murders, healing will take time, reports CBS News Correspondent Bill Whitaker.

Sara Branom (in wheelchair)
(CBS)

Sara Branom was in the cafeteria Thursday. The gunman shot her in the thigh. She'll return to school when it reopens Tuesday. But her sense of security was shot, too.

"My friends and us, we have decided to meet somewhere else instead of the cafeteria," said Sara, "because we don't want to go by the cafeteria."

Officials have washed the blood away.

"The cafeteria is completely restored at this time," says school superintendent Jamon Kent. "We have taken out all evidence of any kind of bullets or any struggle."

But washing away the memories will be more difficult.

"It's something I try not to think about," says student Adam Walburger, who saw his friends murdered and helped subdue the gunman. "I'm going to put it behind me and just go from there."

Sunday in Springfield, churches offered comfort and a memorial service was held for the shooter's victims. As the town tries to recover, the adolescent murder suspect, Kip Kinkel, is on suicide watch in juvenile detention, confined to his cell and monitored round the clock by camera.

Authorities revealed Saturday that Kinkel had lunged at a policeman with a hunting knife he smuggled into the police station.

Kip Kinkel in court Friday
(AP)

Kinkel, who is charged with the shooting deaths of his parents and the two students, had a knife taped to his leg that escaped notice when he was arrested after Thursday's shooting. He was subdued with pepper spray when he tried to attack the police officer.

Two attorneys have been appointed to represent him. He is not due back in court until June 16 to enter a plea.

Police removed the bodies of Kinkel's parents from their home Friday, along with five "sophisticated" bombs, 20 other inactive explosive devices, and detailed bomb-making instructions.

Bomb experts deactivated two bombs with electronic timing devices and two pipe bombs hidden in a garage crawl space of the home in an affluent neighborhood. Investigators found a fifth bomb as they were removing the body of Faith M. Kinkel, 57.

It wasn't until late Friday night that forensics experts determined the house was safe and removed the body of William P. Kinkel, 59.

Sheriff Jim Clements said autopsy results showed that the boy's parents died from multiple gunshot wounds.

In his weekly radio address Saturday, President Clinton said that the recent spate of school shootings are "symptoms of a changing culture that desensitizes children to violence." He offered prayers to the grieving families in Springfield and urged Americans to help prevent youth violence.

School Violence: Web Resources

Kinkel, who had been suspended Wednesday for having a gun in his locker, walked into the school cafeteria and fired off 51 rounds before a wrestler, himself critically wounded, tackled him, police said.

When it was all over, 17-year-old Mikael Nickolauson was dead at the scene. Ben Walker died early Friday.

Kinkel's parents were both foreign-language teachers who, neighbors say, kept close watch over their two children and restricted their use of guns. The couple's daughter, Kristin Kinkel, is a student at Hawaii Pacific University.

Kinkel's grandmother told The Oregonian that she spoke to her son Tuesday, and he talked of how difficult Kip was becoming.

"You know, we've just kinda given up on Kip. And we're just going to kinda let him grow up," Katharine Kinkel, 84, quoted her son as saying. "Who knows how to handle a child like that?"

More from CBS News