(25 Apr 1999) English/Nat
Thousands of people attended a memorial service in Littleton, Colorado for the victims of last week's shooting at a school.
The service, attended by Vice President Al Gore and other senior politicians, focused on hope, strength and healing.
12 students and a teacher were killed by two teenagers who then turned the guns on themselves.
Before a stage draped in white and blue, festooned with floral garlands, an estimated 70-thousand mourners stood in silent vigil in the car park of a shopping mall in Littleton, Colorado.
For many this was the third such memorial since last Tuesday's shootings.
They honoured the dead of Columbine High School - the worst school shooting tragedy in American history.
Some prayed silently, others held banners calling for more stringent gun controls.
Yet all, young and old, of all races and backgrounds, seemed united in their grief.
On the stage family members of the victims sat beside town officials and clergymen, looking out at the vast sea of well-wishers, some of whom had driven hundreds of miles to attend.
House Minority leader Richard Gephardt came to pay his respects as well as retired General Colin Powell.
Popular singers Amy Grant, and Phil Driscol performed soulful ballads for the assembled crowd.
Two local teenagers, Jonathon and Steven Cohen, also presented an original song honouring their student colleagues while blue and white balloons soared overhead.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Columbine rose blood red, heartbreak overflows my head. Columbine flower bloom, Columbine there's hope for you."
SUPER CAPTION: Student
Jonathan Cohen was trapped in the choir room when the shooting started.
Stephen, his elder brother, was in the cafeteria where many students were shot or hit by shrapnel from pipe bombs.
Other tributes included the hymn "Amazing Grace" performed by Colorado's "Michael Collins Bagpipers in Arms".
While Vice President Al Gore delivered a eulogy at the service.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Nothing that I can say to you can bring comfort. Nothing that anyone else can say can bring comfort. But there is a voice that speaks without words and addresses us in the depths of our being. And that voice says to our troubled souls, 'Peace, be still.'"
SUPER CAPTION: Al Gore, US Vice President
11 people are still in hospital, one of them in critical condition.
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