DENVER (AP) 鈥� The who was partially paralyzed in the has been ruled a homicide, raising the death toll of the 1999 attack to 14.
Anne Marie Hochhalter died Feb. 16 of 鈥� an extreme reaction to infection 鈥� and complications from her paralysis were a 鈥渟ignificant contributing factor鈥� in her death, the Jefferson County Coroner鈥檚 Office said in an autopsy report obtained Thursday. She was 43.
Twelve students and one teacher were shot and killed on April 20, 1999, in the attack on Columbine. The two student gunmen took their own lives.
Hochhalter鈥檚 brother, Nathan Hochhalter, said a pressure sore, a common problem for people living with paralysis, led to sepsis. He said he knew that his sister鈥檚 life would likely be shorter because of her paralysis but her death this early was unexpected.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 think it would be this bad this soon,鈥� he said.
Hochhalter struggled with intense pain from her gunshot wounds in the years following the shooting, but fought hard to to overcome the complications of her injuries and remain positive, family and friends said. She was tireless in her drive to help others, including people with disabilities and members of her family, and she loved dogs, they said.
Hochhalter chose to forgive the mother of one of the gunmen, writing in a 2016 letter to Sue Klebold: 鈥溾�橝 good friend once told me, 鈥楤itterness is like swallowing a poison pill and expecting the other person to die.鈥� It only harms yourself. I have forgiven you and only wish you the best."
Hochhalter鈥檚 own tragedy was compounded six months after the shooting, when her mother, Carla Hochhalter, died by suicide. Anne Marie Hochhalter said her mother suffered from depression and did not believe the shootings were directly to blame for her mother's death.
After her mother's passing, she became the 鈥渁cquired daughter鈥� of another family that lost a child in the Columbine shooting, Lauren Townsend. Townsend鈥檚 stepmother, Sue Townsend, reached out to help Hochhalter as a way to cope with her own grief, but eventually Hochhalter was coming over for family dinners and joining them on vacations.
鈥淪he brought a light to our lives that will shine for a long time,鈥� Townsend said.
Hochhalter attended a vigil marking the 25th anniversary of the shooting last year, after skipping a similar event five years earlier because of post-traumatic stress disorder, she said in a social media post.
This time she said she was flooded with happy memories from her childhood and said she wanted those killed remembered for how they lived, not how they died.
鈥淚鈥檝e truly been able to heal my soul since that awful day in 1999,鈥� she wrote.
Colleen Slevin, The Associated Press
