The Herald, Sharon,
PA Published Wednesday, April 21, 1999


SHARPSVILLE

Girl safe after Colorado shootings; local relatives relieved

By Lisa Mehler
Herald Staff Writer

The daughter of a Sharpsville native was frightened but unhurt in Tuesday's bloodbath at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

Freshman Kimberly Mathewson hid with fellow students in a room near the library, said her aunt, Carol Mehler of Hall Avenue.

"I first heard about it when my dad (the girl's grandfather, George Mathewson of Sharpsville) called me at work, and said it was on CNN," Ms. Mehler said this morning.

Ms. Mehler reached her brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Jackie Mathewson, by telephone at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"I called their house right away (upon hearing the news), but no one was home," she said.

"When I finally got in touch with them, they had just brought Kimberly home."

The Mathewsons had to wait nearly five hours before they were reunited with their daughter, Ms. Mehler said.

"I can't imagine having to wait that long," she said. "Kimberly was one of the last to leave."

Ms. Mehler said Kimberly's mother said she had been "through a hell she had never been through before, and hopes she never will again."

None of Kimberly's friends was among those killed. However, one of her friends did have a gun held to her head.

"The girl started screaming, 'Please don't kill me,' and the kid walked away," Ms. Mehler said.

Ms. Mehler didn't know if Kimberly knew the gunmen. "The school is so big that you don't know a lot of the kids. You just don't," she said.

Kimberly did attend a gathering Tuesday evening in a church. "It was something (Kimberly) felt she had to do," said her aunt. She added she didn't know whether the girl is afraid to go back to school.

"It was so late in the evening when I talked to them," she said. "They had a lot to deal with. Kimberly was very upset."

Kimberly's other local aunt and uncle, Evelyn "Edge" and Pete Morris of Sharon, are expecting a call this evening from the Mathewsons.



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