By Jeff Skrzypek
EUGENE, Ore. -- It's been more than a decade since Kip Kinkel killed two students at Thurston High School, but now one website is re-opening that tragedy by selling letters written by the shooter himself.
A viewer alerted KEZI to the website selling the letters written by Kinkel. That viewer was disgusted by the sale. Now, those involved with the school shooting and family members of the victims are reacting.
"It's the ultimate disrespect. Two kids died in this melee here it was at the hands of Kip Kinkle. Over 20 other students went down in a hail of bullets," said First Responder Dennis Murphy.
While it's been more than 10 years since Kinkel walked into Thurston High in Springfield and opened fire, for those involved, the painful memories are now being revisited all because of one website and the letters it's selling.
"It sickens me, to know what he did and he has access to write letters even," said Lisa Walley.
Some of those very letters Kinkel wrote are being sold on websites. This is shocking to Walley, the wife of one of victims shot by Kinkel.
"He did a horrible, terrible thing, and it makes me sad to think that people are putting a value to that," she said.
Twenty dollars for the envelopes and for forty dollars, each of these letters can be purchased on these websites. In one of the letters Kinkel tells one of his friends, "I'm not all evil and bad like they think."
"He has not healed. He wasn't right then and he's not right today," said Murphy.
Dennis Murphy with Springfield Fire was one of the first to respond to the shooting scene and has been very involved in preventing school violence. He says from a personal standpoint, selling items like Kinkel's letters only glamorizes what happened.
"It's a comment on the human condition, if there is no market there is now sale. Apparently there's a market," he said.
Families of victims say they're worried about seeing the effect of these letters on future generations of young people.
"They're going to see what happened, which is fine, it's a part of history now. But they're also going to see the glorifying of it, and I don't want that to happen," said Walley.
Families of other shooting victims we spoke with say it pains them to see websites like this one. They say it makes the healing process that much more difficult.
Comments
The selling of Kip Kinkel's letters
The selling of Kip Kinkel's letters is in no way the fault of Kip Kinkel. I have been corresponding with Kip for 9 1/2 years and have about 325 letters from Kip. I think it is disgusting that people Kip took the effort to reply to are selling his letters. They couldn't pay me enough to sell even 1 envelope. Kip is not behind the selling of his letters and has absolutely made no profit from these sales. I was offered Revenue sharing on YouTube if I would allow them to put advertising beside Kip's video. My first thought was a definite no and I wrote to Kip to tell him about this offer. His answer was that in no way did he want to see anybody profiting from his crimes, especially himself.
I would like to know how Dennis Murphy can say "He has not healed. He wasn't right then and he's not right today". I totally disagree with Mr. Murphy. In May of 1998 Kip was a very sick CHILD,
suffering from two major mental illnesses: Paranoid Schizophrenia and Major Depressive Disorder and was undiagnosed for the Paranoid Schizophrenia and untreated for it. In May 1998 he was not being treated for the MDD although he had been treated inadequately with Prozac for three months,
but this was discontinued near the end of summer 1997. Protocol for treating MDD requires that the patient stay on the antidepressant for 9 to 12 months after he is feeling better and then be tapered off the medication slowly. Kip took Prozac for 3 months and then , with the approval of his parents and the clinical psychologist who was treating him, abruptly discontinued the Prozac with no follow up by either the psychologist or the family doctor who had prescribed the
medication.. Within three months he had relapsed and the depression returned. For at least 10 years he has been receiving treatment for both of these illnesses: anti-psychotics for the Schizophrenia and antidepressants for the MDD along with psychotherapy. He is much, much better today, and while Paranoid Schizophrenia can't at this time be cured it can be successfully treated. What does Mr. Murphy base his assertion on? Has he seen Kip? Has he corresponded with Kip? I am quite sure the answer is "no".
DavidMacDonald
Friday, June 4, 2010 5:51 PM EDT