Dynamite James
The Main attraction
Columbine shooting victim: Isaiah Shoels
Isaiah Shoels died in the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999
By MIKE MCPHEE | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: April 23, 1999 at 12:00 am | UPDATED: April 15, 2019 at 3:48 pm
SUBMIT YOUR NEWS TIPS OR PHOTOS
MOST POPULAR
Courtesy of Columbine High School
Isaiah Shoels
Editor’s Note: This obituary was originally published on April 23, 1999. It has been republished for the 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting.
Isaiah Shoels was days from becoming one of the few African-Americans ever to graduate from Columbine High School. Then he was shot and killed in Tuesday’s carnage.
Now that some of the shock has worn off, the anger is boiling out of his father, Michael.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. We should be watching our children. Their hatred is taking over our planet,” said Shoels, whose fury gathered strength during a 45-minute interview with five reporters in his living room on Thursday, less than 24 hours after he was told of his oldest son’s death. His wife, Vonda, hovered in the kitchen, unwilling to face the media.
“I’m very upset with the parents (of the two gunmen). They should have watched their children. If my child had had six butane tanks in my garage, don’t you think I’d ask him about it?” he said, referring to barbecue-type propane bottles turned into bombs by the two killers. “If I didn’t, it would suggest that I don’t give a damn about him.
“Those parents now are telling the media to respect their privacy. Well, we can’t respect our own privacy because my son is getting ready to go into the ground.”
Shoels, 42, had 15 brothers and sisters growing up in Amarillo, Texas. He and his wife, who have four other children as well as a foster child, moved to the nearly pure white Columbine neighborhood in 1997 from Lakewood.
“I wanted them to have the very best. I never thought in my wildest dreams that this would happen here.” At one point, they had eight children living in their house, three of them foster children. The neighbors called the Shoels “exceptional people.”
Shoels said Isaiah, 18, played cornerback on the football team but quit last year, possibly because of racial intimidation. He was a keyboardist who wanted to become a record producer, like his father. The elder Shoels is president of Notorious Records, a 10-year-old firm, and Ft. Knox Entertainment, which he started in 1997 to promote black musicians in the Denver area. Isaiah intended to continue his schooling next year at the Denver Institute of the Arts.
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING
He said his son cared about the people he knew, that he could make someone laugh when they felt like crying.
“He wouldn’t complain. He’d take that negative energy and make it into something constructive. They took the wrong kid. He could have been one of their best friends they could have had.”
Shoels said his son spoke his mind but was not as confrontational as his younger sister, Michelle, a 15-year-old sophomore.
Michelle was suspended last year, along with several white girls, after they told her on the athletic field to “get her n—– ass out of here,” Shoels said. Michelle confronted the girls, although Shoels didn’t know if it turned into a physical fight. He went to school officials, he said, but they did nothing except make the kids apologize.
Shoels said he is going on a mission after his son’s burial – to start rallies, to start bringing parents and children together, “to start showing the kids there’s a better way.
“This crime was committed by a group that was taught hatred. That hatred doesn’t happen overnight. It was taught,” he said. “Let’s get with our children, stop teaching them hate, teach them love. Let’s teach them all to get along. Once we’re gone, they’re all that’s left.”
While his other children refuse to return to Columbine High School, he said he will not move out of his neighborhood.
Isaiah Shoels died in the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999
By MIKE MCPHEE | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: April 23, 1999 at 12:00 am | UPDATED: April 15, 2019 at 3:48 pm
SUBMIT YOUR NEWS TIPS OR PHOTOS
MOST POPULAR
Courtesy of Columbine High School
Isaiah Shoels
Editor’s Note: This obituary was originally published on April 23, 1999. It has been republished for the 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting.
Isaiah Shoels was days from becoming one of the few African-Americans ever to graduate from Columbine High School. Then he was shot and killed in Tuesday’s carnage.
Now that some of the shock has worn off, the anger is boiling out of his father, Michael.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. We should be watching our children. Their hatred is taking over our planet,” said Shoels, whose fury gathered strength during a 45-minute interview with five reporters in his living room on Thursday, less than 24 hours after he was told of his oldest son’s death. His wife, Vonda, hovered in the kitchen, unwilling to face the media.
“I’m very upset with the parents (of the two gunmen). They should have watched their children. If my child had had six butane tanks in my garage, don’t you think I’d ask him about it?” he said, referring to barbecue-type propane bottles turned into bombs by the two killers. “If I didn’t, it would suggest that I don’t give a damn about him.
“Those parents now are telling the media to respect their privacy. Well, we can’t respect our own privacy because my son is getting ready to go into the ground.”
Shoels, 42, had 15 brothers and sisters growing up in Amarillo, Texas. He and his wife, who have four other children as well as a foster child, moved to the nearly pure white Columbine neighborhood in 1997 from Lakewood.
“I wanted them to have the very best. I never thought in my wildest dreams that this would happen here.” At one point, they had eight children living in their house, three of them foster children. The neighbors called the Shoels “exceptional people.”
Shoels said Isaiah, 18, played cornerback on the football team but quit last year, possibly because of racial intimidation. He was a keyboardist who wanted to become a record producer, like his father. The elder Shoels is president of Notorious Records, a 10-year-old firm, and Ft. Knox Entertainment, which he started in 1997 to promote black musicians in the Denver area. Isaiah intended to continue his schooling next year at the Denver Institute of the Arts.
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING
He said his son cared about the people he knew, that he could make someone laugh when they felt like crying.
“He wouldn’t complain. He’d take that negative energy and make it into something constructive. They took the wrong kid. He could have been one of their best friends they could have had.”
Shoels said his son spoke his mind but was not as confrontational as his younger sister, Michelle, a 15-year-old sophomore.
Michelle was suspended last year, along with several white girls, after they told her on the athletic field to “get her n—– ass out of here,” Shoels said. Michelle confronted the girls, although Shoels didn’t know if it turned into a physical fight. He went to school officials, he said, but they did nothing except make the kids apologize.
Shoels said he is going on a mission after his son’s burial – to start rallies, to start bringing parents and children together, “to start showing the kids there’s a better way.
“This crime was committed by a group that was taught hatred. That hatred doesn’t happen overnight. It was taught,” he said. “Let’s get with our children, stop teaching them hate, teach them love. Let’s teach them all to get along. Once we’re gone, they’re all that’s left.”
While his other children refuse to return to Columbine High School, he said he will not move out of his neighborhood.
fukk em
