School shooting victim buried

Schoolmates of Ben Walker leave the funeral

The town of Springfield, Oregon, has buried the first of the students murdered in last week's high school shooting rampage.

Ben Walker, 16, who died of a gunshot wound to the head, was buried on Monday. The funeral of the second victim, Mikael Nickolauson, is scheduled for Tuesday.

Eighteen students were wounded in the rampage, and the parents of Kipland Kinkel, 15, the chief suspect, were shot dead the same day.

"If you joke about guns in an airport, you're history. Why do we treat young people differently?" Mayor Bill Morrisette told about 500 mourners at the Springfield Faith Centre. "We owe it to Ben and we owe it to Ben's family to make sure something is done."

Music played at the funeral ranged from "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion to "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica.

Flowers and photographs lined the school fence

Monday was a holiday - Memorial Day - in the US, but Thurston High School opened for three hours so the 1,400 students could look around and talk to counsellors before returning to class on Tuesday.

The fence of the school was decked with flowers. The bullet holes at the scene of the shooting are already filled in and painted over.

As small groups of students filed in, accompanied by parents and teachers, a bagpiper played "Amazing Grace." Inside, they went back to the seats where they had been at the time of the shooting and wrote down their feelings.

Student Nichole Buckholtz said: "School is supposed to be this one place that is supposed to be safe. It's like a tomb now - a memorial."

Principal Larry Bentz said that when he first went in, "I sat in a corner and probably cried for 45 minutes."

Suspect on suicide watch

The murder suspect, Kipland Kinkel, spent Monday on suicide watch at a juvenile detention centre, accused of shooting and killing his parents in their home, then driving to school and opening fire in a crowded cafeteria with a .22-calibre semi-automatic rifle.

Also on Monday, the wounded wrestler hailed as a hero for overpowering Kinkel was discharged from hospital. Jake Ryker, 17, was shot in the chest and hand.

A day before the rampage, Kinkel had been arrested and suspended for allegedly buying a gun from another boy on the school grounds and putting it in his locker.

A longtime friend of the Kinkel family, Scott Keeney, said that gun was stolen from him and that William Kinkel called the afternoon of his son's arrest to apologise.