Columbine Author Tours U.S. School Shooting Sites

Wracked with sorrow, Columbine students in Clement Park grieve at the car of Rachel Scott, 17, one of 12 slain students. Mourners turned her car into a shrine.

Jeff Kass will lead town hall forums that aim to promote a national conversation, and propose answers.

DENVER, June 9, 2009 -- Jeff Kass, featured speaker and author at School Safety Partners' Colorado Rising event on March 20, 2009, is launching a series of intensive school safety and community recovery discussions around the country.

The author of Columbine: A True Crime Story, a victim, the killers and the nation's search for answers (Ghost Road Press) is translating his book of investigative journalism into an on-the-ground exploration of America's school shootings. Columbine: A True Crime Story was released just before the 10-year anniversary of the April 20, 1999 shootings. The book presents a controversial portrait of the killers, their families, and the common denominators among school shooters across the country.

"Columbine reaches around the globe: it is the world's most iconic school shooting," says Kass, 40, who lives in Denver. "But when it comes to tragedy, geography is destiny. Those who live closest to the sites of school shootings are among the hardest hit -- and also the most inspired to improve their communities.

"I think I have found some answers behind school shootings. But people at the ground zero of school shootings and across the country can add to the discussion and maybe debate my findings."

Kass has already had two readings in Denver. At the final stop in Houston he will reunite with the Shoels family, who he chronicles in the book and who moved to Texas after their son Isaiah was killed at Columbine. The tour includes:

• Blacksburg, Virginia* -- Christiansburg Barnes & Noble -- Monday, June 15 from 7 to 9pm
• Paducah, Kentucky* -- McCracken County Library -- Thursday, June 18 from noon to 1:30pm
• Jonesboro, Arkansas* -- Barnes & Noble -- Friday, June 19 from 5 to 8pm
• Pearl, Mississippi* -- Ridgeland Barnes & Noble -- Saturday, June 20 starts at 4pm
• New Orleans, Louisiana -- Borders bookstore -- Wednesday, June 24 starts at 3pm
• Galveston, Texas -- Galveston Bookshop -- Friday, June 26 starts at 5pm
• Houston, Texas -- Galleria Barnes & Noble -- Saturday, June 27 from 2 to 4pm

*school shooting sites

Kass, a former Rocky Mountain News reporter, covered Columbine and national stories out of the West for the News, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Newsday, and US News & World Report. His book has been featured in the Associated Press, CNN.com, Denver Post, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC Nightly News, New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal.

Website: http://www.jeffkassauthor.com/