About 5,000 motorcyclists rode in a caravan in honor of the 16-year-old girl who was shot at her high school by a gunman who held her hostage.
The motorcyclists, including Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener, rode 40 miles to Platte Canyon High School from Columbine High School, the scene of the nation’s worst school shooting in 1999.
It was Wegener who made the call for SWAT officers to invade a classroom where authorities said Duane Morrison, 53, took Emily Keyes and other girls hostage and molested them on Sept. 27.
Morrison shot Emily in the head after SWAT officers stormed the classroom and then shot and killed himself, authorities said. The other hostages survived.
On Saturday, bikers paid donations to take part in the ride from Columbine to Bailey. The procession was so long that the first bikers, riding two abreast, pulled into Platte Canyon High School as the last bikers left Columbine.
Money collected from the ride will go to a fund to help the girls who were taken hostage.
Dan Patino, who came up with the idea for the ride, said he was stunned by its turnout.
“There’s not a lot to say,” Emily’s father, John-Michael Keyes, told the crowd. “This is amazing.”
