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February 6, 2014 Douglas County, Colorado | Volume 27, Issue 12 A publication of
highlandsranchherald.net
Mother, son die in murder-suicide Woman injured fleeing scene of standoff By Chris Rotar
crotar@coloradocommunitymedia.com
Douglas County Sheriff ’s Office investigators were on scene Feb. 1 at a home on Fox Hunt Circle in Highlands Ranch where a shooting left two dead the previous night. Photo by Chris Rotar
Motorists slowly passed the home on Fox Hunt Circle in Highlands Ranch, shaking their heads, or in the case of one passenger, cupping her mouth in apparent disbelief or shock. On the bitterly cold morning of Feb. 1, crime-scene tape and law enforcement vehicles were evidence of the suburb-shaking events of the night before. A teenager had killed his mother, then himself. Tatiana Klamo, 46, died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Doug-
las County Coroner’s Office. Her son, Robert Klamo, a 15-year-old Mountain Vista High School student, died from a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound. As investigators removed items from the home the morning after the shooting, a pair of second-floor windows remained open. Those were the routes a woman and a teenaged girl, the shooter’s sisters, used to escape the deadly situation, authorities said. The older sister was seriously injured as she fled. She remained in a local hospital as of Feb. 1, Douglas County Undersheriff Tony Spurlock said.
The mother
Tatiana Klamo ran a small business, American Stitch Factory, in Littleton. Her business partner, Brian McCoy, said she Shooting continues on Page 12
Athlete gets OK to appear in games Mountain Vista’s Bailey Roby can still play, with certain conditions By Hannah Garcia
hgarcia @coloradocommunitymedia.com After news broke that Mountain Vista basketball player Bailey Roby may have made his last court appearance on Jan. 24, CHSAA said it will let the senior — who wears two prosthetic legs — play with certain conditions. The story, originally published by Colorado Community Media before being picked up by numerous outlets, began making the rounds on social media late on Jan. 29. The hashtag #LetBaileyRobyHoop gained traction on Twitter, garnering hundreds of positive responses. A fellow student also posted a petition called “Put Roby Back In!” on www.thepetitionsite.com, which had gained 2,348 signatures as of Feb. 3. Bailey Roby called the social media campaigns “really, really cool.” “It’s all been really positive,” the 6-foot-4 senior said. Roby, born with just three toes on each foot, had both of his legs amputated as a baby. He was fitted with his first pair of prosthetics at age 3, picked up golf and baseball in elementary school and started playing basketball in the eighth grade. Pat McCabe, Mountain Vista’s athletic director, said he was “pretty damn proud of (the school’s) kids” Roby continues on Page 25
Bailey Roby practices shooting three-pointers prior to a recent home game. File photo
The students in Girl Scout Troop 2856 collected more than 4,000 food items for the Fresh Harvest food bank last week. Photo by Hannah Garcia
Girl Scouts feed hungry families Eldorado, Trailblazer students donate more than 4,000 items By Hannah Garcia
hgarcia@coloradocommunitymedia.com If you ask the students in Girl Scout Troop 2856, there was more than one Super Bowl last week. As part of a project to earn their bronze medals, the eight girls in the troop pulled together a weeklong food drive and education campaign about hunger at Eldorado and Trailblazer elementary schools in Highlands Ranch. The drive was a part of a national initiative called the Super Bowl of Caring, a Girl Scout event that happens every year around the NFL Super Bowl since 1990. “It’s been so wonderful to see what these girls have done and how much they care,” scout leader Rebecca Collins said. Asha Kukuda, daughter of co-scout leader Kay Kukuda, said her favorite part of the food drive was seeing the nonperishables stacked up high. “Going to the pantry and we saw all that food, I know we are doing the right thing,” the 10-year-old Eldorado student said.
The two schools had a competition to see who could collect the most cans and boxes of food. In total, the girls collected 4,390 food items, all of which are going to the local Fresh Harvest Food Bank, previously the Douglas County Panther Pantry. Eldorado won with 2,329 food items, while Trailblazer brought in 2,061. Eldorado averaged 3.96 food items per student with 588 students, while Trailblazer averaged 4.18 per student at 493 students. Douglas County schools have provided the food bank with more than 15,000 food items over the past six months, which helps serve more than 500 people a month, according to program director Jen Zander. The food bank uses around 5,700 food and toiletry items monthly, Zander said. “Our food bank is a little different than others in that instead of handing a family a box of food, we ask the individual families of their food needs and pack each family accordingly, taking into account dietary restrictions and family size,” Zander said. There has been a demographic shift in the last decade, with more “marginalized students” making their way into Douglas County schools, including minority students and hungry children, Eldorado principal Katy Kollacsh said.
COLORADO HUNGER STATISTICS • More than 25 percent of working families in Colorado do not have enough food to meet their basic needs. • Colorado has one of the fastest growing rates of childhood poverty in the nation. In just 8 years, (2002-2010, the rate of childhood poverty increased 86 percent in the state. • Children aged 0-5 are most at risk of living in homes without enough food. • Colorado has low participation in the major nutrition assistance programs, including: Food Assistance (SNAP/Food Stamp Program) - 51 percent, School Breakfast Program 46 percent, Summer Food Service Program - 13.2 percent *Statistics provided by Colorado Children’s Campaign and the US Department of Agriculture
“The image of Highlands Ranch is one of affluence, but that is changing,” Kollacsh said, citing an 8-10 percent slice of Scouts continues on Page 25
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