The parents of a girl killed in a high school shooting in the U.S. visited on Saturday the elementary school in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, where eight children were killed by a man in a stabbing rampage in June 2001.
Bruce Beck and Dawn Anna, who lost their 18-year-old daughter Lauren in the April 20, 1999, massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., met with Hajime Sakai, 43, and his wife Chie, 44, whose 7-year-old daughter Maki was killed in the Ikeda incident.
In the Columbine massacre, two students shot to death 12 of their fellow students and one teacher before killing themselves.
Anna told the Japanese couple that such assaults at schools can be prevented, and that schools and parents need to work hard to increase security.
At Ikeda Elementary School, eight children were stabbed to death and 13 other students and two teachers were wounded by Mamoru Takuma, who was later convicted of murder and hanged in September 2004.
