CENTRAL OHIO -- Monday marks an anniversary of one of the most tragic cases of senseless violence this country has ever seen.
It was 10 years ago today when two students walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and opened fire, killing 12 students and a teacher.
It happened April 20, 1999.
Today, exactly a decade later, the 12 students and one teacher who were murdered that day are being remembered.
Sunday night, a candlelight vigil was held at the Columbine memorial.
More memorial services were being held Monday.
Phyllis Velasquez's son, Kyle, was among those killed.
"It's a whole new journey, and I think we've learned to go forward on that journey and not to dwell on what happened that obviously changed our lives," she said.
But those who were inside the school can still remember that day 10 years ago as if it were yesterday.
Nicole Nowlen was a sophomore at the time and was one of the nearly two dozen people injured.
We met her in February during a visit to Grizzell Middle School in Dublin where she was speaking on the topic of compassion.
Beforehand, she told us of that awful day.
"I was in the library the day that everything happened, and a lot of people know that was one of the worst places to be," she said.
She was shot in the side but survived. Thirteen others didn't.
"I hid under a table with a young man who died that day," Nowlen said.
These days, she speaks for an organization called Rachel's Challenge.
It's named after Rachel Scott, a student who died that day.
"Yes, it did happen. Yes, it could have been prevented, but let's turn the tables and talk about how we treat people because a lot of that, the mistreating of the two young men who did it, they were mistreated by a lot of their classmates," Nowlen said.
Ten years may have passed, but even 10 years from now, those impacted by the tragedy at Columbine and the community in which it happened won't be the same and likely never will.
If there's one thing the tragedy at Columbine High School did, it changed the way schools look at security.
NBC 4 has the bottom line on what steps local districts have taken in the last 10 years to keep your children safe.
For example, officials with Worthington City Schools said they have implemented a zero tolerance policy and have added a safe school team at every school that is trained in understanding the incident command structure used by first responders.
They've also worked with homeland security to look at the vulnerability of their schools.
Officials with Dublin City Schools said they've added security cameras and school resource officers.
They also said work will begin this summer to reconfigure all the entrances at schools so visitors must go into the office.
For additional information, stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com -- Where Accuracy Matters.
To submit a story idea or news tip, e-mail stories@nbc4i.com.
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