Victim, 15, 'was a very lovable kid'

By Tustin Amole
Scripps Howard News Service

Dan Mauser

Dan Mauser didn't mind showing affection.

"He was a very lovable kid," said his father, Tom Mauser. "He got along well with his sister; they loved each other a lot. He wasn't a kid who was shy about hugging his mom."

Dan, a 15-year-old sophomore at Columbine High School, was one of 12 students who were killed in a shooting Tuesday. Fair-haired and bespectacled, the boy looks out from his yearbook picture, his smiling face full of promise.

"His last two report cards, he got straight A's," Mauser said. "He was not a jock."

Dan liked to play video games and was interested in current events. He was on the debate team and the cross-country squad, Mauser said.

"He was just a delightful young man," said neighbor Ken Greenlaw. "It's hard to describe a young kid who was so tragically taken from us."

He grew up in the affluent tree-lined neighborhood and often could be seen playing soccer with other kids on the block.

And he was always there to help.

"I had a heart attack a few years ago, and he used to come down and help me," Greenlaw said. "He used to come and rake the leaves because he knew I couldn't do it.

"We will all miss him in the neighborhood."