From Deseret News archives:
Gun issues hit close to S.L. home
Free Lunch
When art instructor Randall Lake showed the painting to the Molens 15 years ago, he told them, "You can have it if you'd like, but it's not finished."
"That's OK," Norma responded with tears in her eyes. "Steven's life wasn't finished."
Her youngest child, a gifted writer with a bright future, was shot to death in 1992 in a girlfriend's dorm room, a few months before he would have graduated from Indiana University.
Five years earlier, Steven had posed for Lake in his tattered raincoat while tagging along with a friend for an art class one day.
"He stood out in a quiet way," says Ron, a retired architect who now paints landscapes with Norma in a sunny studio off the kitchen of their Salt Lake home. The Molens recently joined me for a Free Lunch of turkey sandwiches and tomato soup, hoping to draw attention to the escalating problem of gun violence in our country.
"A German would never have gotten a gun in his own country the German kids are safe," says Ron, 78. "But American kids are not. Steven was a really interesting human being who had much to contribute. The world is certainly poorer for him being gone."
Steven wrestled Andreas to the floor but was persuaded to let him go by a dorm supervisor who'd heard the commotion. As the intruder turned to leave, he pulled a pistol out of his backpack and shot Steven in the groin with an exploding bullet, then shot Susan several times in the face before killing himself. Steven died five days later at an Indiana hospital.
For more than a year his parents grieved, shocked that their gentle-natured son was killed in such a violent way. They kept thinking about the boy who wouldn't join the rest of his friends in shooting BB guns because he didn't want to kill squirrels and birds, only admire them. For months, Norma would only read books about near-death experiences and angels because nothing else eased her pain.
Then, the year after Steven's murder, the Molens got angry. Why was Andreas Drexler allowed to wander around campus with a handgun and a bag full of ammunition?
Recent comments
While were talking about eliminating the causes of gun violence,...
Thoughtful1 | Jan. 12, 2008 at 10:39 a.m.
This story raises some important issues. Thank you for writing it! I...
Marcus P. | Oct. 4, 2007 at 9:51 a.m.
If their son was armed he could have defended himself and the girl.
Right2Arms | Oct. 1, 2007 at 5:29 p.m.
- Auto, bank exec pay package limits 9:55 a.m.
- Iraqi bomb blast kills at least 6 9:49 a.m.
- Stocks rise on retail sales data 9:46 a.m.
- Kobe's decade: On top at start, end 9:25 a.m.
- Pope will write letter on abuse 9:24 a.m.
- ACC well-represented in College Cup 9:20 a.m.
- Climate draft has gaping holes 9:12 a.m.
- Raich wins World Cup super combi 9:11 a.m.
- Detained Americans face deportation 8:31 a.m.
- 19 Turkish miners dead in collapse 8:29 a.m.
- Disappearance called 'sususpicious'
- Defense witness goes on offensive
- LDS to emphasize helping needy
- Unga might enter NFL draft
- Nude bathers cited for lewdness
- Few details on missing W.V. mom
- Jazz manage a magical win
- BCS = power conference monopoly
- 5 officers lose their certification
- Pitta doesn't win award
- Letters: Global warming a lie
256 - TCU to play Boise in Fiesta Bowl
206 - BYU football: Bronco weighs in on Hall
193 - Palin signs books, chats with fans
167 - Utah/BYU rivalry can be more civil
151 - Cougars going back to Vegas
150 - Andersen apologizes for Jordan hoax
142 - Max Hall wants to look ahead
127 - Nude bathers cited for lewdness
127 - Jazz fall apart late at L.A.
110
David Rankin, one of Utah's youngest and ablest astrophotographers has...
There was a time when free shipping was rare. This holiday season, you...
Love him or hate him, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch knows how to get attention.
There's a difference between socialism (forced wealth redistribution through...
Re BP: Amen, I've been a CJ fan for a long time, with high hopes for him to...
there are 5 comments two of those are talking about springville and the game,...
If the the Nobel Committee likes ths guy so much, then by ALL MEANS THEY CAN...
So...Davis is good enough to be in there twice, but no LP? LP beat both...
Sounds like she is a good mom and good moms don't let their young boys go...
To all you anti-anti's, your hatred is well shown by you own lack of...
Unga's been a good, tough college back. I see him in the NFL, but only kinda...
You allude to all the other ordinances your community has put together so...
I agree that this was Sanford's decision and he deserves to suffer the...


