Hochhalter suffered devastating injuries. She told PEOPLE in 2004 that she had just stepped outside for fresh air when she heard a popping noise and suddenly felt something strike her back, which she initially believed was a paintball. As a friend helped her, she was struck again by a bullet, which this time hit a vein.

Anne Marie Hochhalter, who was partially paralyzed in the Columbine High School shooting but found the strength to forgive one of the gunman’s parents, has died.

Anne Marie Hochhalter, who was shot and paralyzed in the Columbine High School mass shooting in 1999, died on Sunday of natural causes, Fox News Digital has learned. She was 43.