DENVER -- A federal district court judge on Tuesday threw out eight of nine lawsuits filed by the families of the Columbine victims.

Video

Why Sanders' Case Is Only Suit To Move Forward Columbine Parent Reacts To Suits' Dismissal

The only lawsuit that was not dismissed by Judge Lewis Babcock was the one filed by Angela Sanders, daughter of Columbine teacher Dave Sanders.

The families of the dead and injured shooting victims filed negligence and wrongful-death lawsuits against the sheriff's department and the school district in April, 7NEWS reported. The nine families argued that the sheriff's deputies should have and could have done more to protect the victims.

The lawsuit filed by Angela Sanders argued that police commanders never even tried to save Dave Sanders and prevented others from rescuing him. Dave Sanders was shot twice in the back and eventually bled to death in a science room. Rescuers reached him five hours after the massacre.

Babcock noted in his decision that authorities knew the gunmen were dead about 3½ hours before they reached Sanders. Babcock said that Sheriff John Stone and his command staff knew Sanders was fighting for his life and knew Sanders' exact location in the school.

"We have one critical ... is conscious. Multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back region," an officer said on a dispatch tape at the time.

Babcock on Tuesday noted how Sanders heroically saved numerous students.

Babcock said the sheriff's officials demonstrated "a deliberate indifference towards Dave Sanders' plight shocking to the conscience of this federal court."

As Sanders lay bleeding to death, he asked his students with him to hold up pictures of his family, which he had carried in his wallet, so that he could see them one last time.

Peter Grenier, lawyer for Angela Sanders, said Babcock's decision was bittersweet.

"It's bitter in a sense for Angela, because it certainly confirms the viability of her claims that law-enforcement officers' actions actually were a cause of her father's death," he said. "But we're very pleased the judge followed the black letter of the law and allowed the case to go forward."

In the other suits, Babcock ruled that the sheriff's and school officials were shielded under state governmental immunity laws, which gave them wide leeway in their actions while on the job, legal analyst Andrew Cohen said.

"The sheriff defendants were confronted with an unprecedented and rapidly evolving violent situation. Reasonable persons could not conclude that the sheriff defendants' conduct was so extreme in degree, as to be 'atrocious' and 'utterly intolerable,'" Babcock wrote.

COLUMBINE DOCUMENTS Request For A Search Warrant Official Columbine Report Of Events In Library Parents Claim Police Cover Up Other Columbine Materials Other School Shootings

"Holding police officers liable in hindsight for every injurious consequence of their actions would paralyze the functions of law enforcement," he wrote in another of the nine decisions.

Babcock acknowledged that his opinion likely would be appealed.

Attorney James Rouse, who represents several victims' families, was disappointed in the decision.

"We're in a situation now where we may never know what happened at Columbine," he said.

Brian Rohrbough, father of slain student Daniel Rohrbough, told 7NEWS that all he wanted was the truth surrounding his son's death and the entire Columbine massacre. His lawsuit did not ask for any money, only answers, he said.

Rohrbough believes an officer's stray bullet not only killed Daniel, but led to more deaths.

"Then they realized they made a mistake and a command decision was made for everyone to pull back and wait for the SWAT team. And everyone in the library died or was injured as a result of that," Rohrbough said.

In his ruling to dismiss Rohrbough's lawsuit, Babcock wrote,"While the law enforcement defendants' decision to 'secure the perimeter' and not enter the school might constitute negligence or arguably gross negligence, I conclude that the law enforcement defendants' actions or omissions do not constitute willful and wanton conduct."

Rohrbough said he's never accused the sheriffs of purposely shooting his son, but instead claims they covered it up, saying that the fatal shot came from Dylan Klebold's gun.

Rohrbough said what's so frustrating is the judge based much of his opinion on Colorado's governmental immunity.

"I think governmental immunity falls away anytime you start putting out misinformation and lying to the public about what happened," Rohrbough said.

Plaintiff Evan Todd, 18, who was wounded during the attack, said he was not sure if he planned to appeal.

"I'm just gonna keep striving, moving on in my life. I can't dwell on it forever, but I'll never forget it," he said. "This just shows that if police are not going to go in a school to protect children, why would they protect anybody?"

An attorney for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department had argued that officers should not be held liable for their actions before or after the attack. They had argued that they have "no legal obligation" to provide aid and "no duty" to investigate or prevent crimes," 7NEWS reported. They said that they were shielded from liability by the state governmental immunity law.

The official response from Jefferson County on Tuesday was one of relief at Babcock's decision.

"The people responsible for these murders are Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and to place blame on anyone else causes only more pain and injustice," said Bill Tuthill, acting attorney for Jefferson County.

The families contend that Jefferson County authorities knew about Harris and Klebold's threats on their Web site and knew about the pipe bombs. The families say that Jefferson County sheriffs should have taken action.

Harris and Klebold shot and killed 12 students and Sanders and injured 26 people before taking their own lives on April 20, 1999.

The victims' families have already settled their lawsuits against the gunmen's parents and some of the people who provided guns used in the massacre.