For the latest coverage of the tragedy in Littleton, Colo., see our coverage in The Boston Globe's Boston.com. Wednesday's coverage -Rampage reconstruction -Families mourn victims -Colo. gun law debate -What went wrong? -False 'warnings' on AOL -Clinton speaks on massacre -World reactions Globe coverage -Need for prevention -TV coverage -'A suicide mission' Background -Map of Littleton -List of injured -Shooting chronology -Past school shootings -What was 'Trenchcoat Mafia'

LITTLETON, Colo. - Isaiah Shoels was shot in the head because he was the wrong color and in the wrong place at the wrong time - a black man in the Columbine High School library at 11:30 a.m.

Shoels, 18, who dreamed of becoming a music executive, was shot Tuesday by two schoolmates, who then stood in an acrid cloud of gunsmoke and marveled at their grisly handiwork.

"Oh my God. Look at this black kid's brain. Awesome, man!'' the killers said, according to witnesses.

"They said they didn't like niggers,'' sophomore Evan Todd, 15, told reporters after escaping the library. "So they shot him in the face.''

Shoels was the only black person among the 13 killed Tuesday by a pair of outcast classmates cloaked in black trench coats. Family members confirmed his death Wednesday.

Although witnesses said that the gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were gunning for minorities, District Attorney Dave Thomas said there was no evidence to support that.

"I've only seen the photographs, but it appears to me that most of the victims were victims because of where they were at a particular time, not that they were sought out,'' Thomas said. "I don't know what the motive was other than anger.''

Before turning their guns on themselves in the library, Harris and Klebold roamed the school, shooting randomly and laughing maniacally. They saved their worst for 45 students who were studying in the second-floor library.

The Rev. Paul Cercle, a minister from Rochester, Ind., said his granddaughter, Rachel Scott, 17, is presumed to be one of the four young women who were killed.

"It was a purely random shot,'' Cercle said. "It would have to be.''

Rachel's stepbrother, Craig Scott, 16, was in the library and survived the massacre only because he played dead in a friend's pool of blood. He later helped lead blood-spattered and frightened classmates to safety.

Parents of other victims huddled by their telephones Wednesday and held vigil at private shelters after gathering dental records and providing authorities with descriptions of their children's clothing.

Shoels' father, Michael Shoels, told the television program "Inside Edition'' that his son had conquered health problems as a child, including a pair of heart surgeries.

Isaiah had "a few confrontations'' in the predominantly white high school, but he had put those incidents behind him and was "outgoing,'' his father said.

It was unclear whether the gunmen, or their friends in their dark group called the "Trenchcoat Mafia,'' were involved in those incidents.

"I feel there were more responsible than the two parties in the school,'' he said. "The thing that happened could have been avoided. Someone had to know.''