“The Columbine Project” remains a respectful memorial to the event, and at the same time, provides a profound piece of theater that leaves the audience stunned, quiet and a little bit more understanding at the end." ~UCLA Daily Bruin
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in a suburb of Denver Colorado. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12 students and one teacher. They also injured 21 other students directly, and three people were injured while attempting to escape. The pair then committed suicide.
Early warning signs began to surface in 1996, when Eric Harris first created a private website on America Online. The original site was set up to host Doom levels that he and Dylan Klebold had created, mainly for friends. Harris also began a blog on the site, which included jokes and small journal entries concerning his thoughts on parents, school, and friends. By the end of the year, the site contained instructions on how to cause mischief, as well as instructions on how to make explosives, and logs of the trouble he and Klebold were causing. Beginning in early 1997, the blog postings began to show the first signs of Harris's ever-growing anger against society.
Harris's site had few visitors, and caused no concern until late 1997, when Dylan Klebold gave the address to Brooks Brown, Harris's former friend. Brown's mother had filed numerous complaints with the Jefferson County Sheriff's office about Eric Harris, believing him to be dangerous. The website was filled with death threats towards Brooks, and Dylan knew that if Brooks had the address, it would make its way to his mother and possibly result in problems for Harris. Indeed, Brooks Brown's parents contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and investigator Michael Guerra was notified of the site. Guerra discovered the website also contained violent threats directed at the students and teachers of Columbine High School. Other material included blurbs Harris had written concerning his hatred of society in general and his desire to kill those who annoyed him. As the date of the shooting neared, Harris also began noting the completion of pipe bombs on his site, as well as a gun count and hit list of individuals he wished to target, although it never mentioned his overall plot. As Harris had admitted to having explosives, Guerra decided to write a draft affidavit for a search warrant of the Harris household, but it was never filed.
On January 30, 1998, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were caught with tools and equipment that had been stolen moments earlier from a parked van near Littleton, Colorado. Both were arrested and attended a joint court hearing where they pleaded guilty to the felony theft. The judge sentenced them to juvenile diversion where they attended various classes together, including a class on anger management. Harris also started attending therapy with a psychologist and continued to do so for about a year.
While in diversion, both adolescents attended mandated classes and met with diversion officers. They placed out of the substance abuse class, despite Klebold's history of drinking and a dilute urine test. Both Harris and Klebold were eventually released from diversion several weeks early due to their good behavior, although they remained on probation. Harris wrote an ingratiating letter to the owner of the equipment they stole, offering insincere apologies and feigned empathy. During this time he would often boast in his journal entries about faking regret, and applauded himself at his deception. Harris continued under his psychologist's care until a few months before the attack, all while he and Klebold plotted; the pair felt as if they were at war against society and needed to take action toward those they hated.
Shortly after his and Klebold's court hearing, Harris' blog disappeared and his website was reverted to its original purpose of posting user-created levels for the game Doom. It was at this time that Harris began to write out his thoughts and plans in a paper journal. Despite this, Harris still dedicated a section of his website to posting his progress on the collection of guns and the building of the bombs used in the attack. After its existence was made public, AOL permanently deleted the website from its servers.
Both Harris and Klebold began keeping journals of their progress soon after their arrests. The pair also documented their arsenal with video tapes that were kept secret.
Journal entries revealed that the pair had an elaborate plan for a major bombing rivaling that of Oklahoma City. The entries contained blurbs about ways to escape to Mexico, hijacking an aircraft at Denver International Airport and crashing into a building in New York City, as well as details about the attacks. The pair hoped that after setting off bombs in the cafeteria at the busiest time of day, killing many hundreds of students, they would use their guns to shoot survivors as they fled from the school. Then, as police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, and reporters came to the school, bombs set in the boys' cars would go off, killing the emergency personnel, media, and law officers; this original plan failed when their main explosives did not detonate. The pair also kept videos that were used mainly as documentation of explosives, ammunition, and weapons they had acquired illegally. In these videos, the shooters also revealed all the elaborate and creative ways the two had thought up to hide their arsenals in their own homes, as well as the ways they would deceive their parents about their activities. Some videos contained footage of the pair doing target practice in nearby foothills, as well as shots of the areas of the high school they planned to attack. On April 20, approximately thirty minutes before the attack, a final video had the pair saying goodbye and apologizing to their friends and families.
In the months prior to the attacks, Harris and Klebold acquired two 9 mm firearms and two 12-gauge shotguns. A rifle and the two shotguns were bought by a friend, Robyn Anderson, at the Tanner Gun Show in December, 1998.[18] Harris and Klebold later bought a handgun from another friend, Mark Manes, for $500. Manes was jailed after the massacre for selling a handgun to a minor,as was Philip Duran, who had introduced the duo to Manes. The female, Anderson, never served a day of prison time.
At Columbine, the pair met near Harris's car and armed two 20 pound (9 kg) propane bombs before entering the cafeteria a few minutes before the A lunch shift began and placed the duffel bags carrying the bombs inside. Each bomb was set to explode at approximately 11:17 a.m. Coincidentally, a custodian removed the security camera video tape, rewound it, and placed a new tape in the slot at the same time they entered the cafeteria. Although the act of placing the bombs was not recorded, once the new tape was started the bags could be clearly seen. The bombs had enough explosive power to destroy the entire cafeteria and bring the library above crashing down, though they failed to detonate. Each shooter then returned to his car to wait until the bombs exploded. They intended to open fire on students fleeing the school through the main entrances once the cafeteria bombs detonated. As they returned to their cars, Harris encountered Brooks Brown, a classmate with whom he had recently patched up a longstanding series of disagreements. Brown was surprised to see Harris getting out of a car with a gym bag. Harris had been absent from a class test that morning. Brown told him but Harris seemed oddly unconcerned. Harris then warned him, "Brooks, I like you now. Get out of here. Go home." Brown, feeling uneasy, walked away. Several minutes later, students departing Columbine for lunch noticed Brooks Brown heading down South Pierce Street away from the school. Meanwhile, Harris and Klebold armed themselves by their cars and waited for the bombs to explode. When the cafeteria bombs failed, Harris and Klebold armed themselves with their weapons, met, and walked toward the building. They went to the top of the West Entrance steps, which was the highest point on campus. From this vantage point, the cafeteria's side entrance was at the bottom of the staircase, the school's main West Entrance was to their left, and the athletic fields to their right. Harris removed his trench coat and took out his 9 mm semi-automatic carbine, aiming it down the West Staircase. Daniel Rohrbough and two friends, Sean Graves and Lance Kirklin, were walking up the staircase directly below the shooters. Kirklin reported seeing them standing at the top, when suddenly they began shooting at him. All three fell wounded. Harris and Klebold then turned and began shooting south (away from the school) at students sitting on the grassy knoll adjacent to the steps, opposite the West Entrance of the school. Michael Johnson was hit but kept running and escaped. Mark Taylor fell to the ground, crippled, and played dead. The other three escaped uninjured. As the shooting continued, Sean Graves stood up and limped down the staircase into the cafeteria's side entrance, where he collapsed in front of the door. Klebold walked down the steps heading toward the cafeteria. As he descended, he shot Lance Kirklin once more in the face, critically wounding him.
As Daniel Rohrbough struggled down the steps towards the bottom of the staircase, Klebold walked up to him and shot him in the back at close range, killing him. He then continued down the staircase and entered the cafeteria, walking over the injured Sean Graves, who lay at the cafeteria entrance. It is speculated that Klebold did this because he was checking to see why the propane bombs had failed to explode. As Klebold stepped into the cafeteria, Harris began to shoot down the steps at several students sitting near the cafeteria's entrance, wounding Anne-Marie Hochhalter as she attempted to flee. After a few seconds, Klebold returned up the staircase to meet with Harris at the top. The west entrance of the school after the shooting
The two then shot toward students standing near the soccer field a few yards away, but did not hit anyone. They threw pipe bombs as they made their way towards the West Entrance, none of which detonated. Inside the campus, teacher Patti Nielson, seeing the commotion, walked towards the West Entrance with student Brian Anderson. She wanted to walk outside and tell the two students to "Knock it off", as she thought they were shooting a video or pulling a prank. As Anderson opened the first set of double doors, Harris and Klebold shot out the windows. Anderson was injured by flying glass and Nielson was hit in the shoulder by shrapnel. Reacting in fear, she quickly stood up and ran down the hall into the library where she began to alert students inside, demanding they duck beneath desks and remain silent. She then dialed 9-1-1 and concealed herself beneath the library's administrative counter.
As the shooting unfolded, Patti Nielson was on the phone with emergency services, recounting her experience, and trying to get students to take cover under desks. According to transcripts, her call was received by the 9-1-1 operator at 11:25 a.m. The time period between the call being answered and the shooters entering the library was four minutes and ten seconds. Before entering, the shooters threw two bombs into the cafeteria from the staircase in the South Hallway, both of which exploded. One can be seen on the security tapes. They then threw another in the Library Hallway, which also exploded, damaging some lockers. At 11:29 a.m., Harris and Klebold entered the library where 52 students, two teachers, and two librarians were hiding.
As he entered, Harris shot at a display case at the opposite end of the administrative counter, injuring student Evan Todd who was hiding under a copier table adjacent to the display case. Harris then yelled for everyone to "Get up!" so loudly that he can be heard on the 9-1-1 recording at 11:29 Staff and students hiding in the library exterior rooms said they heard the gunmen utter things such as "Everyone with a white cap or baseball cap, stand up!" and "All jocks stand up!"(wearing a white baseball cap at Columbine was a tradition amongst sports team members).The two then made their way down to the opposite side of the library, to two rows of computers. Evan Todd used the time to conceal himself behind the administrative counter. Kyle Velasquez was sitting at the north—or upper—row of computers; Police said that he had not hidden under the desk but it was later revealed that he was curled up under the computer table. Klebold shot at him first, hitting him in the head and back, killing him. The shooters then set down their duffel bags, filled with ammunition, at the south—or lower—row of computers and began reloading their weapons. They walked to the windows facing the outside staircase where they had just been a moment ago. Noticing police evacuating students, they began to shoot out the windows; police returned fire. Injuries and deaths in the library
After a few seconds, Klebold turned away from the windows and fired his shotgun at a nearby table, injuring Patrick Ireland, Daniel Steepleton, and Makai Hall. Harris grabbed his shotgun and walked over to the lower row of computer desks, firing his gun underneath the first desk in the row without looking to see who was under it. The shot killed Steven Curnow, who was hiding underneath it. He then shot under the next computer desk, injuring Kacey Ruegsegger.
Harris then walked over to the table across from the lower computer row, slapped the top twice with his hand, knelt down, and said "peek-a-boo" before shooting Cassie Bernall in the head. The recoil from the weapon hit his face, breaking his nose.
Next, Klebold proceeded toward another set of tables, discovering Isaiah Shoels, Matthew Kechter, and Craig Scott, Rachel Scott's brother, hiding under one. All were popular athletes at the school. He attempted to pull Isaiah out from underneath the table, but was unsuccessful. He then called to Harris, who left Bree Pasquale and joined him. Klebold and Harris taunted Shoels for a few seconds and made several derogatory racial comments towards him. Harris then knelt down and shot him in the chest at close range, killing him. Klebold also knelt down and opened fire, hitting and killing Matthew Kechter. Craig Scott remained uninjured as he lay in the blood of his friends, pretending to be dead. Harris then turned and threw a CO2 bomb at the table where Hall, Steepleton, and Ireland were. The CO2 bomb landed on Daniel Steepleton's thigh. Makai Hall then grabbed the bomb and threw the bomb south (away from the shooters).
Harris walked to the bookcases between the west and center section of tables in the library. He jumped on one of the bookcases and shook it, then shot at something in that general area. It is not known what he shot at, since no one could see him at that time. Klebold walked through the main area past the first set of bookcases, the central desk area, and a second set of bookcases into the east area. He then turned to the table to his left—east—and shot at it, injuring Lisa Kreutz and Val Schnurr with the same bullet. He then approached the table and fired again, killing Lauren Townsend.
Meanwhile, Harris went over to another table where two girls were hiding, bent down to look at them, and dismissed them as pathetic. The pair went over to an empty table and began to reload their weapons. Schnurr, who had been hurt badly, began to cry out at that point, "Oh, God help me!" Klebold went back to her and asked her if she believed in God. She floundered in her answer, saying no and then yes, trying to get the answer right. He asked her why; she said it was because it was what her family believed. He taunted her then walked away. Harris moved to another table and shot twice underneath it, injuring both Nicole Nowlen and John Tomlin. When Tomlin tried to crawl out, Klebold came around the corner and kicked him. Harris taunted his attempt at escape and then Klebold shot him repeatedly, killing him. Harris walked back over to the other side of the table where Lauren Townsend lay. Behind it, Kelly Fleming, like Bree Pasquale, sat next to the table rather than beneath it. Harris shot at her with his rifle, hitting her in the back, and killing her instantly. He continued to shoot at the table behind her, hitting Townsend and Kreutz again, and wounding Jeanna Park. An autopsy later revealed that Townsend had been killed by the first shot.
After Savage was gone, Harris turned and fired his carbine at the table directly north of where they'd been, hitting Daniel Mauser in the face at close range, killing him. Both shooters moved south from there and fired randomly under another table, critically injuring Jennifer Doyle and Austin Eubanks, and fatally wounding Corey DePooter. DePooter, the last victim of the massacre, was credited with keeping his friends calm during the ordeal.
At this point, several witnesses heard Harris and Klebold comment on how they no longer found a thrill in shooting their victims. Klebold was quoted to have said "Maybe we should start knifing people, that might be more fun." Both shooters moved away from the table and headed toward the library's main counter. Harris threw a Molotov cocktail toward the southwestern end of the library as he went, but it failed to explode. He came around the east side of the counter and Klebold joined him from the west, both converging near where Evan Todd had moved after the copier incident. The shooters made fun of Todd, Todd was also wearing his hat which meant that he was a jock and when the shooters wanted to see his face he lifted the hat up partly so they wouldn't see it.
Klebold asked Todd to give him one reason why he should not kill him, and Todd replied: "I don't want trouble". The shooters continued taunting him and debated killing him, but eventually walked away. At this point, Harris's nose was bleeding heavily, which may have caused him to decide to leave the library. Klebold turned and fired a shot into an open library staff break room, hitting a small television and then slammed a chair down on top of the computer terminal that was on the library counter, directly above the bureau where Patti Nielson hid.
The two walked out of the library at 11:42 a.m., ending the massacre.
At 12:02 p.m., the shooters re-entered the library, which was empty of all living students except for the unconscious Patrick Ireland and Lisa Kreutz. Once inside, they shot at police through the west windows again, without success. Then at approximately 12:08 p.m, they moved over to the bookshelves near the set of tables where Matthew Kechter and Isaiah Shoels lay; there, they shot themselves, committing suicide. Patrick Ireland regained and lost consciousness several times and crawled over to the windows. At 2:38 p.m., he attempted to exit. He fell out the library window and was caught by SWAT team members, in a famously televised scene. Lisa Kreutz remained injured in the library. In an interview she recalled hearing something like "You in the library." around the time when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were getting ready to commit suicide.
By noon, SWAT teams were stationed outside the school and ambulances started taking the wounded to local hospitals. Meanwhile, families of students and staff at the school were asked to gather at nearby Leawood Elementary School to await information.
A call for additional ammunition to police officers in case of a shootout came at 12:20 p.m. However, the killers had ceased shooting just minutes earlier. Authorities reported pipe bombs by 1:00 p.m., and two SWAT teams entered the school at 1:09 p.m., moving from classroom to classroom, discovering hidden students and faculty.All students, teachers, and school employees were taken away, questioned, and then offered medical care in small holding areas before being bussed to meet with their family members at Leawood Elementary. Officials found bodies in the library by 3:30 p.m.
By 4:00 p.m. the sheriff made an initial estimate of 25 dead students and teachers. The estimate was ten over the true count but closer to the total count of wounded students. He also stated that police officers were searching the bodies of Harris and Klebold in the library. At 4:30 p.m. the school was declared safe. However, at 5:30 p.m. additional officers were called in as more explosives were found in the parking lot and roof. By 6:15 p.m., officials had found a bomb in Klebold's car in the parking lot. The sheriff then decided to mark the entire school as a crime scene; thirteen of the dead, including the shooters, were still inside the school at the time. At 10:45 p.m., the bomb in the car detonated when an officer tried to defuse it. None were injured, but the car was damaged.
In the end, twelve students and one teacher were killed and twenty-four other students were injured as a direct result of the massacre. Three more were injured indirectly as they attempted to escape the school. Harris and Klebold are thought to have committed suicide about forty-five minutes after the massacre began.
On April 21, bomb squads combed the high school. At 10:00 a.m., the bomb squad declared the building safe for officials to enter. By 11:30 a.m., a spokesman of the sheriff declared the investigation under way. Thirteen of the bodies were still inside the high school as investigators photographed the building.
At 2:30 p.m., a press conference was held by Jefferson County District Attorney David Thomas and Sheriff John Stone, saying that they suspected others had helped plan the shooting. Formal identifications of the dead had not yet taken place, but families of the children thought to have been killed had already been notified. Throughout the late afternoon and early evening, the rest of the bodies were gradually removed from the school and taken to the Jefferson County Coroner's Office to be identified and autopsied. By 5:00 p.m., the names of many of the dead were known. An official statement was also released stating that there were 15 confirmed deaths and 27 injuries related to the massacre.
On April 30, high-ranking officials of Jefferson County and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office met to decide if they should reveal that Michael Guerra, a Sheriff's Office detective, had drafted an affidavit for a search warrant of Harris's residence a year before the shootings, based on his previous investigation of Harris's website and activities. They decided not to disclose this information at a press conference held on April 30, nor did they mention it in any other way. Over the next two years, Guerra's original draft and investigative file documents were lost. Their loss was termed "troubling" by a Grand Jury convened after the file's existence was reported in April 2001.
In the aftermath, a great deal of debate occurred about the killers' motivation and whether anything could have prevented the crime. Unlike many other school shootings, the fact that both shooters committed suicide made this one particularly difficult to assess. Answers were slow in coming. There would be no arrests or trial through which the victims could vent their outrage.
The preceding information is from WIKIPEDIA.COM. The Author of "The Columbine Project" neither approves or denies this information is correct. Wikipedia.com is a public reference edited by anyone with the use of the internet.
