The Columbine High School massacre occurred on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, United States, when two teenage students, Eric Harris (born April 9, 1981) and Dylan Klebold (born September 9, 1981), executed a planned shooting rampage that coincided with Adolf Hitler's 110th birthday, killing 12 other students and a teacher before committing suicide. Some argue that one of the shooters killed the other and then himself.
The firearms used, one handgun, one rifle and two sawed-off shotguns were illegally obtained from adults during the year-long planning period for the killings. In addition to the firearms, the killers had constructed as many as 97 bombs of various designs and sizes and exploded many of them during the attack. Fifty-five shots were fired from the Semi-automatic handgun, which was used to kill 4 students and wound 2 others. At least two of the adults who knowingly violated the laws to provide these firearms have been sentenced to prison.
Chronology of events
Much of the massacre was captured on the highschool's security cameras.
The teenagers had already planted a bomb that they expected to explode at 11:00 a.m in the cafeteria. They had calculated that the highest amount of students would be in the cafeteria. A total of 900 Columbine students were on their lunch break. The cafeteria bomb, which was the boys' largest bomb was made of a pipe bomb surrounded by fuel cylinders. The boys had already planted other bombs around the campus, and expected them to explode too, yet most of them will never explode. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were in trench coats so that students did not know that they were smuggling guns into the school.
By 11:25 a.m., the bomb did not detonate. The boys fired shots in the cafeteria, then ran into the cafeteria shooting children and shooting the bomb in an attempt to detonate it, but to no avail. Had this bomb and the thirty to fifty other bombs that Harris and Klebold planted exploded, then upwards of three hundred might have perished. The boys' activity in the cafeteria is shown in the security camera shot in this article. The first 911 reports came reporting the shooting by 11:25. Deputies from Jefferson County, Colorado arrived on the scene at 11:30 a.m. They call other agencies for help, as they heard explosions and gunshots. The shooters moved upstairs, shooting at stray students in classrooms.
By 12 Noon, SWAT teams found explosive devices around the school, and ambulances starting taking the wounded. All of the ambulances headed to hospitals in the area. The call for additional ammunition to police officers in case of a shootout came at 12:20 p.m. The SWAT teams started checking every room in the high school in great detail by 12:30 p.m. Even desks and backpacks were examined. Students hid in closets, bathrooms, offices, and under heavy desks and/or chairs. Some of the students behind a heavy door called for help on cell phones. Some students fled the building, and some of those fled to another park. Authorities reported pipe bombs being found by 1 p.m.
Meanwhile, killers came it to the library, killing and injuring several more students. When it was clear that they weren't going to escape the building, the two committed suicide. Harris put a shotgun in his mouth and blew his brains out. Klebold is generally thought to have shot himself in the right temple. However, some say that Harris killed Klebold since Klebold was left handed. SWAT teams started to free hidden students by 2:30. The students and teachers were taken away and were questioned and offered medical care in small holding areas. Officers found bodies in the library by 3:30 p.m. Both of the dead suspects were boobytrapped with bombs.
By 4 p.m., the Sheriff made an initial estimate of 25 dead students and teachers; his estimate was 10 higher than the actual count. Police officers were searching the bodies of Harris and Klebold in the library. At 4:30 P.M., the school was declared safe. Yet at 5:30 p.m., more officers were called in as more explosives were found in the parking lot. At 6:15 P.M., officials found a bomb in a car in the parking lot. And so, the Sheriff marked the entire school with yards of yellow tape as a crime scene. All of the dead were still inside the school at the time.
Aftershock
In the following weeks, media reports about the two killers portrayed them as outcast "nerds" who were unpopular and ostracized by much of the school's population. Harris and Klebold were pheripheral members of a club called the "Trenchcoat Mafia" in which they wore heavy black trenchcoats. They were fans of violent video games such as "Doom", and they had an elaborate plan cooked up for not only the school shooting, but also a massacre in the neighborhood and, if they were unable to escape out of the United States, a planned hijacking of an airplane which the boys would then crash into New York City.
In the aftermath of the shootings, there was a great deal of debate about what "provoked" the killers and whether anything could have been done to prevent the crime. The reality of social cliques in high schools was a frequent topic of discussion. Many argued that the boys' isolation from the rest of their classmates prompted a feelings of helplessness, insecurity and depression, as well as a strong desire for attention.
It's been publicly revealed that Harris had been prescribed and was taking Luvox® (Fluvoxamine maleate), a powerful antidepressant, at the time of the shooting spree. Although Klebold's medical records have been sealed, there is strong reason to believe that he too had been prescribed one of several popular drugs for depression. Throughout the 1990s these drugs arguably became the standard response to a wide variety of behavioral problems in schools, especially for boys. An alleged side-effect of these drugs is a loss of empathy for other human beings. Of the various USA "school shooters" whose medical history has been made public, all were either currently taking or had recently gone off one of these powerful mind-altering prescription drugs given to them to treat various serious behavioral problems.
Other analysts argued that part of the killers' problem may have been a result of their constant exposure to violent imagery in video games, music, and movies, theorizing that their obsession with these forms of media may have led them to have trouble telling the difference between reality and fantasy.
In response to concerns over the causes of Columbine and other school massacres, many schools later instituted new anti-bully policies as well as so-called "zero tolerance" approaches to weapons and threatening behavior.
Shooters
- Eric Harris, 18
- Dylan Klebold, 17
Victims
- Cassie Bernall, 17 - Girl who allegedly said yes when killers asked if she believed in god before they shot her.
- Steven Curnow, 14
- Corey DePooter, 17
- Kelly Fleming, 16
- Matthew Kechter, 16
- Daniel Mauser, 15
- Daniel Rohrbough, 15
- Dave Sanders, 47 (Teacher)
- Rachel Scott, 17 - Also allegedly asked the same question as asked to Cassie, allegedly gave the same answer, "yes", and then died
- Isaiah Shoels, 18
- John Tomlin, 16
- Lauren Townsend, 18
- Kyle Velasquez, 16
Documentary
The massacre was one of the subjects of the 2001 Michael Moore documentary film Bowling for Columbine, about the culture of violence in the US.
See also: school massacres