In the wake of the recent tragedy that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, there was a renewed call for gun control and common-sense gun legislation. Activists, politicians, and even students from Stoneman Douglas High School issued demands for action.
They were met with the usual rhetoric from groups such as the NRA and Gun Owners of America. It’s not the guns, they say. It’s mental health. It’s that the teachers themselves aren’t armed.
To address these claims, I thought I would take a look at what is perhaps the most notorious school shooting in American history: the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School.
Columbine
It was 11:15 AM on Tuesday, April 20, 1999.
On that sunny morning at Columbine High School in the suburb of Littleton, Colorado, 17 year old Richard Castaldo was sitting on the grass by the west entrance of Columbine High School.
Castaldo was having lunch with his friend, 17 year old Rachel Scott.
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| Columbine High School in 1999 |
Out of the corner of his eye, Castaldo saw two boys wearing long black trenchcoats walk past. One boy threw a shiny device which landed in the grass nearby. The device exploded, sending sparks into the air.
Castaldo didn’t think much of it. After all, the end of the school year was approaching, and the young man dismissed it as a crude senior prank. He paid no further attention to the two boys and continued talking to Rachel. It was 11:19 AM.
Then, Castaldo heard a voice yell “Go, go!”.
Looking up, he saw the two trenchcoat-clad boys again. Only now, they were brandishing firearms. This was no senior prank.
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| Rachel Scott, 17 |
Castaldo had no time to react, no time to run, and no time to take cover. He simply braced himself as the boy and his partner fired at him. Eight shots tore into his body, striking his back, chest, arm, and abdomen. He fell, paralyzed and bleeding, to the ground.
The two students, 18 year old Eric Harris and 17 year old Dylan Klebold, had just set into motion a deadly, violent fantasy that had been concocted over a year earlier. In just over an hour, they would secure their infamous place in history.
The Columbine massacre had begun.
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| The shooters: 18-year-old Eric Harris (left) and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold (right) |
Turning away from the downed Castaldo and Scott, Harris reloaded his carbine, took off his trenchcoat, and walked over to look down the stairway leading up to the west entrance.
Three teenage boys, Lance Kirklin, 16, and Daniel Rohrbough and Sean Graves, both 15, were walking up to the entrance. They had no idea what was happening.
Harris aimed his carbine down the stairs and opened fire, emptying his ten-round magazine into the three teenagers.
Dylan joined him, firing a single shot from a sawed-off Stevens 311D double-barreled shotgun down the stairway.
All three boys were hit and fell to the ground.
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| The guns used by the Columbine shooters (clockwise from top left): a semi-automatic Hi-Point 995 carbine, a semi-automatic TEC-DC9 pistol, a sawed-off Stevens 311D shotgun, and a sawed-off Savage 67H shotgun (nicknamed "Arlene" by Eric Harris) |
Harris reloaded his carbine with another ten-round magazine. Spotting five students standing near the soccer field, Harris turned and resumed firing.
16 year old Mark Taylor was bent over when a 9mm round tore through his thigh into his lung. As he fell to the ground, struggling to breathe, a second round tore into his back. Harris continued firing, hitting Taylor five more times in the chest.
Harris then fired his last three shots at Michael Johnson, 15, as he ran away. Johnson was hit in the left leg and in the jaw, but Johnson, unaware he had been hit, managed to leap over a fence and run to safety.
Harris reloaded his weapon again, aimed his carbine towards another group of students fleeing the gunfire and unleashed another barrage of bullets. Two 9mm rounds struck 17 year old Anne Marie Hochhalter in the chest and back, and she fell to the ground, partially paralyzed. As another student dragged Hochhalter to safety, Harris hurled a pipe bomb at the pair, and it exploded in the spot where she had fallen.
Meanwhile, Klebold walked down the steps of the stairs towards Kirklin, Rohrbough, and Graves, who were lying wounded on the ground.
Kirklin saw a human figure standing over him. He weakly called out “Help.”
“Sure”, Klebold said. “I’ll help you.” He aimed his shotgun at Kirklin’s face, and fired, blowing open the teenager’s jaw and critically wounding him.
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| Daniel Rohrbough, 15 |
Klebold walked past, stepped over the paralyzed Sean Graves and looked into the school cafeteria, where hundreds of students were now panicking as they realized their school was under attack. Klebold hurled a pipe bomb into the cafeteria before turning around, stepping on Sean Graves as he did so. "Sorry, dude", Klebold snickered to Graves as he began walking back up to rejoin Harris, who was firing his carbine at more fleeing students near the soccer field.
With most of the students outside either dead, wounded, or having fled, Harris and Klebold walked towards the glass doors at the west entrance, throwing pipe bombs and other crude explosives as they advanced.
Also walking towards the west entrance from inside the school were art teacher Patti Nielson and 17 year old student Brian Anderson. Nielson and Anderson thought the two boys were playing a crude senior prank. Nielson thought the “prank” looked too realistic, and wanted to go outside and tell Harris and Klebold to “knock it off”.
As Nielson opened the first set of double doors, she made eye contact with Harris. The young killer made a sly smile, raised his carbine and fired several rounds through the door windows, shattering the glass and wounding Nielson and Anderson with shrapnel and bullets.
Anderson lay on the ground, feigning death, while Nielson, her shoulder bleeding from a bullet wound, ran for her life back into the building.
Harris reloaded his carbine again as Klebold walked through the shattered doors of the west entrance. As Harris began to follow, he heard a familiar sound emanating from the west parking lot of the school: a police siren.
Harris loathed the police. Earlier, he and Klebold had been arrested for breaking into a van and stealing equipment. Harris had often written about killing police officers and taking revenge on law enforcement for his arrest. This was payback time. He turned back towards the parking lot.
Neil Gardner, a sheriff’s deputy and school resource officer, had arrived at the school parking lot. Gardner had little idea of what was going on. He had heard a report of a “female down” at the west entrance, and believed a car accident had taken place. As the officer exited his patrol car, Harris aimed his carbine at Gardner and opened fire.
Gardner ducked behind his vehicle as the ten-shot barrage of bullets whizzed past his head and arm, bounced off the sides of several vehicles and shattered the windshield and mirrors of a parked car directly behind him.
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| Sheriff's Deputy Neil Gardner, who worked as a school resource officer at Columbine High School, was the first policeman on the scene during the shooting, and exchanged shots with Eric Harris. |
Harris was out of bullets, having emptied his entire magazine at the officer. As Harris ejected his spent magazine, Gardner drew his sidearm - a .45-caliber SIG Sauer P220 handgun - leaned over the hood of his car, and fired four shots back at Harris. The teenager spun around back behind the wall of the school. For a brief moment, Gardner thought he had ended the gunfight.
Then Harris reemerged and began shooting again. Gardner had to duck behind his car as another barrage of bullets came his way, striking two parked cars in the lot and showering him with pieces of glass. When Gardner reemerged, Harris and Klebold were gone.
“Shots in the building. I need someone in the south lot with me”, Gardner reported over his radio. “Shots fired. Code 33.”
A Code 33 call is the among the most serious calls an officer can receive. It means a fellow officer needs immediate assistance. Police units from all over Littleton were now racing to Columbine High School.
Rampage
Inside the school, Klebold and Harris walked along the school’s North Hallway, shooting aimlessly at fleeing students and teachers and hurling pipe bombs into lockers.
Klebold chased a group of fleeing students, firing his TEC-9 pistol. One of his shots hit 17 year old Stephanie Munson in the ankle, but she managed to run out of the school, not even realizing she’d been hit.
Harris and Klebold walked over to a stairwell overlooking the cafeteria, where the propane bombs they had earlier placed had failed to explode. The pair threw several pipe bombs into the cafeteria before returning to the north hallway, laughing and hooting.
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| One of the many pipe bombs used by the shooters. This pipe bomb is inscribed with the word "Vodka" - Dylan Klebold's nickname |
By now, three police units were outside Columbine High School. Some officers were tending to injured students, while others were working to establish a perimeter. According to their training, which emphasized on containment rather than confrontation, none of the officers went into the school to stop the gunmen.
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| Students take cover behind a car in Columbine's west parking lot. The body of 15-year-old Daniel Rohrbough can be seen lying on the sidewalk. |
A few minutes after going inside, Harris decided to return to the west entrance, where officer Gardner was now joined by motorcycle officer Paul Smoker. Smoker was advancing towards the west entrance, using another officer's car as cover.
Harris returned to the west entrance, aimed his carbine out the window, and began shooting at the police once again.
"There he is!", yelled Gardner, who aimed and fired one round from his pistol at the gunman before taking cover.
Deputy Smoker looked up from behind his car and saw Harris shooting at Gardner. Aiming his Glock 17 pistol at Harris, Smoker quickly fired three shots at the gunman, pinning him behind the West Entrance doors. Harris retreated once again from the doorway and ran back into the school. Neither Gardner nor Smoker followed him inside.
In the meantime, the school’s athletic teacher, coach Dave Sanders, had just run from the cafeteria and was running through the hallways, yelling at students and staff to take cover in their classrooms and ensuring everyone had some form of protection. Sanders had earlier been able to evacuate most of the cafeteria, but he did not run. He was determined to save as many lives as he could.
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| Coach Dave Sanders runs from the school cafeteria. At the top of the stairs, he would have a fatal encounter with the gunmen. |
As Sanders and a student rounded a corner into the north hallway, they came upon Eric Harris, who had just returned from his second firefight with the police. Harris strode towards Sanders and the student and began firing his carbine as the pair ran in the opposite direction. He hit Sanders twice in the back, but missed the student, who ran into a nearby classroom and hid. After Harris rejoined Klebold in the North Hallway, Sanders managed to crawl into a science classroom and collapsed, bleeding, to the floor.
Meanwhile, Patti Nielson had entered the Columbine library, which was full of students. Nielson yelled for everyone to get under the tables and that there was a student with a gun.
Startled, the students hesitated, unsure of what was going on. Nielson again yelled for everyone to get down, and the students began to take cover underneath the library tables, shielding themselves with chairs as best they could.
In the meantime, Harris and Klebold were strolling through the hallways, cheering and yelling as they shot aimlessly into lockers and hurled bombs every which way. Heading towards the library, Harris and Klebold passed by a staircase heading to the cafeteria. One of the two shooters threw two pipe bombs down the stairs into the cafeteria; both bombs exploded, rattling the windows of the school.
As they continued to the library, Harris threw another pipe bomb into the library hallway; this bomb also exploded, damaging several lockers. Both shooters then strode into the library, which was packed with students and staff hiding under tables and behind desks.
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| The entrance to Columbine High School's library, where the worst of the massacre would occur. |
The time was 11:29. The deadliest part of the massacre was about to begin.
Bloodbath in the Library
Harris entered the library first, with Klebold right behind him. Teacher Patti Nielson was still on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, and the phone call recorded what transpired next.
Looking around the room, Harris screamed “Get up!”, and Dylan yelled “Everyone get up or we’ll blow your fucking heads off!”.
No one stood up.
“We’re going to blow up the library!”, added Harris. Still, no one stood up.
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| Kyle Velasquez, 16 |
"Get anyone with a white hat on", Harris told Klebold as he entered the library, referencing the popular attire for Columbine's high school jocks. "Anyone with a white hat is dead".
The two shooters proceeded into the library, passing the computer tables on their way to the library windows. Klebold noticed 16 year old Kyle Velasquez sitting beside, not under, the computer tables. Velasquez, a student left mentally disabled by a childhood stroke, did not understand what was going on, and did not attempt to hide himself further.
Klebold saw Velasquez as he passed by, aimed his shotgun, and fired, killing the boy with a shot to the back.
Walking to the window, Harris saw several police cars outside the school. By now, six police units were on the scene. Officers were leading frightened and injured students to safety. “Pigs are here”, Harris said. “Let’s go kill some cops.”
Harris began firing his carbine out the windows, shattering the glass, and raining shots down on police officers.
Neil Gardner, who had earlier exchanged shots with Harris and was now taking cover with fellow officer Kevin Walker, saw the gunman firing out the windows. Gardner fired three shots in return. Officer Walker joined in. He fired two shotgun blasts at the library windows, shattering the glass.
As Harris fired at the police, Klebold saw three students, Patrick Ireland, Daniel Steepleton, and Makai Hall, hiding underneath a table. Klebold smiled, raised his sawed-off shotgun, and fired once at the table. All three youths were wounded by buckshot pellets.
Eric walked back to the library’s computer tables, holding his own sawed-off shotgun. He yelled “Die, motherfuckers!” and, without looking, he shot once underneath a computer table, hitting 14 year old Steven Curnow in the neck and killing him instantly. Eric ejected the spent shotgun shell and fired a second time under the adjacent table. Pieces of buckshot tore through the shoulder and arm of 17 year old Kacey Ruegsegger. She began to gasp in pain as she realized she’d been shot.
Eric bent down to look at Kacey. “Quit your bitching!”, he sneered as he ejected the spent shell casing from his weapon and walked away, reloading his weapon.
Eric walked over to another table, where two girls were hiding. Striding around it, he slapped his hand twice on the surface and knelt down to look at the girls. He made eye contact with 17-year-old Cassie Bernall. “Peek-a-boo”, Harris smiled as he raised his shotgun with one hand and fired, killing the young girl instantly. When Eric fired, however, the recoil from the shotgun blast propelled the weapon back into his face at high velocity, shattering his nose bone.
“Fuck”, Harris exclaimed as he dizzily staggered to his feet, blood pouring from his broken nose. “Dylan, it hit my nose”, he exclaimed. "I broke my fucking nose."
The two shooters proceeded into the library, passing the computer tables on their way to the library windows. Klebold noticed 16 year old Kyle Velasquez sitting beside, not under, the computer tables. Velasquez, a student left mentally disabled by a childhood stroke, did not understand what was going on, and did not attempt to hide himself further.
Klebold saw Velasquez as he passed by, aimed his shotgun, and fired, killing the boy with a shot to the back.
Walking to the window, Harris saw several police cars outside the school. By now, six police units were on the scene. Officers were leading frightened and injured students to safety. “Pigs are here”, Harris said. “Let’s go kill some cops.”
Harris began firing his carbine out the windows, shattering the glass, and raining shots down on police officers.
Neil Gardner, who had earlier exchanged shots with Harris and was now taking cover with fellow officer Kevin Walker, saw the gunman firing out the windows. Gardner fired three shots in return. Officer Walker joined in. He fired two shotgun blasts at the library windows, shattering the glass.
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| Steven Curnow, 14 |
Eric walked back to the library’s computer tables, holding his own sawed-off shotgun. He yelled “Die, motherfuckers!” and, without looking, he shot once underneath a computer table, hitting 14 year old Steven Curnow in the neck and killing him instantly. Eric ejected the spent shotgun shell and fired a second time under the adjacent table. Pieces of buckshot tore through the shoulder and arm of 17 year old Kacey Ruegsegger. She began to gasp in pain as she realized she’d been shot.
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| Cassie Bernall, 17 |
Eric bent down to look at Kacey. “Quit your bitching!”, he sneered as he ejected the spent shell casing from his weapon and walked away, reloading his weapon.
Eric walked over to another table, where two girls were hiding. Striding around it, he slapped his hand twice on the surface and knelt down to look at the girls. He made eye contact with 17-year-old Cassie Bernall. “Peek-a-boo”, Harris smiled as he raised his shotgun with one hand and fired, killing the young girl instantly. When Eric fired, however, the recoil from the shotgun blast propelled the weapon back into his face at high velocity, shattering his nose bone.
“Fuck”, Harris exclaimed as he dizzily staggered to his feet, blood pouring from his broken nose. “Dylan, it hit my nose”, he exclaimed. "I broke my fucking nose."
Klebold began to laugh. "Why'd you do that?", he sarcastically asked Harris.
Dazed from the blow, Harris turned to look at another girl, 18-year-old Bree Pasquale, who was hiding next to a table nearby. Harris stared at Bree for a few seconds, before asking her “Do you want to die?”.
Terrified, Pasquale begged for her life. “Really, you don’t want to die?”, Harris taunted her. “Well”, he continued, “everybody’s going to die.”
Dylan laughed. "Just shoot her, man", he said.
"Nah", the killer replied. "We're gonna blow up the whole school anyway"
Still disoriented from the blow to his head, Harris walked away to join Dylan, who had just reloaded his shotgun.
Klebold was scanning the room. Klebold, holding his TEC-9, spotted the wounded Patrick Ireland trying to administer aid to Makai Hall, who had been shot in the knee.
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| Isaiah Shoels, 18 |
As Harris left Pasquale, Klebold approached another table, where Isaiah Shoels, Craig Scott, and Matthew Kechter were hiding. Klebold knelt down to look at Shoels. “REB!”, he yelled to Harris. “There’s a nigger over here!”.
Klebold grabbed Isaiah’s leg and tried to pull him out, but the 18-year-old athlete fought back with all his might.
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| Matthew Kechter, 16 |
Harris stood up and yelled “Who’s ready to die next?”. He lit a CO2 bomb and threw it towards the library windows. The bomb landed on the thigh of the injured Daniel Steepleton, but, before it could detonate, Makai Hall grabbed the bomb and hurled it away. The bomb exploded in midair, shaking the school, but wounding nobody.
Harris jumped up on a bookcase and shook it, trying to knock it down, but was unsuccessful. Jumping down, Harris, unable to knock down the bookshelf, fired three shots from his shotgun at the bookcase before walking away.
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| Lauren Townsend, 18 |
Valeen Schnurr began to panic, yelling “Oh my god! Oh my god!” as she realized she had been shot.
“Do you believe in God?”, asked Klebold. “No”, responded Schnurr, before quickly changing her answer to “Yes”. “Why?”, Klebold asked as he reloaded his shotgun. Before Schnurr could answer, Klebold commented "God is gay", and walked away.
Harris looked down underneath the table at Schnurr and Kreutz. “Pathetic!”, he screamed at the two crying girls before walking away and joining Klebold.
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| John Tomlin, 16 |
Harris walked to the east of the library, where he spotted 16 year old John Tomlin hiding with 16 year old Nicole Nowlen. Tomlin was holding Nowlen’s hand to comfort her. Harris fired his shotgun twice, hitting both Nowlen and Tomlin.
As Tomlin tried to escape from Harris, Klebold kicked him. “Where do you think you're going, huh?!”, taunted Harris as Klebold shot Tomlin four times in the head with the TEC-9, killing him instantly. Klebold turned to look at Nicole Nowlen. “Are you still breathing?”, he asked. She didn’t respond, and continued to play dead.
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| Kelly Fleming, 16 |
Harris holstered his empty shotgun and pulled out his 9mm carbine. He spotted a student hiding under a table, aimed his carbine, and yelled “Who’s under the table? Identify yourself!”.
“It’s me, John Savage.”, replied the student. Savage knew Harris casually, and he hoped that Harris would not kill him.
Klebold walked over. He also knew Savage casually. “Oh, it’s you”, he said.
Savage looked up at Klebold. “Hey, Dylan”, he said. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, just killing people”, Klebold casually answered. “Oh”, Savage cautiously spoke.
“Are you going to kill me?”, he quietly asked.
Klebold looked at Savage. “What?”
“Are you going to kill me?”, repeated Savage, louder this time.
Klebold thought for a moment, weighing his options. Finally, he looked at Savage and said “No, man. Get out of here. Just run.”
Savage hesitated. Maybe this is a trap, he thought. Maybe he’ll shoot me if I run.
“Get out!”, Klebold repeated, growing impatient.
Savage didn’t want to wait to see if the killer changed his mind. He sprinted out of the library as fast as he could, running for his life.
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| Daniel Mauser, 15 |
Mauser decided to fight back. He grabbed a chair and charged at Harris from under the table, shoving furniture at the gunman in an attempt to knock him over.
Dylan fired at Mauser with his TEC-9, but missed. Eric aimed his carbine again and fired a second time, hitting Mauser in the face and silencing the brave boy forever.
“Did he try to jump you?”, asked Klebold. “Yeah”, Harris responded. “He shoved a chair at me”.
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| Corey DePooter, 17 |
“Maybe we should start knifing people. That might be more fun”, said Dylan as he and Eric walked away. Although both shooters carried knives, they never used them in the massacre.
Klebold walked over to the librarian’s desk. He fired a round from his TEC-9 into a display case, shattering the glass, before walking over to where the injured Evan Todd was hiding.
“Look what we have here.”, said Dylan. He knew Evan Todd from previous encounters, and, according to some sources, Todd had previously bullied Dylan. “You used to call me a fag”, Klebold said to Todd. “Who’s a fag now!?”. Todd looked up at Klebold, who snarled “Give me one reason I shouldn’t kill you”. Todd, at a loss for words, simply said “I don’t want to get in trouble.”
This comment enraged Klebold. “Trouble?”, he sneered. His voice rose with his temper. “You don’t fucking know what trouble is, you piece of shit!”. He turned and fired a round into a staff break room, striking a small television. He turned to Eric. “I’m gonna let this fat fuck live”, Dylan growled. “You can have him if you want.”
Eric seemed as if he didn’t hear Dylan. “Let’s go the commons”, he said. By now, Eric had lost a lot of blood from his nose and was starting to get dizzy.
“Wait, I have one more thing to do.”, said Klebold. He walked over to the desk where Patti Nielson was hiding, grabbed a chair, and, in a fit of rage, slammed it down on the computer sitting on the desk.
As the pair left the library, one of the gunmen threw a Molotov cocktail towards the library windows, but it failed to explode.
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| The aftermath: Bloodstains in the library mark where victims of the Columbine massacre were murdered |
Both gunmen left the library at 11:36, seven minutes after entering. After the shooters left, all but two of the surviving students took the opportunity to evacuate down a nearby stairwell.
The Second Gunfight
After leaving the library, Harris and Klebold wandered back to the west entrance doors of the school.
By now, Neil Gardner, who had earlier exchanged fire with Harris, had returned to the south lot of the school, where he was joined by fellow officers Paul Smoker, Scott Taborsky, Daniel O'Shea, Thomas O’Neill, Harry Bloodworth, George Allen Gray, and Terry Manwaring. The officers were using a fire truck as cover while they tried to rescue the wounded Richard Castaldo from the west entrance of the school.
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| Police and EMTs use a yellow fire truck as cover while they attempt to rescue the wounded Richard Castaldo from the West Entrance |
Harris saw the officers attempting to rescue Castaldo and decided to take them on again. Leaving Klebold, Harris walked to the entrance doors and hurled a pipe bomb out the window. The bomb landed three feet away from Officer O'Shea and exploded, showering the air with metal fragments. Harris then stuck the barrel of his carbine out the shattered windows and once again began firing at the police.
Officer O'Shea, uninjured in the bomb explosion, quickly spotted Harris, took aim, and returned fire with a burst from his MP5 submachine gun, pinning the gunman back behind the doors. Officer Manwaring, positioned near a fence, also provided cover fire for his colleagues as they tried to rescue Castaldo. Spotting Harris at the entrance doors, Manwaring aimed his AR-15 patrol rifle at the gunman and fired three shots.
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| Taking cover behind the fire truck, police and SWAT officers lay down a barrage of suppressive fire as they exchange shots with Eric Harris near the West Entrance. |
SWAT officer Bloodworth saw the barrel of Harris' gun sticking out of the window, but couldn't see Harris himself. Aiming an AUG assault rifle at the west entrance doors, Bloodworth crouched near a small tree and fired six rounds at Harris. He was joined by fellow officer George Allen Gray, who fired 29 rounds from his MP5 submachine gun at Harris as he advanced along the wall.
Officer O'Neill also spotted Harris' gun sticking out from the door. Taking cover behind his car, O'Neill shot three rounds from his Glock pistol at the barrel of Harris' carbine.
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| A police officer (possibly Thomas O'Neill) exchanges gunfire with Eric Harris while another policeman takes cover behind his patrol car |
Harris had only managed to get off three shots at the police before receiving the barrage of return fire. Unlike in the first firefight, Harris was now vastly outgunned. His ten-shot carbine was no match for the SWAT officers’ submachine guns and assault rifles. He retreated from the west entrance doors and never returned.
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| The West Entrance doors, shattered and riddled with bullets |
However, even though they now had superior firepower, none of the officers decided to follow Harris into the school.
Aimless
Harris rejoined Klebold in the hallways and the pair wandered into the science areas. Seeing an open storage closet, Harris threw an incendiary bomb into the room. The bomb exploded, setting the room ablaze. Heading down the south hallway, Klebold and Harris fired aimlessly into an empty science room before returning to the North hallway.
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| Harris and Klebold shot aimlessly into this empty science lab while wandering the school |
The time was 11:44 AM, 25 minutes after the massacre had begun. Harris and Klebold had just walked down the stairs into the school cafeteria, which was now almost completely empty of students. Some students were still hiding among the overturned chairs, abandoned bags, and tables.
Earlier, the pair’s propane bombs in the cafeteria had failed to detonate. But if Harris was going to die, he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory.
Klebold walked past Harris into the cafeteria to check on one of the bombs as Harris knelt down on one knee, aimed his carbine at another duffel bag, and began firing shots at it in an attempt to detonate the other bomb. He was unsuccessful.
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| Eric Harris (seen kneeling on top of the stairs at right) fires his Hi-Point 995 carbine at one of the propane bombs in the cafeteria |
The pair walked into the school kitchen for an unknown reason before reentering the cafeteria. Harris picked up an abandoned drink and took a sip as Klebold examined one of the bombs, trying to determine why it hadn't exploded.
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| Harris and Klebold in the school cafeteria |
Frustrated, Klebold lit a Molotov cocktail and hurled it at one of the propane tanks. As the firebomb burst into flames, Klebold and Harris left the cafeteria. As they left, a gallon of gasoline attached to the propane bomb ignited, spewing flames and setting one of the duffel bags on fire. A minute later, one of the propane bombs exploded, shaking the building, shattering the windows of the cafeteria, and igniting a large fire in the vicinity. Chairs began melting from the flames and the school sprinkler system was activated as hiding students ran for safety.
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| One of the propane bombs explodes, starting a fire in the cafeteria. The fire was quickly extinguished by the school's sprinkler system. |
Outside, SWAT teams near the cafeteria heard the explosion and reported a fire in the building. Police officer Gregory Romero assumed that the shooters were firing from the cafeteria.
Dragging a wounded student with one hand and holding an AR-15 rifle with the other, Romero fired four times at the cafeteria windows. He was joined by fellow officer James Moneghan, who laid down cover fire for Romero. Aiming his .45-caliber Smith & Wesson Model 4569 handgun at the location of the explosion, Moneghan fired six rounds at the cafeteria wall as Romero dragged the injured student to cover.
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| Cafeteria chairs damaged by the propane bomb explosion |
At 11:55, Eric and Dylan wandered over to a school bathroom, where some students were hiding. “We know you’re in there!”, Harris taunted. “Come on out! It’s your time to die!”
But, for some unknown reason, neither shooter entered the bathroom. They simply wandered the halls aimlessly, firing shots at lockers, display cases, and the ceiling. Looking through some locked classroom windows, they made eye contact with hiding students, but didn’t attempt to kill anyone.
Endgame
Reentering the library, Harris walked towards the library windows, where he had previously exchanged shots with police. Now there were dozens of policemen outside, surrounding the school. A SWAT team was also preparing to enter Columbine High School, but from the other end of the building, far away from the shooters.
The time was 12:03 PM.
In what may have been a suicide-by-cop attempt, Harris threw a pipe bomb out the window at the officers. The bomb exploded, and a piece of shrapnel wounded SWAT captain Vincent DiManna in the face. Harris and Klebold then began firing their weapons out the window at the police and EMTs.
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| Smoke erupts from the library windows as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shoot at police |
They weren’t able to get off too many shots. Within seconds, the officers began returning fire.
SWAT officer Daniel O’Shea, who had earlier been caught in the crossfire with the gunmen at the west entrance, saw muzzle flashes coming from the library windows. Aiming his MP5 submachine gun at Harris, O'Shea fired 21 rounds at the shooters, pinning them behind the windows.
Officer Mark Drajem, who had just arrived on scene, also fired twice at the gunmen with his .223-caliber AR-15 patrol rifle, which jammed on the third round. He was joined by SWAT officer Harry Bloodworth, who had earlier exchanged fire with Harris. Bloodworth got off 20 more rounds at the gunmen from his AUG assault rifle, pinning the shooters down and forcing them to take cover.
Receiving a heavy barrage of return fire, Harris and Klebold retreated back into the library. Both shooters headed for the bookcases.
The time was now 12:06 PM. A six-man SWAT team had just entered the building on the other side of the school. However, because of conflicting reports regarding the number and location of the shooters, the SWAT team had to clear out every room as they proceeded towards the library.
It would be three hours before they would finally reach the other side of the building.
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| The Denver SWAT team arrives at Columbine High School. It would ultimately take them more than three hours to secure the building. |
Back at the library, Klebold smashed a Molotov cocktail on a nearby table and ignited the spilled liquid, setting the table alight. Harris dropped his carbine, sat down against a bookcase, and aimed the barrel of his sawed-off shotgun towards the roof of his mouth, holding it between his legs. Klebold knelt on both knees and aimed his TEC-9 pistol to the left side of his head.
Patti Nielson was hiding in a library storage room when she heard two voices yelling out in unison: “One! Two! Three!”.
The blast of a shotgun sounded. Then came the dull crack of a pistol shot.
Harris and Klebold had shot themselves.
An autopsy determined that Harris had died instantly. The shotgun blast had blown off the entire top of his skull and front side of his head, blasting his brain to pulp.
Klebold wasn’t so lucky. His shot shredded his left temple, but wasn’t immediately fatal, and he ended up drowning to death in his own blood as it pooled in his lungs and throat.
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| Surrounded by their weapons, Eric Harris (left) and Dylan Klebold (right) lie dead in the Columbine library. The pair committed suicide about 49 minutes after beginning their massacre. |
The massacre was over, 49 minutes after it had begun. The time was 12:08 PM.
But the horror of the day was far from over.
SWAT to the Rescue?
Outside the school none of the police officers knew that the gunmen were dead. Because Klebold and Harris had been wandering around the school, the officers had no idea where the gunmen were and didn’t even have accurate information regarding the number of shooters.
At about 1:00 PM, another Jefferson County SWAT team entered the school through the cafeteria windows. Smoke shrouded the entire scene. The fire alarm was still blaring and the fire sprinklers were still running, flooding the entire room with water.
Inside the cafeteria, the SWAT team came upon some hiding, terrified students. Seeing the SWAT officers carrying assault rifles, the students began to panic. Some thought that the shooters had returned, and it took the SWAT team several minutes to calm the students down.
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| SWAT officers lead frightened students to safety as they evacuate and secure Columbine High School |
Proceeding through the cafeteria, the SWAT officers came upon a special education room which was locked shut. The officers had to clear every room before proceeding, and this room was no exception.
Unable to open the doors, SWAT officer Don Kraemer fired four breaching rounds from his shotgun at the door locks, blasting the doors off their hinges.
Hearing the gunfire, police outside believed the gunmen were still active and firing at people. Students that were leaving the building took cover once again in their rooms.
Meanwhile, by the West Entrance, SWAT officers were still unable to enter the building, as they were attempting to ascertain whether the gunmen were preparing an ambush. For all the police knew, Harris and Klebold could be lying in wait for the officers to enter and then gun them down.
SWAT officer O'Shea was ordered to lay down cover fire to see if it would provoke a response from the killers. O'Shea aimed his MP5 submachine gun and fired a 21-round volley at the West Entrance doors and the library emergency exit door. There was no response, but, as before, the gunfire confused numerous other police officers, who again believed the gunmen were actively shooting at students and teachers.
Incidents like these confused police and first responders. The SWAT teams had to proceed with extra caution, clearing each room they came upon before proceeding to the next one.
It would be three hours before the SWAT team would reach the library.
Too late
In the meantime, wounded teacher Dave Sanders was still lying in the science room near the West Entrance. Tending to him were several students and staff, who had tried to staunch his bleeding using shirts.
For over three hours, the students called for help, even putting up a sign in the window reading “1 BLEEDING TO DEATH”. Sanders had been shot within the first ten minutes of the massacre, but it wasn’t until 2:45, over 3 hours later, that the SWAT team would finally reach him.
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| Students put this sign in the window in an attempt to alert rescuers to Dave Sanders' condition, but help came too late |
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| Dave Sanders, 47 |
A paramedic arrived at 3:00 PM, but by then it was too late. Dave Sanders had died from his wounds. He was the last person to die in the massacre, bringing the total death toll to 15 people.
It would not be until 3:30 PM that the SWAT team would finally reach the library, which, by that time, was empty of all but one surviving student, the injured Lisa Kreutz. Although she was near death by the time she was evacuated, she survived and made a full recovery.
Aftermath: Gun control and police tactics
The shooting at Columbine High School was, at the time, the deadliest school massacre in American history since 1966.
The Columbine massacre was not the first mass shooting at an American high school, but, after the massacre, attitudes towards almost everything from guns to bullying changed drastically.
After Columbine, zero-tolerance policies towards bullying and threats in schools were implemented. Police agencies across the country altered their tactics to focus on intervention, not containment, in the event of an active-shooter incident.
And, for perhaps the first time, there was a serious uproar of demand for gun control measures and gun legislation from millions of people across the United States and the world.
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| In the wake of the massacre at Columbine, there was a massive demand by the public for gun control laws to be passed. This anti-NRA rally was hosted by Tom Mauser, whose 15-year-old son, Daniel, was killed at Columbine. |
Today, almost 19 years later, the massacre at Columbine has been overshadowed by countless more mass shootings, at places like Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and, most recently, Stoneman Douglas.
Of course, there is no doubt that action needs to be taken regarding guns in the United States. We are in dire need of sensible gun legislation regulating the sale of assault weapons, large-capacity magazines, and instituting a more rigorous system of background checks and mental health evaluations for people purchasing guns.
None of this, however, would have prevented the Columbine shooters from getting their weapons. Both Harris and Klebold obtained their weapons through illegal means. Klebold purchased his TEC-9 from a friend, Mark Manes, who sold it to Klebold through a private purchase. Manes knew that Klebold was too young to own a gun, but sold him the TEC-9 anyway.
Harris obtained his carbine and the two shotguns by having a female friend, Robyn Anderson, buy them at a gun show in Denver. Anderson was legally old enough to own a gun, and she had no criminal record or any other reason for the gun dealer to deny her the purchase.
However, even though background checks would not have prevented Klebold and Harris from obtaining their weapons, there have been countless other mass shootings where legislation like this would have prevented mass shooters from getting the guns they used to massacre people.
Jared Lee Loughner, who murdered six people and wounded several others, including congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, at a mass shooting in Arizona, bought his gun legally, even though he had a history of mental illness and disturbing social media posts.
Devin Kelly, the man who massacred 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, had been dishonorably discharged from the military and had a history of domestic violence, and yet he was also able to purchase a weapon.
And, most recently, Nikolas Cruz, the shooter at Stoneman Douglas High School, was able to purchase an assault rifle despite the fact he had a history of animal cruelty, violence, and had been expelled from his high school for making threats against faculty and students.
Police reliability and tactics
In addition to gun control, however, I thought it would be prudent to analyze and discuss the police response at Columbine and to examine the reliability of police responses in active-shooter situations.
Many high schools across the United States, especially in the years since Columbine, have armed policemen and school resource officers stationed on campus.
It is true that armed policemen can provide both a sense of security to students and a threat to potential school shooters. In fact, school shooters almost always take their own lives upon the arrival of police at the scene rather than engage them in a gunfight.
This was not the case at Columbine, however. Police were not delayed in responding to the massacre; Harris and Klebold had only been shooting for about two or three minutes before Officer Gardner arrived on scene and exchanged gunfire with the shooters. However, Gardner did not follow the gunmen when they retreated into the school. Instead, according to his training, he remained outside to wait for backup.
Police agencies have since altered their tactics to confront, rather than contain, active shooters in such a scenario, but, as was seen at Parkland, not all officers are willing to follow such tactics, and, in these situations where lives hang in the balance, every second counts.
Arming teachers?
An argument coming from the NRA in recent weeks is the proposal of arming teachers in the event of a school shooting. Why wait for police, they say, when a teacher could simply draw a concealed-carry weapon and kill a potential shooter?
Setting aside the budget problems of arming and properly training the hundreds of thousands of teachers nationwide, one must also address the problem of shooting accuracy.
To do this, I will examine the shooting accuracy, or lack thereof, that the police had when engaging the shooters at Columbine.
At least four or five times during the massacre, Harris and Klebold exchanged gunfire with responding officers. However, despite firing a total of 141 rounds at the perpetrators, none of the policemen managed to hit either one of the suspects.
Policemen are trained specifically with the handling of firearms, and yet none of the 12 officers who fired their weapons at Columbine hit their targets. While they may have temporarily distracted the shooters from some potential victims, they did not neutralize the threat.
If even a dozen professionally-trained officers, some of whom were in SWAT teams, could not hit their targets at Columbine, why would a teacher with, at best, rudimentary firearms training be able to do any better?
We must also address the confusion that responding police would have when dealing with armed teachers. If teachers were armed during a school shooting, responding police would have no idea who the shooter was. We have seen countless videos of zealous, trigger-happy policemen becoming spooked and firing at people who, in actuality, posed no threat to officers or anyone else. Add armed teachers to that mix, and one would end up with a chaotic situation in which police could be firing at teachers rather than confronting a shooter.
Mental health: A study of the Columbine journals
Another argument commonly heard from the NRA is that mental health problems, not gun prevalence, are to blame for mass shootings. We should focus more on mental health, they say, than gun control.
However, this argument overlooks an important characteristic of many mass shooters: a large number are not mentally ill.
For instance, we should look at Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. In the aftermath of the Columbine shootings, it was revealed that Harris and Klebold both kept journals and other writings that provide an insight into their minds.
Dylan Klebold’s journal paints the picture of a troubled, nihilistically-depressed teenager. In his journal, Klebold wrote about philosophy, his family, and his search for true love and for a girl to be his “soulmate”. Dylan wrote about his frustrations with not being able to find a girlfriend. He wrote down the names of the girls in his school whom he loved but knew he could never get, framing their initials in hearts.
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| Dylan Klebold kept a journal in which he described his search for true love and lamented his loneliness. The journal indicates that Klebold suffered from extreme depression and had long been considering suicide. |
Dylan also wrote about his inability to interact with others. “I don’t know what I do wrong with people (mainly women) - it’s like they all set out to hate & ignore me”, he wrote in his journal.
He also wrote extensively about suicide, writing passages like “I hate my life...I want to die so bad”. Klebold also wrote about how he wanted to get a gun to use on a “poor S.O.B” - himself.
Eric Harris, however, paints a completely different picture. Far from Dylan’s depressed ravings and suicidal thoughts, Eric’s journal reveals the portrait of a vile psychopath with sadistic tendencies and disturbing, grandiose fantasies mixed in with racist screeds, admiration of the Nazis, Adolf Hitler, Joe Arpaio, and mass murderers like Timothy McVeigh, and a grotesque, seething hatred of humanity.
Eric’s journal is filled with pictures of weapons, people on fire, decapitated heads, swastikas, and graphic fantasies about revenge, torture, and mass murder, topped off with long, arduous screeds ranting against humanity and society.
One of these fantasies involved him and Dylan setting off bombs all over Denver, killing police officers, hijacking planes, and crashing them into New York City. Eric also wrote about his hatred for “retards” and proclaimed that all people with mental disabilities should “swallow a bullet”.
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| In contrast to Dylan Klebold's journal, which paints the picture of a lovesick, nihilistically-depressed teenager, Eric Harris' journal is full of violent, sadistic ideations and graphic fantasies about revenge, torture, rape, and mass murder - traits indicative of malignant narcissism and psychopathy. |
Like Dylan, Eric also wrote about his arrest by the police for breaking into a van. Unlike Dylan, who blamed himself for the incident, Eric blamed the owner of the van and the police officer who arrested him.
“Isn’t America supposed to be the land of the free?”, he wrote. “How come if I’m free I can’t deprive a stupid fucking dumbshit of his possessions if he leaves them sitting in the front seat of his fucking van, out in plain sight, in the middle of fucking nowhere, on a fri-FUCKING-day night? NATURAL SELECTION! Fucker should be shot!”
While Dylan wrote extensively about his search for a girlfriend, Eric rarely wrote about girls. However, when he did write about girls, Eric took on a very different tone than Dylan. Rather than write about his search for true love, Eric’s journal reveals graphic fantasies of kidnapping girls from his school, raping and torturing them in his room, and then eating them alive.
Harris was not mentally ill by any standard. He was simply a sadistic psychopath with no regard for life and a complete inability to empathize with anyone.
Psychopathy is not a mental illness; it is a personality disorder. People like Harris know what they are doing is wrong, but don’t care. They feed off of the pain of others, taking sadistic pleasure out of it. Psychopaths are also notorious for their manipulativeness and charm. To an outsider, Eric Harris would seem like any other kid. There would be no indication of mental illness, because Harris was not mentally ill; he was, in the truest sense of the word, evil.
So what is the solution?
With all this in mind, the solution cannot involve arming teachers or relying exclusively on police. Mental health is a good place to start, but mental evaluations would likely not work on psychopaths like Harris, who could easily charm their way out of treatment.
It is clear that something must be done about guns. The problem is that it is too easy to obtain a gun in most of the United States. We can increase the scrutiny of background checks, but that will not prevent people from stealing guns or from obtaining them through private purchases. We can regulate the sale of assault weapons, but there is little agreement as to what an assault weapon really is.
So what can we do? Well, the first thing to do is to have a reasonable, open discussion about America’s gun problem. Like drug rehabilitation or AA meetings, our first step is to admit we have a problem.
Then we can start proposing sensible gun control laws, such as increased background checks and regulation of certain firearms.
This is a process that must start now. Lives hang in the balance, and every second we waste bickering over this issue sets us further back from addressing an issue that should have been addressed long ago.
Good analysis. A very balanced and detailed write-up. Well done. Agreed, 100%
ReplyDeleteThanks, Eddie!
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