Columbine High School Massacre (Part I)

The Columbine High School massacre was a school shooting and attempted bombing that occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado. The perpetrators, twelfth grade (senior) students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher. Ten students were killed in the school library, where the pair subsequently committed suicide. Twenty-one additional people were injured by gunshots, and gunfire was also exchanged with the police. Another three people were injured trying to escape the school. At the time, it was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. History. The crime has inspired several copycats and "Columbine" has become a byword for mass shootings.

In addition to the shootings, the attack involved several homemade bombs. Two of these were placed in the cafeteria, powerful enough to kill or seriously injure all people within the area, although they failed to detonate. Their cars in the parking lots were made into bombs which also failed to detonate, and at another location away from the school, two bombs were set up as diversions, only one of which partially detonated. The motive remains unclear; but Harris and Klebold planned the massacre for around a year, and hoped the massacre would cause the most deaths in U.S. history, which then meant exceeding the death toll of the Oklahoma City bombing; USA Today referred to the Columbine massacre as "planned as a grand, if badly implemented, terrorist bombing."

The police were slow to enter the school and were heavily criticized for not intervening during the shooting. The incident resulted in the introduction of the Immediate Action Rapid Deployment tactic, which is used in active shooter situations. Columbine also resulted in an increased emphasis on school security with zero tolerance policies. Debates and moral panic were sparked over guns and gun control laws, high school cliques, subcultures (e. g. goths), outcasts, and bullying; also teenage use of pharmaceutical antidepressants, the Internet and violence in video games and movies.

Many impromptu memorials were created after the massacre, including victims Rachel Scott's car and John Tomlin's truck. 15 crosses for the victims and shooters were also erected on top of a hill in Clement Park. The crosses for Harris and Klebold were later removed as it caused controversy. A permanent memorial began planning in June 1999. The Columbine Memorial opened up to the public on September 21, 2007.

Background

AOL website

In 1996, 15-year-old Eric Harris created a private website on America Online (AOL). It was initially to host levels (WADs) Harris created for use in the first-person shooter video games Doom and Doom II, as well as Quake. On the site, Harris began a blog, which included jokes and his thoughts on his family, friends and school. It also detailed Harris sneaking out of the house to cause mischief and vandalism, such as lighting fireworks, with his friend Dylan Klebold and others.

Harris worked at a fireworks stand, and had received several fireworks as a result. The mascot of Columbine High School (CHS) is the Rebels, and they called the sneaking out "Rebel Missions". Harris and Klebold adopted the nicknames "Reb" and "Vodka", respectively. Beginning in early 1997, the blog postings began to show the first signs of Harris's anger against society. By the end of the year, the site contained instructions on how to make explosives. Harris wrote: "the first true pipe bombs created entirely from scratch by the rebels (REB and VoDkA)... Now our only problem is to find the place that will be 'ground zero'."

Harris's site attracted few visitors and caused no concern until March 1998. Harris ended a blog post detailing murderous fantasies with "All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you as I can, especially a few people. Like Brooks Brown"; a classmate of his. Brown claims that Klebold gave him the web address, in an effort to warn him of Harris's threats of violence against him. Others suggest that it was in fact discovered by Brooks' brother Aaron Brown.

After Brown's parents viewed the site, they contacted the Jefferson County (Jeffco) Sheriff's Office. When investigator Michael Guerra accessed the website, he discovered numerous violent threats directed against the students and teachers of CHS. Guerra wrote a draft affidavit, requesting a search warrant of the Harris household. The affidavit also mentioned the discovery of an exploded pipe bomb in February 1998 and a suspicion of Harris being involved in the unsolved case. The affidavit was never submitted to a judge and therefore, went ignored.

Van break-in

On January 30, 1998, Harris and Klebold were arrested for breaking into a van parked near Littleton and stealing tools and computer equipment. They would subsequently attend a joint court hearing, where they pled guilty to the felony theft. The judge sentenced them to a juvenile diversion program. As a result, both delinquents attended mandatory classes such as anger management and talked with diversion officers. They both were eventually released from diversion several weeks early because of positive actions in the program and put on probation.

Nearly a year before the massacre, Klebold wrote a message in Harris's 1998 yearbook: "killing enemies, blowing up stuff, killing cops!! My wrath for January's incident will be godlike. Not to mention our revenge in the commons." The commons was another term for the school cafeteria.

Journals

Harris and Klebold kept journals, which were released to the public in 2006. In the journals, the pair would eventually document their arsenal and plan of attack.

Shortly after the court hearing for the van break-in, Harris reverted his website back to just posting user-created levels of Doom. He began to write his thoughts down in a journal instead. It shows a long period of methodical preparation for the massacre. Harris also typed out on his computer a plan for the attack, which includes possibly escaping to a foreign country afterwards, or hijacking an aircraft at Denver International Airport and crashing it into New York City.

Klebold had already been writing down his thoughts since March 1997. As early as November 1997, Klebold mentioned going on a killing spree.

Schoolwork

Harris and Klebold also used their schoolwork to foreshadow the massacre. They both displayed themes of violence in their creative writing projects. Harris wrote a paper on school shootings, and a poem from the perspective of a bullet. Klebold wrote a short story about a man killing students which worried his teacher so much that she alerted his parents.

Both had actively researched war and murder. For one project, Harris wrote a paper on the Nazis and Klebold wrote a paper on Charles Manson. In a psychology class, Harris wrote he dreamed of going on a shooting spree with Klebold. Harris's journals described several experimental bomb detonations.

Tapes

Harris and Klebold were both enrolled in video production classes and kept five videotapes that were recorded with school video equipment. Only two of these, Hitmen for Hire and Rampart Range, and part of a third have been released.

The remaining three tapes detail their plans and reasons for the massacre, including the ways they hid their weapons and deceived their parents. Most of these were shot in the Harris family basement, and are known as the Basement Tapes. Thirty minutes before the attack, they made a final video saying goodbye and apologizing to their friends and families.

In December 1999, before anybody else had seen them, Time magazine published an article on these tapes. The victims' family members threatened to sue Jeffco. As a result, select victim families and journalists were allowed to see them, and they were then kept from the public indefinitely for fear of inspiring future massacres. The tapes have since allegedly been destroyed. There are only transcripts of some of the dialogue, and a short clip recorded surreptitiously by a victim's father. The pair claimed they were going to make copies of the tapes to send to news stations, but never did so.

When an economics class had Harris make an ad for a business, he and Klebold made a video called Hitmen for Hire on December 8, 1998, which was released in February 2004. It depicts them as part of the Trench Coat Mafia, a clique in the school who wore black trench coats, extorting money for protecting preps from bullies. They were apparently not a part of the Trench Coat Mafia, but were friends with some of its members. They wore black trench coats on the day of the massacre, and the video seemed a kind of dress rehearsal, showing them walking the halls of the school, and shooting bullies outside with fake guns.

On October 21, 2003, a video was released showing the pair doing target practice on March 6, 1999, in nearby foothills known as Rampart Range, with the weapons they would use in the massacre.

In the early morning hours before the massacre, Harris left a micro cassette labeled "Nixon" on the kitchen table. On it Harris said "It is less than nine hours now," placing the recording at some time around 2:30 am. He went on to say "People will die because of me" and "It will be a day that will be remembered forever."

Weaponry

Guns

In the months prior to the attacks, Harris and Klebold acquired two 9 mm firearms and two 12-gauge shotguns. Harris had a Hi-Point 995 Carbine with thirteen 10-round magazines and a Savage-Springfield 67H pump-action shotgun. Klebold used a 9×19mm Intratec TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun with one 52-, one 32-, and one 28-round magazine and a Stevens 311D double-barreled shotgun. Harris's shotgun was sawed-off to around 26 inches (0.66 m) and Klebold shortened his shotgun's length to 23 inches (0.58 m), a felony under the National Firearms Act.

Tanner Gun Show

On November 22, 1998, their friend Robyn Anderson purchased the carbine rifle and the two shotguns for the pair at the Tanner Gun Show, as they were too young to legally purchase the guns themselves. After the attack, she told investigators that she had believed the pair wanted the items for target shooting, and that she had no prior knowledge of their plans. Anderson was not charged. Three days before the shooting, Klebold attended the high school prom with Anderson.

Mark Manes and Phil Duran

Harris and Klebold both held part-time jobs at a local Blackjack Pizza. Through Philip Duran, a coworker, Klebold bought a TEC-9 handgun from Mark Manes for $500 at another gun show on January 23. Manes, Manes' girlfriend, and Duran are all in the Rampart Range video.

After the massacre, Manes and Duran were both prosecuted. Each was charged with supplying a handgun to a minor and possession of a sawed-off shotgun. Manes and Duran were sentenced to a total of six years and four-and-a-half years in prison, respectively.

Explosives

In addition to the firearms, the complex and highly planned attack involved several improvised explosive devices. Using instructions obtained via the Internet and the Anarchist Cookbook, Harris and Klebold constructed a total of 99 bombs.

These included pipe bombs, carbon dioxide cartridges filled with gunpowder (called "crickets"), Molotov cocktails, propane tanks converted to bombs, car bombs, and diversionary bombs. For ignition, they used kitchen matches and model rocket igniters as well as timing devices built from clocks and batteries for the propane, car, and diversion bombs. During the massacre, they carried lighters as well as match strikers taped to their forearms to light the pipe bombs and crickets. They had 45 crickets, 8 of which detonated, and 9 Molotov cocktails, 2 of which functioned.

Harris also attempted to make napalm, and envisioned a kind of backpack and flamethrower. They both attempted to get another friend and coworker Chris Morris, who was a part of the Trench Coat Mafia, to keep the napalm at his house, but he refused. Harris also tried to recruit him to be a third shooter, but would play it off as a joke when rebuked.

Pipe bombs

Harris's website contained directions on making pipe bombs, including use of shrapnel. Harris's parents once discovered one of his pipe bombs. Harris's journal logged the creation of 25 pipe bombs. A total of 35 were used during the massacre, 14 of which detonated.

Klebold scared his coworkers by once bringing a pipe bomb into work. They would give names to their pipe bombs. After the massacre, two pipe bombs had been left in Klebold's bedroom, one named "Vengeance" and another "Atlanta", presumably after the Olympic Park bombing.

Propane bombs

They had 8 propane tanks used for bombs. The weekend before the shootings, Harris and Klebold bought two propane tanks and other supplies from a hardware store for a few hundred dollars. They bought six propane tanks on the morning of the attack. Harris was caught on a Texaco gas station security camera at 9:12 a.m. buying a Blue Rhino propane tank. Each cafeteria bomb was made from one 20 pounds (9.1 kg) tank with a gallon gas can attached.

Car bombs

Each car bomb was made from pipe bombs and two 20-pound propane tanks, with gas cans and bottles set throughout. Eight pipe bombs were placed in Klebold's car, and one in Harris's.

Knives

Harris and Klebold each carried two knives, which were never used during the massacre. Harris had one in a sheath taped to his ankle. Klebold had one that was a cobra knife; a curved blade and several spikes on its handle.

The massacre

According to their journals and video tapes, it is believed by investigators that the pair intended to detonate their propane bombs in the cafeteria at the busiest lunch hour, killing hundreds of students. After this they would shoot survivors. They would also be able to stab or toss bombs. Eventually bombs set in their cars in the parking lot would also detonate, killing more students as well as possibly any police officers, paramedics, firemen, or reporters who had come to the school. However this failed to occur since the bombs in the cafeteria and cars failed to detonate.

Several official sources claim they planned to shoot the fleeing survivors from the parking lot, but moved to the staircase on the hill at the west side of the school when the bombs failed. Other sources claim the top of the staircase where the massacre began was their preferred spot to wait for the bombs to go off all along.

A total of 188 rounds of ammunition were fired by the perpetrators during the massacre. Firing nearly twice as much as Klebold, Harris: fired his carbine rifle a total of 96 times, and discharged his shotgun 25 times. Klebold fired the TEC-9 handgun 55 times, and 12 rounds from his double-barreled shotgun. Law enforcement officers fired 141 rounds during exchanges of gunfire with the shooters.

Planting the bombs

On Tuesday morning, April 20, 1999, Harris and Klebold placed two duffel bags in the cafeteria. Each bag contained propane bombs, which were set to detonate at 11:17 a.m., during the "A" lunch shift.

No witness recalled seeing the duffel bags being added to the 400 or so backpacks that were already in the cafeteria. The security staff at CHS did not observe the bags being placed in the cafeteria; a custodian was replacing the school security videotape at around 11:14 a.m., which might have been the time that the duffel bags were dropped off. Some internet sleuths claimed that the bomb placement can be seen on the surveillance video at around 10:58 am. Shortly after the massacre, police also investigated whether the bombs were placed during the "after-prom" party held the prior weekend.

Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Neil Gardner was assigned to the high school as a full-time school resource officer. Gardner usually ate lunch with students in the cafeteria, but on April 20 he was eating lunch in his patrol car at the northwest corner of the campus, watching students in the Smokers' Pit in Clement Park, a meadow adjacent to the school.

Two backpacks filled with pipe bombs, aerosol canisters, and small propane bombs were also placed in a field about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of CHS, and 2 mi (3.2 km) south of the fire station. Set to detonate at 11:14 a.m., the bombs were intended as a diversion to draw firefighters and emergency personnel away from the school. Only the pipe bombs and one of the aerosol canisters detonated, causing a small fire, which was quickly extinguished by the fire department. It went off when moved. Bomb technicians immediately examined the bombs and relayed to police at the school the possibility of devices with motion activators.

Around 11:10 a.m., Harris and Klebold arrived separately at CHS. Harris parked his vehicle in the junior student parking lot, and Klebold parked in the adjoining senior student parking lot. The school cafeteria was their primary bomb target; the cafeteria had a long outside window-wall, ground-level doors, and was just north of the senior parking lot. The library was located above the cafeteria in the second-story of the window-wall. Each car contained bombs timed to detonate at 12:00 p.m.

As Harris pulled into the parking lot, he encountered classmate Brooks Brown, with whom he had recently patched up a longstanding series of disputes. According to Brown, who was smoking a cigarette, he was surprised to see Harris, whom he earlier noted had been absent from a class test. Brown confronted Harris about missing the test. Harris seemed unconcerned, commenting "It doesn't matter anymore." Harris went on: "Brooks, I like you now. Get out of here. Go home." Brown, feeling uneasy, and already prepared to skip his next class, walked away down South Pierce Street.

Meanwhile, Harris and Klebold armed themselves, using straps and webbing to conceal weapons beneath black trench coats (technically dusters). They lugged backpacks and duffel bags that were filled with pipe bombs and ammunition. Harris also had his shotgun in one of the bags. Beneath the trench coats, Harris wore a homemade bandolier and a white T-shirt that read "Natural selection" in black letters; Klebold wore a black T-shirt that read "Wrath" in red letters.

The cafeteria bombs failed to detonate. Had these bombs exploded with full power, they could have killed or severely wounded all of the 488 students in the cafeteria, and possibly made the ceiling collapse by destroying the pillars holding it up, dropping the library into the cafeteria.

11:19 a.m.: Shooting begins

At 11:19 a.m., 17-year-old Rachel Scott and her friend Richard Castaldo were having lunch and sitting on the grass next to the west entrance of the school. Klebold threw a pipe bomb towards the parking lot; the bomb only partially detonated, causing it to give off smoke. Castaldo thought it was no more than a crude senior prank. Likewise, several students during the incident first thought that they were watching a prank.

A witness reported hearing "Go! Go!" before Klebold and Harris pulled their guns from beneath their trench coats and began shooting. Scott was killed instantly when she was hit four times with rounds fired from Harris' carbine; one shot was to the left temple. Castaldo was shot eight times in the chest, arm, and abdomen; he fell unconscious to the ground and was left paralyzed below the chest.

Harris aimed his carbine down the west staircase in the direction of three students: Daniel Rohrbough, Sean Graves, and Lance Kirklin. The students figured they were paintball guns, and were about to walk up the staircase directly below the shooters. Harris fired, killing Rohrbough, while injuring Graves and Kirklin. Dave Sanders, a teacher and coach at the school, was in the cafeteria when he heard the gunfire and began warning students.

The shooters turned and began firing west in the direction of five students sitting on the grassy hillside adjacent to the steps and opposite the west entrance of the school: Michael Johnson was hit in the face, leg, and arm, but ran and escaped; Mark Taylor was shot in the chest, arms, and leg and fell to the ground, where he faked death; the other three escaped uninjured.

Klebold walked down the steps toward the cafeteria. He came up to Lance Kirklin, who was already wounded and lying on the ground, weakly calling for help. Klebold said, "Sure. I'll help you," then shot Kirklin in the face with his shotgun, critically wounding him. Graves—paralyzed beneath the waist—had crawled into the doorway of the cafeteria's west entrance and collapsed. He rubbed blood on his face and played dead. After shooting Kirklin, Klebold walked towards the cafeteria door. He then stepped over the injured Graves to enter the cafeteria. Graves remembers Klebold saying, "Sorry, dude."

Klebold only briefly entered the cafeteria and did not shoot at the several people still inside. Officials speculated that Klebold went to check on the propane bombs. Harris was still on top of the stairs shooting, and severely wounded and partially paralyzed 17-year-old Anne-Marie Hochhalter as she tried to flee. Klebold came out of the cafeteria and went back up the stairs to join Harris. They shot at students standing close to a soccer field but did not hit anyone. They walked toward the west entrance, throwing pipe bombs in several directions, including onto the roof; only a few of these pipe bombs detonated. Witnesses heard one of them say "This is what we always wanted to do. This is awesome!"

Meanwhile, art teacher Patti Nielson was inside the school; she had noticed the commotion and walked toward the west entrance with student Brian Anderson. Nielson had intended to walk outside to tell the two students to "Knock it off," thinking they were either filming a video or pulling a student prank. As Anderson opened the first set of double doors, the gunmen shot out the windows, injuring him with flying glass; Nielson was hit in the shoulder with shrapnel. Anderson and Nielson ran back down the hall into the library, and Nielson alerted the students inside to the danger, telling them to get under desks and keep silent. She dialed 9-1-1 and hid under the library's administrative counter. Anderson fell to the floor, bleeding from his injuries, then hid inside the magazine room adjacent to the library.

11:22 a.m.: Police response

At 11:22 a.m., a custodian called Deputy Neil Gardner, the assigned resource officer to Columbine, on the school radio, requesting assistance in the senior parking lot. The only paved route took him around the school to the east and south on Pierce Street, where at 11:23 a.m., he heard on his police radio that a female was down, and assumed she had been struck by a car. While exiting his patrol car in the senior lot at 11:24, he heard another call on the school radio, "Neil, there's a shooter in the school."

Harris, at the west entrance, immediately turned and fired ten shots from his carbine at Gardner, who was 60 yards (55 m) away. As Harris reloaded his carbine, Gardner leaned over the top of his car and fired four rounds at Harris from his service pistol. Harris ducked back behind the building, and Gardner momentarily believed that he had hit him. Harris then reemerged and fired at least four more rounds at Gardner (which missed and struck two parked cars), before retreating into the building. No one was hit during the exchange of gunfire. Gardner reported on his police radio, "Shots in the building. I need someone in the south lot with me." By this point, Harris had shot 47 times, and Klebold just 5. The shooters then entered the school through the west entrance, moving along the main north hallway, throwing pipe bombs and shooting at anyone they encountered. Klebold shot Stephanie Munson in the ankle, but she was able to walk out of the school. The pair then shot out the windows to the east entrance of the school. After proceeding through the hall several times and shooting toward—and missing—any students they saw, they went toward the west entrance and turned into the library hallway.

Deputy Paul Smoker, a motorcycle patrolman for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, was writing a traffic ticket north of the school when the "female down" call came in at 11:23 a.m. Taking the shortest route, he drove his motorcycle over grass between the athletic fields and headed toward the west entrance. When he saw Deputy Scott Taborsky following him in a patrol car, he abandoned his motorcycle for the safety of the car.

The two deputies had begun to rescue two wounded students near the ball fields when another gunfight broke out at 11:26, as Harris returned to the double doors and again began shooting at Deputy Gardner, who returned fire. From the hilltop, Deputy Smoker fired three rounds from his pistol at Harris, who again retreated into the building. As before, no one was hit.

Inside the school cafeteria, teacher Dave Sanders and two custodians, Jon Curtis and Jay Gallatine, initially told students to get under the tables, then successfully evacuated students up the staircase leading to the second floor of the school. The stairs were located around the corner from the library hallway in the main south hallway. Sanders then tried to secure as much of the school as he could.

By now, Harris and Klebold were inside the main hallway. Sanders and another student were down at the end of the hallway, where he gestured for students in the library to stay. They encountered Harris and Klebold, who were approaching from the corner of the north hallway. Sanders and the student turned and ran in the opposite direction. Harris and Klebold shot at them both, with Harris hitting Sanders twice in the back and neck but missing the student. The latter ran into a science classroom and warned everyone to hide. Klebold walked over towards Sanders, who had collapsed, and tossed a pipe bomb into the cafeteria, then returned to Harris up the library hallway.

Sanders struggled toward the science area, and a teacher took him into a classroom where 30 students were located. Due to his knowledge of first aid, student Aaron Hancey was brought to the classroom from another by teachers despite the unfolding commotion. With the assistance of a fellow student named Kevin Starkey, and teacher Teresa Miller, Hancey administered first aid to Sanders for three hours, attempting to stem the blood loss using shirts from students in the room, and showing him pictures from his wallet to keep him talking. Using a phone in the room, Miller and several students maintained contact with police outside the school.

As the shooting unfolded, pipe bombs were tossed in the hallways and down into the cafeteria. Patti Nielson in the library called 9-1-1, telling her story and urging students in the library to take cover beneath desks. According to transcripts, her call was received by a 9–1–1 operator at 11:25:18 a.m.

11:29–11:36 a.m.: Library massacre

At 11:29 a.m., Harris and Klebold entered the library. Fifty-two students, two teachers and two librarians were inside.

Harris yelled "Get up!" When nobody responded, Harris fired his shotgun twice at a desk. Student Evan Todd had been standing near a pillar when the shooters entered the library and had just taken cover behind a copier. Todd was hit by wood splinters in the eye and lower back but was not seriously injured. He then hid behind the administrative counter once Harris and Klebold moved.

The shooters walked into the library, towards the two rows of computers. Sitting at the north row was disabled student Kyle Velasquez, who Klebold fired his shotgun twice at, fatally hitting him in the head and back. The shooters put down their ammunition-filled duffel bags at the south—or lower—row of computers and reloaded their weapons. They walked between the computer rows, toward the windows facing the outside staircase. They, especially Klebold, began shouting and speaking to all the students in the library.

Throughout the massacre in the library, they ordered everybody to get up, saying that the library was going to explode. They stated how long they had been waiting for this, and seemed to be enjoying themselves, shouting things like "yahoo" after shooting. Repeatedly ordering the jocks to stand up, one of the two said "Anybody with a white hat or a sports emblem on it is dead," as wearing a white baseball cap at Columbine was a tradition among sports team members. Nobody stood up, and several students tried to hide their white hats.

Noticing that the police were evacuating students outside the school, windows were shot out in the direction of the police. Officers returned fire, and the gunmen retreated from the windows; no one was injured. Klebold then removed his trench coat. He shouted for the jocks to stand up, but when no one did, he said, "Fine, I'll just start shooting!" and fired his shotgun at a nearby table, injuring three students: Patrick Ireland, Daniel Steepleton, and Makai Hall.

Harris walked toward the lower row of computer desks with his shotgun, firing a single shot under the first desk from a short distance away, while down on one knee. He hit 14-year-old Steven Curnow with a mortal wound to the neck.  He then walked closer, got on one knee, and shot under the adjacent computer desk, injuring 17-year-old Kacey Ruegsegger with a shot which passed completely through her right shoulder, also grazing her neck and severing a major artery. When she started gasping in pain, Harris tersely stated, "Quit your bitching."

Harris walked over to a table south of the lower computer table, slapped the surface twice and knelt, saying "Peek-a-boo" to 17-year-old Cassie Bernall before shooting her once in the head, killing her. Harris had been holding the shotgun with one hand at this point and the weapon hit his face in recoil, injuring his nose. He told Klebold he had done so, and Klebold responded "Why'd you do that?"

After fatally shooting Bernall, Harris turned toward the next table, where Bree Pasquale sat next to the table rather than under it. Harris's nose was bleeding; witnesses later reported that he had blood around his mouth. Harris asked Pasquale if she wanted to die, and she responded with a plea for her life. Harris laughed and responded "Everyone's gonna die." When Klebold said "shoot her," Harris responded "No, we're gonna blow up the school anyway."

Klebold noticed Ireland trying to provide aid to Hall, who had suffered a wound to his knee. As Ireland tried to help Hall, his head rose above the table, Klebold shot him a second time, hitting him twice in the head and once in the foot. Ireland was knocked unconscious, but survived. Klebold then walked toward another table, where he discovered 18-year-old Isaiah Shoels, 16-year-old Matthew Kechter and 16-year-old Craig Scott (Rachel's younger brother), hiding underneath. Klebold called out to Harris that he found a "nigger" and tried to pull Shoels out from under the table.

Harris left Pasquale and joined him. According to witnesses, they taunted Shoels for a few seconds, making derogatory racial comments. The gunmen both fired under the table; Harris shot Shoels once in the chest, killing him, and Klebold shot and killed Kechter. Though Shoels was not shot in the head, Klebold said: "I didn't know black brains could fly that far." Meanwhile, Scott was uninjured; lying in the blood of his friends, feigning death. Harris then yelled; "Who's ready to die next?!"

He turned and threw a "cricket" at the table where Hall, Steepleton, and Ireland were located. It landed on Steepleton's thigh; Hall quickly noticed it and tossed it behind them, and it exploded in mid-air. Harris walked toward the bookcases between the west and center section of tables in the library. He jumped on one and shook it, apparently attempting to topple it, then shot at the books which had fallen.

Klebold walked to the east area of the library. Harris walked from the bookcase, past the central area to meet Klebold. The latter shot at a display case next to the door, then turned and shot toward the closest table, hitting and injuring 17-year-old Mark Kintgen in the head and shoulder. He then turned toward the table to his left and fired, injuring 18-year-olds Lisa Kreutz, Lauren Townsend, and Valeen Schnurr with the same shotgun blast. Klebold then moved toward the same table and fired several shots with the TEC-9, killing Townsend.

At this point, the seriously injured Valeen Schnurr began screaming, "Oh my God, oh my God!" In response, Klebold asked Schnurr if she believed in the existence of God; when Schnurr replied she did, Klebold asked "Why?" and commented "God is gay." Klebold reloaded but walked away from the table.

Harris approached another table where two girls were hiding. He bent down to look at them and dismissed them as "pathetic". Harris then moved to another table where he fired twice, injuring 16-year-olds Nicole Nowlen and John Tomlin. Tomlin moved out from under the table. Klebold shot him repeatedly, killing him.

Harris then walked back over to the other side of the table where Townsend lay dead. Behind the table, a 16-year-old girl named Kelly Fleming had, like Bree Pasquale, sat next to the table rather than beneath it due to a lack of space. Harris shot Fleming with his shotgun, hitting her in the back and killing her. He shot at the table behind Fleming, hitting Townsend, who was already dead, Kreutz again, and wounding 18-year-old Jeanna Park. The shooters moved to the center of the library, where they reloaded their weapons at a table. Harris then pointed his carbine under a table, but the student he was aiming at moved out of the way. Harris turned his gun back on the student and told him to identify himself. It was John Savage, an acquaintance of Klebold's. He asked Klebold what they were doing, to which he shrugged and answered, "killing people." Savage asked if they were going to kill him. Possibly because of a fire alarm, Klebold said, "What?" Savage asked again whether they were going to kill him. Klebold said no, and told him to run. Savage fled, escaping through the library's main entrance.

After Savage left, Harris turned and fired his carbine at the table directly north of where he had been, hitting the ear and hand of 15-year-old Daniel Mauser. Mauser reacted by either shoving a chair at Harris or grabbing at his leg; Harris fired again and hit Mauser in the center of the face at close range, killing him.

Both shooters moved south and fired randomly under another table, critically injuring two 17-year-olds, Jennifer Doyle and Austin Eubanks, and fatally wounding 17-year-old Corey DePooter, at 11:35. There were no further victims. They had killed 10 people in the library and wounded 12.

At this point, Klebold was quoted as saying they might start knifing people, though they never did. They headed towards the library's main counter. Harris threw a Molotov cocktail toward the southwestern end of the library, but it failed to explode. They converged close to where Todd had moved after having been wounded.

Klebold pulled the chair out from the desk, then he pointed his TEC-9 at Todd, who was wearing a white hat. Klebold asked if he was a jock, and when Todd said no Klebold responded "Well, that's good. We don't like jocks." Klebold then demanded to see his face; Todd partly lifted his hat so his face would remain obscured. When Klebold asked Todd to give him one reason why he should not kill him, Todd said: "I don't want trouble." Klebold responded back angrily "Trouble? You don't even know what...trouble is!" Todd tried to correct himself: "That's not what I meant! I mean, I don't have a problem with you guys. I never will and I never did." Klebold then told Harris he was going to let Todd live, but that Harris could kill him if he wanted.

Harris seemed to pay little attention and said: "Let's go to the commons." Klebold fired a single shot into an open library staff break room, hitting a small television. While Harris was walking away, Klebold said, "One more thing!," then picked up the chair beside the library counter under which Patti Nielson was hiding, and slammed the chair down on top of the computer terminal and library counter.

Klebold joined Harris at the library entrance. The two walked out of the library at 11:36. Cautiously, fearing the shooters' return, 10 injured and 29 uninjured survivors began to evacuate the library through the north emergency exit door, which led to the sidewalk adjacent to the west entrance. Kacey Ruegsegger was evacuated from the library by Craig Scott. Had she not been evacuated at this point, Ruegsegger would likely have bled to death from her injuries. Patrick Ireland, unconscious, and Lisa Kreutz, unable to move, remained in the building. Patti Nielson crawled into the exterior break room, into which Klebold had earlier fired shots, and hid in a cupboard.

12:08 pm: Suicides

Fatalities

Rachel Scott (aged 17), killed on grass outside west entrance by Harris

Daniel Rohrbough (aged 15), killed at bottom of stairs leading to west entrance by Harris

William David Sanders (aged 47), shot in hallway adjacent library by Harris; died of blood loss in a science classroom

Kyle Velasquez (aged 16), killed while sat on a chair near the middle of the north computer table in the library by Klebold

Steven Curnow (aged 14), killed at the west end of the south computer table in the library by Harris

Cassie Bernall (aged 17), killed under library table No. 19 by Harris

Isaiah Shoels (aged 18), killed under library table No. 16 by Harris

Matthew Kechter (aged 16), killed under library table No. 16 by Klebold

Lauren Townsend (aged 18), killed under library table No. 2 by Klebold

John Tomlin (aged 16), killed next to library table No. 6 by Klebold; after being wounded by Harris

Kelly Fleming (aged 16), killed next to library table No. 2 by Harris

Daniel Mauser (aged 15), killed under library table No. 9 by Harris

Corey DePooter (aged 17), killed under library table No. 14 by Harris and Klebold

After leaving the library, Harris and Klebold entered the science area, where they caused a fire in an empty storage closet. It was extinguished by a teacher who had hidden in an adjacent room. The gunmen then proceeded toward the south hallway, where they shot into an empty science room. At 11:44 a.m., they were captured on the school security cameras as they re-entered the cafeteria. The recording shows Harris kneeling on the landing and firing a single shot toward one of the propane bombs left in the cafeteria, in an unsuccessful attempt to detonate it. As Klebold approached the propane bomb and examined it, Harris took a drink from one of the cups left behind. Klebold lit a Molotov cocktail and threw it at the propane bomb. About a minute later, the gallon of fuel attached to the bomb ignited, causing a fire that was extinguished by the fire sprinklers a few minutes later. They left the cafeteria at 11:46.

After leaving the cafeteria, they returned to the main north and south hallways of the school and fired several shots into walls and ceilings as students and teachers hid in rooms. They walked through the south hallway into the main office before returning to the north hallway. At 11:56, they returned to the cafeteria, and briefly entered the school kitchen. They returned up the staircase and into the south hallway at 12:00 p.m.

They re-entered the library, which was empty of survivors except for the unconscious Patrick Ireland and the injured Lisa Kreutz. Once inside, at 12:02, police were shot at again through the library windows and returned fire. Nobody was injured in the exchange. By 12:05, all gunfire from the school had ceased.

By 12:08, both gunmen had killed themselves. Harris sat down with his back to a bookshelf and fired his shotgun through the roof of his mouth; Klebold went down on his knees and shot himself in the left temple with his TEC-9. An article by The Rocky Mountain News stated that Patti Nielson overheard them shout "One! Two! Three!" in unison, just before a loud boom, however Nielson claimed that she had never spoken with either of the writers of the article.

In 2002, the National Enquirer published two post-mortem photos of Harris and Klebold in the library. Klebold's gun was underneath his body and so unseen in the photo, leading to speculation that Harris shot Klebold before killing himself. However, some of Klebold's blood was on Harris' legs. Also, just before shooting himself, Klebold lit a Molotov cocktail on a nearby table, underneath which Patrick Ireland was laying, which caused the tabletop to momentarily catch fire. Underneath the scorched film of material was a piece of Harris' brain matter, suggesting Harris had shot himself by this point.

A survivor recalls the events of the day

Crisis ends

SWAT response

By 12:00 p.m., SWAT teams were stationed outside the school, and ambulances started taking the wounded to local hospitals. A call for additional ammunition for police officers in case of a shootout came at 12:20. Authorities reported pipe bombs by 1:00, and two SWAT teams entered the school at 1:09, moving from classroom to classroom, discovering hidden students and faculty. They at the end of the school opposite the library, hampered by old maps and unaware a new wing had recently been added. They were also hampered by the sound of the fire alarms.

Leawood Elementary

Meanwhile, families of students and staff were asked to gather at nearby Leawood Elementary School to await information. All students, teachers, and school employees were taken away, questioned, and offered medical care in small holding areas before being bussed to meet with their family members at Leawood Elementary. Some of the victims' families were told to wait on one final school bus that never came.

The boy in the window

Patrick Ireland had regained and lost consciousness several times after being shot by Klebold. Paralyzed on his right side, he crawled to the library windows where, on live television, at 2:38 p.m., he stretched out the window, intending to fall into the arms of two SWAT team members standing on the roof of an emergency vehicle, but instead falling directly onto the vehicle's roof in a pool of blood. He became known as "the boy in the window." The team members were later criticized for allowing Ireland to drop more than seven feet to the ground while doing nothing to try to ensure he could be lowered to the ground safely or break his fall.

"1 bleeding to death"

At 2:15 p.m., students placed a sign in the window: "1 bleeding to death," in order to alert police and medical personnel of Dave Sanders' location in the science room. Police initially feared it was a ruse by the shooters. A shirt was also tied to the doorknob. At 2:30, this was spotted, and by 2:40, SWAT officers evacuated the room of students and called for a paramedic. Hancey and Starkey were reluctant to leave Sanders behind. By 3:00, the SWAT officers had moved Sanders to a storage room, which was more easily accessible. As they did so, a paramedic arrived and found Sanders had no pulse. He had died of his injuries in the storage room before he could receive medical care. He was the only teacher to die in the shooting.

Suicide mission; estimated 25 dead

Lisa Kreutz, shot in the shoulder, arms, hand, and thigh, remained laying in the library. She had tried to move but became light-headed. Kreutz kept track of time by the sound of the school's bells until police arrived. Kreutz was finally evacuated at 3:22 p.m., along with Patti Nielson, Brian Anderson, and the three library staff who had hidden in the rooms adjacent to the library. Officials found the bodies in the library by 3:30.

By 4:00, Sheriff Stone made an initial estimate of 25 dead students and teachers, fifty wounded, and referred to the massacre as a "suicide mission." President Bill Clinton issued a statement.

Bomb squad response

Stone said that police officers were searching the bodies of the gunmen. They feared they had used their pipe bombs to booby-trap corpses, including their own. At 4:30 p.m., the school was declared safe. At 5:30, additional officers were called in, as more explosives were found in the parking lot and on the roof. By 6:15, officials had found a bomb in Klebold's car in the parking lot, set to detonate the gas tank. Stone then marked the entire school as a crime scene.

At 10:40 p.m., a member of the bomb squad, who was attempting to dispose of an un-detonated pipe bomb, accidentally lit a striking match attached to the bomb by brushing it against the wall of the ordnance disposal trailer. The bomb detonated inside the trailer but no one was injured.

The bomb squad disrupted the car bomb. Klebold's car was repaired and, in 2006, put up for auction.

Immediate aftermath

On the morning of April 21, bomb squads combed the high school. By 8:30 a.m., the official death toll of 15 was released. The earlier estimate was ten over the true death toll count, but close to the total count of wounded students. The total count of deaths was 12 students (14 including the shooters) and one teacher; 20 students and one teacher were injured as a result of the shootings. Three more victims were injured indirectly as they tried to escape the school. It was then the worst school shooting in U.S. history.

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 underway. 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 Jeffco District Attorney David Thomas and Sheriff John Stone, at which they said that they suspected others had helped plan the shooting. Formal identification of the dead had not yet taken place, but families of the children thought to have been killed had been notified.

Throughout the late afternoon and early evening, the bodies were gradually removed from the school and taken to the Jeffco 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 released, naming the 15 confirmed deaths and 27 injuries related to the massacre.

On April 22, the cafeteria bombs were discovered.

In the days following the shootings, Rachel Scott's car and John Tomlin's truck became memorials, and impromptu memorials were held in Clement Park. On April 30, carpenter Greg Zanis erected fifteen 6-foot-tall wooden crosses to honor those who had died at the school. Daniel Rohrbough's father cut down the two meant for the gunmen. There were also fifteen trees planted, and he cut down two of those as well.