[OVERVIEW]

Since this is the first mass shooting chapter, I'd figure I would do the one that is probably the most infamous one (And longest). That is Columbine.

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.

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went into their school, dressed in black trench coats and killed 13 people before turning the guns on themselves.

At the time it was the deadliest school shooting in America, not being surpassed until 2012 with the Sandy Hook shooting.

Columbine pired several copycats, and "Columbine" has become a byword for a school shooting.

[ERIC AND DYLAN]

In 1996, a 15 year old Eric Harris created a private website on AOL. It was made initially to host video games like Doom, Doom II and Quake.

Later on Eric started using it as a blog. He would joke and include thoughts on his parents, school and his friends. 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.

Eric would later adopt the pen name Reb (after the school mascot) and Dylan would adopt the name voDKa (DK capitalized because of his initials).

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.

After Brown's parents viewed the site, they contacted the Jefferson County 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 filed.

On January 30, 1998, Harris and Klebold broke into a van that was parked near Littleton and stole tools and computer equipment. Shortly afterwards, they were arrested by a police officer and subsequently attended 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. Harris also began therapy with a psychologist and was prescribed antidepressants by a psychiatrist. They both were eventually released from diversion several weeks early because of positive actions in the program and put on probation. Harris continued his scheduled meetings with his psychologist until a few months before the massacre.

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.

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 even wrote on his computer about escaping to a foreign country after the attack, 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.

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.

Harris and Klebold were both enrolled in video production classes and kept five videotapes that were recorded with school video equipment. 2 videos and part of a third one have been released to the public.

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.

These were published as well but families of the victims threatened to sue the police department for fear that these tapes might inspire future school shooters. There were taken down and promptly destroyed so no one can view them. There are only transcripts of some of the dialogue left.

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."

[MASSACRE]

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 am, 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 am, which might have been the time that the duffel bags were dropped off. However, some have said that the bomb placement can be seen on the surveillance video at around 10:58 am.

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 south of CHS, and 2 mi south of the fire station. Set to detonate at 11:14 am, 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.

Around 11:10 am, 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 pm.

As Harris pulled into the parking lot, he saw Brooks Brown. Harris told Brooks "It doesn't matter anymore. Brooks, I like you now. Get out of here. Go home."

Brooks admitted he felt uneasy and had already decided to leave early anyway. Several minutes later, students departing Columbine for their lunch break observed Brown heading down South Pierce Street away from the school.
Meanwhile, Harris and Klebold armed themselves, using straps and webbing to conceal weapons beneath black 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.

At 11:19 am, 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. Thinking that the pipe bomb was no more than a crude senior prank, Castaldo didn't take it seriously. Several students who were inside the school 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 dusters and began shooting at Castaldo and Scott. Scott was killed instantly when she was hit four times with rounds fired from Harris's 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 were about to walk up the staircase directly below the shooters. All three were shot, and Rohrbough was killed. 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 slightly 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.

At 11:22 AM, the 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 AM, 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 AM, 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 sixty yards 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; 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 Jeffco Sheriff's Office, was writing a traffic ticket north of the school when the "female down" call came in at 11:23 am. 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 am, 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 down the hall, then returned to Harris up the North 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, Patti Nielson talked on the phone with emergency services, telling her story and urging students in the library to take cover beneath desks. According to transcripts, her call was received by a 911 operator at 11:25:18 AM Fifty-two students, two teachers and two librarians were in the library. Bombs were thrown into the cafeteria and library hallway. At 11:29 AM, the gunmen entered the library.

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.

The shooters walked into the library, towards the two rows of computers. Disabled student Kyle Velasquez was sitting at the north row. Klebold fired his shotgun at Velasquez, 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 in the library to get up and said the library was going to explode from a bomb. They also stated how long they had been waiting for this, and seemed to be enjoying themselves, shouting things like "yahoo" after shooting.

They repeatedly ordered the jocks to stand up. One of them said "Anybody with a white hat or a sports emblem on it is dead". 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, they shot out the windows in the direction of the police. Officers returned fire, and the gunmen retreated from the windows; no one was injured. Klebold then removed his duster. He shouted for the jocks to stand up, and 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 and hand, 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 the table across from the lower computer row, 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, breaking his nose. He told Klebold he had shot his nose, 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 heavily; witnesses later reported that he seemed disoriented and 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 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 to Harris, "There's a [n word] over here!" 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 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 Lauren Townsend.

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, and 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. He was the last to die in the massacre, at 11:35 am.

There were no further victims. They had killed 10 people in the library and wounded 12. Of the 56 library hostages, 34 remained unharmed. Investigators would later find that the shooters had enough ammunition to have killed them all.

At this point, several witnesses later said they heard the shooters comment that they no longer found a thrill in shooting their victims. Klebold was quoted as saying, "Maybe we should start knifing people, that might be more fun." They moved away from the table and went toward the library's main counter. Harris threw a Molotov cocktail toward the southwestern end of the library, but it failed to explode. Harris then went around the east side of the counter and Klebold joined him from the west; they converged close to where Todd had moved after having been wounded.

Klebold pulled out a chair, pointed his TEC-9 at Todd, and commented: "Look what we have here." Harris seemed disoriented from his broken nose, and asked "What?" Klebold responded "Just some fat fuck". Todd 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 fucking trouble is!" He also remarked "You used to call me a fag. Who's a fag now?!" 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 spoke to Harris, "I'm gonna let this fat fuck live, you can have at him if you want to."

Harris, who was likely not paying much attention to the exchange, looked at Todd, then back at Klebold 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, "Wait a minute! There's one more thing!" Then, Klebold picked up the chair beside the bureau where 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 AM. Cautiously, fearing the shooters' return, 29 uninjured and 10 injured 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.

After leaving the library, the gunmen 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 AM, 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. They left the cafeteria at 11:46 AM, several seconds after the Molotov cocktail exploded. About a minute later, the gallon of fuel attached to the bomb ignited, blowing out a few windows and causing a fire that was extinguished by the fire sprinklers a few minutes later.

After leaving the cafeteria, they returned to the main north and south hallways of the school, shooting aimlessly. They walked through the south hallway into the main office before returning to the north hallway. On several occasions, they looked through the windows of classroom doors, making eye contact with students hidden inside, but they never tried to enter any of the rooms. They taunted students hidden inside a bathroom, making such comments as: "We know you're in there" and "Let's kill anyone we find in here," but never attempted to enter the bathroom. At 11:56 AM, they returned to the cafeteria, and briefly entered the school kitchen. They returned up the staircase and into the south hallway at 12:00 PM.

They reentered the library, perhaps to watch their car bombs detonate, one of which had been set to explode at noon, and both of which failed. The library was empty of surviving students except for the unconscious Patrick Ireland and the injured Lisa Kreutz. Once inside, at 12:02 PM, they shot through the west windows at police, who returned fire. Nobody was injured in the exchange

By 12:08 PM, both gunmen had killed themselves. In a subsequent interview, Kreutz recalled hearing a comment such as, "You in the library," around this time. 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.

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's brain matter, suggesting Harris had shot himself by this point.

In 2002, the National Enquirer published two post-mortem photos of Harris and Klebold, showing both teenagers lying on their backs and the guns in seemingly curious locations. This led to speculation that Harris shot Klebold before killing himself. The photographs were taken after SWAT had checked the bodies for bombs and booby-traps, and the placement of his blood and baseball cap suggest Klebold first fell down on Harris's legs, before expiring on his back.

A total of 188 rounds of ammunition were fired by the perpetrators during the massacre. Harris fired nearly twice as much as Klebold; he 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.

[AFTERMATH]

On the morning of April 21, bomb squads combed the high school. By 8:30 am the official death toll of 15 was released. The total count of deaths was 12 students (14 including the shooters) and one teacher.

At 10:00 am, the bomb squad declared the building safe for officials to enter. By 11:30 am, 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 pm, 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 pm, 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 15 six feet 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.

In the wake of the shooting, victims Rachel Scott and Cassie Bernall came to be regarded as Christian martyrs by Evangelical Christians. Considerable media attention focused upon Bernall, who had been killed by Harris in the library and who Harris was reported to have asked, "Do you believe in God?" immediately prior to her murder. Bernall was reported to have responded "Yes" to this question before her murder. Emily Wyant, the closest living witness to Bernall's death, denied that Bernall and Harris had such an exchange. The closest living witness to Scott's death, Richard Castaldo, once claimed Harris asked Scott if she believed in God, and murdered her after she answered "You know I do."

Survivor Valeen Schnurr claims that she was the one questioned as to her belief in God. Joshua Lapp thought Bernall had been queried about her belief, but was unable to correctly point out where Bernall was located, and was closer to Schnurr during the shootings. Another witness, Craig Scott claimed the discussion was with Bernall. When asked to indicate where the conversation had been coming from, he pointed to where Schnurr was shot.

Several former students and teachers suffer from PTSD. Six months after the shootings, Anne Marie Hochhalter's mother killed herself. Greg Barnes, a student who witnessed Sanders get shot, committed suicide in May 2000. In 2019, survivor Austin Eubanks died; he was injured during the shooting and heavily medicated, leading to an opioid addiction that he overcame and later spoke publicly about. He was 37.

[MOTIVATION]

The real motivation from the attack has been debated but no clear motive is present.

It was believed after it happened that they targeted jocks who bullied them, African Americans and Christians. Although almost none of the jocks who bullied them actually died, they only killed one African American and the Christian debate can't be confirmed as no one for sure knows who Harris had the God question for.

After searching their journals and videos the police department sent out a letter saying that they cannot answer the most important question - why?

The FBI concluded that the killers were victims of mental illness, that Harris was a clinical psychopath, and Klebold was depressive. Dr. Dwayne Fuselier, the supervisor in charge of the Columbine investigation, would later remark: "I believe Eric went to the school to kill and didn't care if he died, while Dylan wanted to die and didn't care if others died as well."

In April 1998, Harris wrote a letter of apology to the owner of the van as part of his diversion program. Around the same time, he derided him in his journal, stating that he believed himself to have the right to steal something if he wanted to. By far the most prevalent theme in Klebold's journals is his private despair at his lack of success with women, which he refers to as an "infinite sadness." Klebold had repeatedly documented his desires to kill himself, and his final remark in the Basement Tapes, shortly before the attack, is a resigned statement made as he glances away from the camera: "Just know I'm going to a better place. I didn't like life too much."

According to this theory—used by Dave Cullen for his 2009 book Columbine— Harris had been the mastermind. He had a messianic-level superiority complex and hoped to demonstrate his superiority to the world. Klebold was a follower who primarily participated in the massacre as a means to simply end his life.

There have been other attempts to diagnose Harris and Klebold with mental illness. Peter Langman believes Harris was a psychopath and Klebold was schizotypal. Professor Aubrey Immelman published a personality profile of Harris, based on journal entries and personal communication, and believes the materials suggested behavior patterns consistent with a "malignant narcissism ... pathological narcissistic personality disorder with borderline and antisocial features, along with some paranoid traits, and unconstrained aggression".

The FBI's theory has been met with criticism. For instance, Klebold, not Harris, was the first to mention a killing spree in his journal, and there is evidence to suggest that both students were depressed, such as Harris being prescribed antidepressants.

The link between bullying and school violence has attracted increasing attention since the massacre. Both of the shooters were classified as gifted children who had allegedly been victims of bullying for years. Early stories following the shootings charged that school administrators and teachers at Columbine had long condoned bullying. Critics said this could have contributed to triggering the perpetrators' extreme violence. Klebold said on the Basement Tapes, "You've been giving us shit for years."

Accounts from various parents and school staffers describe bullying at the school as "rampant." Nathan Vanderau, a friend of Klebold, and Alisa Owen, Harris's eighth-grade science partner, reported that Harris and Klebold were constantly picked on. Vanderau noted that a "cup of fecal matter" was thrown at them. Reportedly, they were regularly called "faggots".

Klebold is known to have remarked to his father of his hatred of the jocks at CHS, adding that Harris in particular had been victimized. Klebold had stated, "They sure give Eric hell." Classmate Chad Laughlin stated "A lot of the tension in the school came from the class above us...There were people fearful of walking by a table where you knew you didn't belong, stuff like that. Certain groups certainly got preferential treatment across the board." Brown also noted Harris was born with mild chest indent. This made him reluctant to take his shirt off in gym class, and other students would laugh at him.

A year after the massacre, an analysis by officials at the U.S. Secret Service of 37 premeditated school shootings found that bullying, which some of the shooters described "in terms that approached torment", played the major role in more than two-thirds of the attacks. A similar theory was expounded by Brooks Brown in his book on the massacre, No Easy Answers; he noted that teachers commonly ignored bullying and that whenever Harris and Klebold were bullied by the jocks at CHS, they would make statements such as: "Don't worry, man. It happens all the time!"

Dave Cullen disputes the theory of "revenge for bullying" as a motivation. While acknowledging the pervasiveness of bullying in high schools including CHS, he has claimed they were not victims of bullying. He said Harris was more often the perpetrator than victim of bullying.

During junior year, Harris and Klebold both had been confronted by a group of students at CHS—all members of the football team—who sprayed them with ketchup and mustard while referring to them as "faggots" and "queers". According to Brown, "People surrounded them in the commons and squirted ketchup packets all over them, laughing at them, calling them faggots...That happened while teachers watched. They couldn't fight back. They wore the ketchup all day and went home covered with it." Laughlin stated "I caught the tail end of one really horrible incident, and I know Dylan told his mother that it was the worst day of his life." According to Laughlin, it involved seniors pelting Klebold with "ketchup-covered tampons" in the commons.

Sociologist Ralph Larkin has theorized the massacre was to trigger a revolution of outcast students and the dispossessed; "as an overtly political act in the name of oppressed students victimized by their peers...The Columbine shootings redefined such acts not merely as revenge but as a means of protest of bullying, intimidation, social isolation, and public rituals of humiliation." One author argues Columbine was only increasingly linked to terrorism after the September 11 attacks.

On the Basement Tapes, Harris claimed they would "kick-start a revolution". Klebold wore a Soviet Union pin on his boots during the massacre.

The attack occurred on April 20 (Adolf Hitler's birthday), which led to media speculation that the attack was political. Some people, such as Robyn Anderson, stated that the pair was not obsessed with National Socialism, and they did not worship or admire Hitler in any way. In retrospect, Anderson stated that there were many things the pair did not tell friends. Harris at least did revere the Nazis and often praised them in his journal. Harris was enrolled in German class.

Klebold and Harris might have originally selected April 19—the date of the Oklahoma City Bombing—as the date for the massacre, but the attack occurred on April 20. Harris needed more ammunition from Mark Manes, for which one had to be 21 years old to get from K-Mart, and Manes did not get it for him until the evening of the 19th. Manes asked if Harris was going shooting that night. Harris replied he would tomorrow.

In one scheduled meeting with his appointed psychiatrist, Harris had complained of depression, anger, and suicidal thoughts. He was prescribed Zoloft. He complained of feeling restless and having trouble concentrating; his doctor switched him to Luvox, a similar selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).

Toxicology reports confirmed that Harris had the antidepressent Luvox in his bloodstream at the time of the shootings. Klebold had no medications in his system. Opponents of contemporary psychiatry like Peter Breggin claimed that the psychiatric medications prescribed to Harris may have exacerbated his aggressiveness.

Harris wanted to join the United States Marine Corps. His application to the Marines was rejected shortly before the shootings because he had taken Luvox. According to the recruiting officer, Harris did not know about this rejection, but Brooks Brown said that he did.

Some people have pointed at 'dark music' bands.

In the late 1990s, Marilyn Manson and his eponymous band established themselves as a household name, and as one of the most controversial rock acts in music history. Their two albums prior to the massacre were both critical and commercial successes, and by the time of their Rock Is Dead Tour in 1999, the frontman had become a culture war iconoclast and a rallying icon for alienated youth. As their popularity increased, the confrontational nature of the group's music and imagery outraged social conservatives. Numerous politicians lobbied to have their performances banned, citing false and exaggerated claims that they contained animal sacrifices, bestiality and rape. Their concerts were routinely picketed by religious advocates and parent groups, who asserted that their music had a corrupting influence on youth culture by inciting "rape, murder, blasphemy and suicide".

Immediately after the massacre, a majority of blame were directed at the band and, specifically, at its outspoken frontman.

Speculation in national media and among the public led many to believe that Manson's music and imagery were the shooter's sole motivation, despite reports that revealed that the two were not big fans.

Despite this, Marilyn Manson was widely criticized by religious, political, and entertainment-industry figures. Under mounting pressure in the days after Columbine, the group postponed their last five North American tour dates out of respect for the victims and their families. On April 29, ten US senators requested a voluntary halt to his company's distribution to children of "music that glorifies violence". The letter named Marilyn Manson for producing songs which "eerily reflect" the actions of Harris and Klebold. Later that day, the band cancelled their remaining North American shows. Two days later, Manson published his response to these accusations in an op-ed piece for Rolling Stone, titled "Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?", where he castigated America's gun culture, the political influence of the National Rifle Association, and the media's irresponsible coverage, which he said facilitated the placing of blame on a scapegoat, instead of debating more relevant societal issues.

Manson appeared on an April 2001 episode of The O'Reilly Factor, where he once again denied that the band's music was responsible for Columbine. Bill O'Reilly argued that "disturbed kids" without direction from responsible parents could misinterpret the message of his music as endorsing the belief that "when I'm dead [then] everybody's going to know me." Manson responded:

"Well, I think that's a very valid point and I think that it's a reflection of, not necessarily this programme but of television in general, that if you die and enough people are watching you become a martyr, you become a hero, you become well known. So when you have these things like Columbine, and you have these kids who are angry and they have something to say and no one's listening, the media sends a message that says if you do something loud enough and it gets our attention then you will be famous for it. Those kids ended up on the cover of Time magazine twice, the media gave them exactly what they wanted. That's why I never did any interviews around that time when I was being blamed for it because I didn't want to contribute to something that I found to be reprehensible."

During the supporting tour for Holy Wood, Manson appeared in Michael Moore's 2002 documentary, Bowling for Columbine; his appearance was filmed during the band's first show in Denver since the shooting. When Moore asked Manson what he would have said to the students at Columbine he replied, "I wouldn't say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say and that's what no one did."

Harris and Klebold were both fans of the German rock bands KMFDM and Rammstein. Harris's website contained lyrics from both artists, such as KMFDM's "Son of a Gun", "Stray Bullet", and "Waste", as well as translations for the songs done in German. In the same blog post which threatened Brown, Harris wrote: "I'll just go to some downtown area...and blow up and shoot everything I can. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame." The last sentence is a quote from the KMFDM song "Anarchy". As above, Klebold wrote in Harris's yearbook "My wrath for January's incident will be godlike," and he wore a shirt saying "Wrath" during the massacre. "Wrath" and "Godlike" are songs by KMFDM. On April 20, 1999 KMFDM released the album Adios. Harris noted the coincidence of the album's title and release date in his journal "a subliminal final "Adios" tribute to Reb and Vodka. Thanks, KMFDM... I ripped the hell outa the system". He quotes Godlike. KMFDM's frontman Sascha Konietzko responded to the controversy with a statement:

"First and foremost, KMFDM would like to express their deep and heartfelt sympathy for the parents, families and friends of the murdered and injured children in Littleton. We are sick and appalled, as is the rest of the nation, by what took place in Colorado yesterday.
KMFDM are an art form—not a political party. From the beginning, our music has been a statement against war, oppression, fascism and violence against others. While some of the former band members are German as reported in the media, none of us condone any Nazi beliefs whatsoever."

Music is the only thing they blamed however.

Parents of some of the victims filed several unsuccessful lawsuits against film companies, over films such as The Basketball Diaries, which includes a dream sequence with a student shooting his classmates in a trench coat. In the Basement Tapes, they debate on whether or not Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino are appropriate choices to direct films about the massacre. Their home videos also show inspiration taken from Pulp Fiction. Both were fans of the film Lost Highway. Apocalypse Now was found in Harris's VCR.

They were avid fans of the movie Natural Born Killers, and used the film's acronym, NBK, as a code for the massacre. In February 1998, Klebold envisioned a massacre with a girl like in the film, writing "Soon...either ill commit suicide, or I'll get w. [redacted girl's name] & it will be NBK for us." In April 1998, Harris wrote "When I go NBK and people say things like "oh it was tragic" or "oh he is crazy!" or "It was so bloody." I think, so the fuck what you think that's a bad thing?" In Harris's yearbook Klebold wrote "the holy April morning of NBK".

Violent video games were also blamed. Parents of some of the victims filed several unsuccessful lawsuits against video game manufacturers.

Harris and Klebold were both fans of shooter video games such as Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D and Postal. Harris wrote the massacre will "be like the LA riots, the Oklahoma bombing, WWII, Vietnam, Duke and Doom all mixed together." In his last journal entry, Harris wished to "Get a few extra frags on the scoreboard."

After the massacre, rumors circulated that Harris created Doom levels resembling CHS, but the alleged levels were never found. Harris spent a great deal of time creating a large WAD, named Tier (the German for "animal", and a song by Rammstein), calling it his "life's work." The WAD was uploaded to the Columbine school computer and to AOL shortly before the attack, but appears to have been lost.

[FANDOM & COPYCATS]

Since the advent of online social media, a fandom for shooters Harris and Klebold has had a documented presence on social media sites, especially Tumblr. Fans of Harris and Klebold refer to themselves as "Columbiners." An article published in 2015 in the Journal of Transformative Works, a scholarly journal which focuses on the sociology of fandoms, noted that Columbiners were not fundamentally functionally different from more mainstream fandoms. Columbiners create fan art and fan fiction, and have a scholarly interest in the shooting.

The Columbine shootings influenced subsequent school shootings, a number of whose plots mention it, and which in some cases, led to the closing of entire school districts.

Ralph Larkin examined twelve major school shootings in the US in the following eight years and found that in eight of those, "the shooters made explicit reference to Harris and Klebold.

A 2015 investigation by CNN identified "more than 40 people...charged with Columbine-style plots." A 2014 investigation by ABC News identified "at least 17 attacks and another 36 alleged plots or serious threats against schools since the assault on Columbine High School that can be tied to the 1999 massacre." Ties identified by ABC News included online research by the perpetrators into the Columbine shooting, clipping news coverage and images of Columbine, explicit statements of admiration of Harris and Klebold, such as writings in journals and on social media, in video posts, and in police interviews, timing planned to an anniversary of Columbine, plans to exceed the Columbine victim counts, and other ties.

The first copycat may have been the W. R. Myers High School shooting, just eight days after Columbine, when a 14-year-old Canadian student went into his school at lunchtime with a sawed-off .22 rifle under his dark blue trench coat, and opened fire, killing one student. A month after the massacre, Heritage High School in Conyers, Georgia had a shooting which Attorney General Janet Reno called a Columbine "copycat". A friend of Harris and Klebold, Eric Veik, was arrested after threatening to "finish the job" at CHS in October 1999.

In 2001, Charles Andrew Williams, the Santana High School shooter, reportedly told his friends that he was going to "pull a Columbine," though none of them took him seriously.

In 2005, Jeff Weise, an American Indian who wore a trench coat, killed his grandfather, who was a police officer, and his girlfriend. He took his grandfather's weapon and his squad car, and drove to his former high school in Red Lake and murdered several students before killing himself. In an apparent reference to Columbine, he asked one student if they believed in God.

The perpetrator of the Dawson College shooting wrote a note praising Harris and Klebold. Convicted students Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik of Pocatello High School in Idaho, who murdered their classmate Cassie Jo Stoddart, mentioned Harris and Klebold in their homemade videos, and were reportedly planning a "Columbine-like" shooting. The perpetrator of the Emsdetten school shooting praised Harris in his diary.

In November 2007, Pekka-Eric Auvinen imitated Columbine with a shooting in Jokela in Tuusula, Finland. He wore a shirt saying "Humanity is Overrated". In December 2007, a man killed two at a Youth with a Mission center in Arvada, Colorado and another two at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs before killing himself. He quoted Harris prior to the attack under the heading "Christianity is YOUR Columbine".

In a self-made video recording sent to the news media by Seung-Hui Cho prior to his committing the Virginia Tech shootings, he referred to the Columbine massacre as an apparent motivation. In the recording, he wore a backwards baseball cap and referred to Harris and Klebold as "martyrs." Adam Lanza, the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, had "an obsession with mass murders, in particular, the April 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado."

The Tumblr fandom gained widespread media attention in February 2015 after three of its members conspired to commit a mass shooting at a Halifax mall on Valentine's Day. In 2017, two 15-year-old school boys from Northallerton in England were charged with conspiracy to murder after becoming infatuated with the crime and "hero-worshipping" Harris and Klebold.