Columbine High School Massacre

United States News

Surveillance photos

On April 20, 1999, one thousand, eight hundred and seventy students made there way to Columbine High School for another day at school. Little did they know that fourteen of their classmates and one of their teachers would never have another day at school. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went to school wearing trench coats that concealed an assortment of weapons, including an assault rifle, sawed-off shotguns, handguns, and homemade grenades. They opened fire in the parking lot at Columbine High School at 11:15 a.m. They proceeded to enter the building, leaving behind the bodies of their victims. In the cafeteria, they set off a pipe bomb and shot at the fleeing students. Students tried to find hiding spots wherever they could as Eric and Dylan continued their attack in the choir room, auditorium, and gymnasium. Students used cell phones to call 911 and the sheriff on duty called for backup. Their last stop was the library where they demanded that all “jocks” stand up. They shot them all. The shooting ended at 12:45 p.m., and hour and a half after the first shots were fired.

Students escaping the school.

When it was all said and done, Dylan and Eric had killed twelve students and one teacher, injured twenty-three students, and committed suicide in the library. It is believed that the two boys targeted athletes and minority students for revenge on the exclusion they felt at school.

Dylan and Eric had come from upper-middle-class families. According to classmates, they had developed a disturbing interest in Nazism, firearms, and an extreme version of alternative heavy-metal music prior to the shooting. The shooting occurred on the 110th anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler.

The shooting at Columbine was not the worst or the last school shooting in the United States; however, it stands out because it took America by surprise during the prosperous 1990s. It occurred at a time when parents felt that their children were safe while at school. Columbine led to steps to make schools and communities safer. Several states, including Colorado, passed stricter gun control laws. Not all effects of the shooting were positive, though. The ordeal provoked copycat killings around the nation by students who wanted their moment in the spotlight. Columbine prompted a national debate on access to guns, school security, violence on television and in computer and video games, and child psychology.

Remembering the Victims