The Columbine Tapes: The Natural Born Killers Waited

SPECIAL REPORT THE COLUMBINE TAPES
S P E C I A L R E P O R T
≤Tick, tick, tick, tick...Haa! That f__ing shotgun is straight out of Doom.≥
THE COLUMBINE TAPES

—ERIC HARRIS
room? Because retaliation against specific ey to replace it by building a new one. The
people was not the point. Because this may students still have trouble with fire drills.
have been about celebrity as much as cru- Some report that kids are drinking more
elty. “They wanted to be famous,” con- heavily now, saying more prayers, seeing
In five secret videos they recorded before the massacre, cludes fbi agent Mark Holstlaw. “And they
are. They’re infamous.” It used to be said
more counselors—550 visits so far this
year. Two dozen students are home-
the killers reveal their hatreds—and their lust for fame that living well is the best revenge; for
these two, it was to kill and die in spectac-
bound, unable, whether physically or
emotionally, to come back to class yet.
ular fashion. Tour-bus groups have changed their
By Nancy Gibbs and Timothy Roche This is not to say the humiliation Har- routes to stop at the high school, and stare.
WHAT THE ris and Klebold felt was not a cause. Be-
cause they were steeped in violence and
Some people have found a way to for-
give: even parents who lost their beloved
the natural born killers waited INVESTIGATORS drained of mercy, they could accomplish
everything at once: payback to those who
children; even kids who won’t ever walk
again, or speak clearly, or grow old together
until the parents were asleep upstairs before heading down to the basement hurt them, and glory, the creation of a cult, with a sister who died on the school lawn.
to put on their show. The first videotape is almost unbearable to watch. HAVE LEARNED for all those who have suffered and been
cast out. They wanted movies made of
But other survivors are still on a journey,
through dark places of anger and suspicion,
Dylan Klebold sits in the tan La-Z-Boy, chewing on a toothpick. Eric π WARNINGS their story, which they had carefully laced aimed at a government they fear wants to
WERE IGNORED with “a lot of foreshadowing and dramatic cover up the misjudgments of police; at a
Harris adjusts his video camera a few feet away, then settles into his chair with Police received
complaints about Harris’
irony,” as Harris put it. There was that
poem he wrote, imagining himself as a
school that wants to shift blame; at the
killers’ parents, who have stated their re-
a bottle of Jack Daniels and a sawed-off shotgun in his lap. He calls it Arlene, violent website, which
contained threats against
bullet. “Directors will be fighting over this
story,” Klebold said—and the boys chewed
grets in written statements issued through
their lawyers but who still aren’t saying
after a favorite character in the gory Doom video games and books that he likes another student, but
failed to investigate.
over which could be trusted with the much and who surely, surely had to know
script: Steven Spielberg or Quentin Taran- something.
so much. He takes a small swig. The whiskey stings, but he tries to hide it, like π THEY PLOTTED tino. “You have two individuals who want- It’s easy now to see the signs: how a
ed to immortalize themselves,” says Holst- video-game joystick turned Harris into a
a small child playing grownup. These videos, they predict, will be shown all FOR A FULL YEAR law. “They wanted to be martyrs and to better marksman, like a golfer who watch-
Harris and Klebold had
around the world one day—once they have produced their masterpiece and planned their attack on
Columbine for more than
document everything they were doing.”
These boys had read their Shake-
es Tiger Woods videos; how he decided to
stop taking his Luvox, to let his anger flare,
everyone wants to know how, and why. a year. They had wanted
to strike on April 19, but
speare: “Good wombs hath borne bad
sons,” Harris quoted from The Tempest, as
undiluted by medication. How Klebold’s
violent essays for English class were like
Above all, they want to be seen as originals. “Do not think we’re trying to later let it slip by a day. he reflected on how his rampage would skywriting his intent. If only the parents
ruin his parents’ lives. The boys knew that had looked in the middle drawer of Harris’
copy anyone,” Harris warns, recalling the school shootings in Oregon and Ken- π THERE WAS NO once they staged their final act, the audi- desk, they would have found the four
BACKUP PLAN ence would be desperate for meaning. And windup clocks that he later used as timing
tucky. They had the idea long ago, “before the first one ever happened.” The duo had planned to so they provided their own poisonous cho- devices. Check the duffel bag in the closet;
gun down students as rus, about why they hated so many people the pipe bombs are inside. In his CD col-
they fled bombs in the
And their plan is better, “not like those calls, his mother saw him carrying a gym room,” says Harris. “If only we would have cafeteria. But the bombs so much. In the weeks before what they lection, they would have found a recording
f____s in Kentucky with camouflage and bags with a gun handle sticking out of the asked the right questions.” fizzled, and the gunmen called their Judgment Day, they sat in their that meant so much to him that he willed it
.22s. Those kids were only trying to be ac- zipper. She assumed it was his BB gun. began firing aimlessly. basement and made their haunting to a girl in his last videotaped suicide mes-
cepted by others.” Every day Klebold and Harris went to since then, we’ve never stopped asking, videos—detailing their plans, their mo- sage. The name of the album? Bombthreat
Harris and Klebold have an inventory of school, sat in class, had lunch with their of course, in our aching effort to get back on π SWAT TEAMS tives, even their regrets—which Harris left Before She Blows.
their ecumenical hatred: all “niggers, spics, schoolmates, worked with their teachers our feet, slowly, carefully, only to be pushed WERE TOO LATE in his bedroom for the police and his par- The problem is that until April 20, no-
Jews, gays, f___ing whites,” the enemies who and plotted their slaughter. People fell for back down again. And what if the answers The best chance to get ents to find when it was all over. body was looking. And Harris and Klebold
abused them and the friends who didn’t do every lie. “I could convince them that I’m turn out to be different from what we’ve the killers was during The dilemma for many families at knew it.
enough to defend them. But it will all be over going to climb Mount Everest, or I have a heard all along? A six-week Time investiga- their first 7 min. in the Columbine is ours as well. For months
library. But by the time
soon. “I hope we kill 250 of you,” Klebold
says. He thinks it will be the most “nerve-
twin brother growing out of my back,” says
Harris. “I can make you believe anything.”
tion of the Columbine case tracked the ef-
forts of the police and fbi, who are still sort-
the teams deployed, the
killers were moving.
they have searched for answers. “It’s not
going to bring anything or anybody πTHE BASEMENT TAPES
racking 15 minutes of my life, after the Even when it is over, they promise, it ing through some 10,000 pieces of back,” says Mike Kirklin, whose son sur- the tapes were meant to be their final
bombs are set and we’re waiting to charge will not be over. In memory and nightmares, evidence, 5,000 leads, the boys’ journals π GUNMEN WERE vived a shot in the face. “But we do need word, to all those who had picked on them
through the school. Seconds will be like they hope to live forever. “We’re going to and websites and the five secret home EQUAL PARTNERS to know. Why did they do this?” Still, the over the years, and to everyone who would
hours. I can’t wait. I’ll be shaking like a leaf.” kick-start a revolution,” Harris says—a revo- videos they made in the weeks before the Though Harris has been last thing the survivors want is to see come up with a theory about their inner
“It’s going to be like f___ing Doom,” lution of the dispossessed. They talk about massacre. Within the next few weeks, the called the dominant these boys on the cover of another maga- demons. It is clear listening to them that
Harris says. “Tick, tick, tick, tick ... Haa! That being ghosts who will haunt the survivors— investigators are expected to issue their re- personality, ballistics zine, back in the headlines, on the evening Harris and Klebold were not just having
f___ing shotgun is straight out of Doom!” “create flashbacks from what we do,” Harris port, and their findings are bound to sur- show Klebold fired about news. We need to understand them, but trouble with what their counselors called
as many rounds and killed
How easy it has been to fool everyone, as promises, “and drive them insane.” prise a town, and a country, that has heard about as many victims. we don’t want to look at them. And yet “anger management.” They fed the anger,
they staged their dress rehearsals, gathered It is getting late now. Harris looks at his all about the culture of cruelty, the bullying there is no escaping this story. Last week fueled it, so the fury could take hold, because
their props—the shotguns in their gym bags, watch. He says the time is 1:28 a.m. March jocks, and has concluded that two ugly, an- another child shot up another school, this they knew they would need it to do what
the pipe bombs in the closet. Klebold re- 15. Klebold says people will note the date gry boys just snapped, and fired back. time an Oklahoma junior high where four they had set out to do. “More rage. More
counts for the camera the time his parents and time when watching it. And he knows It turns out there is much more to the were injured, and all the questions came rage,” Harris says. “Keep building it on,” he
walked in on him when he was trying on his what his parents will be thinking. “If only story than that. gushing out one more time. says, motioning with his hands for emphasis.
black leather trench coat, with his sawed-off we could have reached them sooner or Why, if their motive was rage at the At Columbine, some wounds are slow Harris recalls how he moved around so
shotgun hidden underneath: “They didn’t found this tape,” he predicts they will say. athletes who taunted them, didn’t they to heal. The old library is walled off, while much with his military family and always
even know it was there.” Once, Harris re- “If only we would have searched their take their guns and bombs to the locker the victims’ families try to raise the mon- had to start over, “at the bottom of the lad-
S P E C I A L R E P O R T T H E C O L U MB IN E TA P E S
S P E C I A L R E P O R T
≤Tick, tick, tick, tick...Haa! That f__ing shotgun is straight out of Doom.≥
THE COLUMBINE TAPES

—ERIC HARRIS
room? Because retaliation against specific ey to replace it by building a new one. The
people was not the point. Because this may students still have trouble with fire drills.
have been about celebrity as much as cru- Some report that kids are drinking more
elty. “They wanted to be famous,” con- heavily now, saying more prayers, seeing
In five secret videos they recorded before the massacre, cludes fbi agent Mark Holstlaw. “And they
are. They’re infamous.” It used to be said
more counselors—550 visits so far this
year. Two dozen students are home-
the killers reveal their hatreds—and their lust for fame that living well is the best revenge; for
these two, it was to kill and die in spectac-
bound, unable, whether physically or
emotionally, to come back to class yet.
ular fashion. Tour-bus groups have changed their
By Nancy Gibbs and Timothy Roche This is not to say the humiliation Har- routes to stop at the high school, and stare.
WHAT THE ris and Klebold felt was not a cause. Be-
cause they were steeped in violence and
Some people have found a way to for-
give: even parents who lost their beloved
the natural born killers waited INVESTIGATORS drained of mercy, they could accomplish
everything at once: payback to those who
children; even kids who won’t ever walk
again, or speak clearly, or grow old together
until the parents were asleep upstairs before heading down to the basement hurt them, and glory, the creation of a cult, with a sister who died on the school lawn.
to put on their show. The first videotape is almost unbearable to watch. HAVE LEARNED for all those who have suffered and been
cast out. They wanted movies made of
But other survivors are still on a journey,
through dark places of anger and suspicion,
Dylan Klebold sits in the tan La-Z-Boy, chewing on a toothpick. Eric π WARNINGS their story, which they had carefully laced aimed at a government they fear wants to
WERE IGNORED with “a lot of foreshadowing and dramatic cover up the misjudgments of police; at a
Harris adjusts his video camera a few feet away, then settles into his chair with Police received
complaints about Harris’
irony,” as Harris put it. There was that
poem he wrote, imagining himself as a
school that wants to shift blame; at the
killers’ parents, who have stated their re-
a bottle of Jack Daniels and a sawed-off shotgun in his lap. He calls it Arlene, violent website, which
contained threats against
bullet. “Directors will be fighting over this
story,” Klebold said—and the boys chewed
grets in written statements issued through
their lawyers but who still aren’t saying
after a favorite character in the gory Doom video games and books that he likes another student, but
failed to investigate.
over which could be trusted with the much and who surely, surely had to know
script: Steven Spielberg or Quentin Taran- something.
so much. He takes a small swig. The whiskey stings, but he tries to hide it, like π THEY PLOTTED tino. “You have two individuals who want- It’s easy now to see the signs: how a
ed to immortalize themselves,” says Holst- video-game joystick turned Harris into a
a small child playing grownup. These videos, they predict, will be shown all FOR A FULL YEAR law. “They wanted to be martyrs and to better marksman, like a golfer who watch-
Harris and Klebold had
around the world one day—once they have produced their masterpiece and planned their attack on
Columbine for more than
document everything they were doing.”
These boys had read their Shake-
es Tiger Woods videos; how he decided to
stop taking his Luvox, to let his anger flare,
everyone wants to know how, and why. a year. They had wanted
to strike on April 19, but
speare: “Good wombs hath borne bad
sons,” Harris quoted from The Tempest, as
undiluted by medication. How Klebold’s
violent essays for English class were like
Above all, they want to be seen as originals. “Do not think we’re trying to later let it slip by a day. he reflected on how his rampage would skywriting his intent. If only the parents
ruin his parents’ lives. The boys knew that had looked in the middle drawer of Harris’
copy anyone,” Harris warns, recalling the school shootings in Oregon and Ken- π THERE WAS NO once they staged their final act, the audi- desk, they would have found the four
BACKUP PLAN ence would be desperate for meaning. And windup clocks that he later used as timing
tucky. They had the idea long ago, “before the first one ever happened.” The duo had planned to so they provided their own poisonous cho- devices. Check the duffel bag in the closet;
gun down students as rus, about why they hated so many people the pipe bombs are inside. In his CD col-
they fled bombs in the
And their plan is better, “not like those calls, his mother saw him carrying a gym room,” says Harris. “If only we would have cafeteria. But the bombs so much. In the weeks before what they lection, they would have found a recording
f____s in Kentucky with camouflage and bags with a gun handle sticking out of the asked the right questions.” fizzled, and the gunmen called their Judgment Day, they sat in their that meant so much to him that he willed it
.22s. Those kids were only trying to be ac- zipper. She assumed it was his BB gun. began firing aimlessly. basement and made their haunting to a girl in his last videotaped suicide mes-
cepted by others.” Every day Klebold and Harris went to since then, we’ve never stopped asking, videos—detailing their plans, their mo- sage. The name of the album? Bombthreat
Harris and Klebold have an inventory of school, sat in class, had lunch with their of course, in our aching effort to get back on π SWAT TEAMS tives, even their regrets—which Harris left Before She Blows.
their ecumenical hatred: all “niggers, spics, schoolmates, worked with their teachers our feet, slowly, carefully, only to be pushed WERE TOO LATE in his bedroom for the police and his par- The problem is that until April 20, no-
Jews, gays, f___ing whites,” the enemies who and plotted their slaughter. People fell for back down again. And what if the answers The best chance to get ents to find when it was all over. body was looking. And Harris and Klebold
abused them and the friends who didn’t do every lie. “I could convince them that I’m turn out to be different from what we’ve the killers was during The dilemma for many families at knew it.
enough to defend them. But it will all be over going to climb Mount Everest, or I have a heard all along? A six-week Time investiga- their first 7 min. in the Columbine is ours as well. For months
library. But by the time
soon. “I hope we kill 250 of you,” Klebold
says. He thinks it will be the most “nerve-
twin brother growing out of my back,” says
Harris. “I can make you believe anything.”
tion of the Columbine case tracked the ef-
forts of the police and fbi, who are still sort-
the teams deployed, the
killers were moving.
they have searched for answers. “It’s not
going to bring anything or anybody πTHE BASEMENT TAPES
racking 15 minutes of my life, after the Even when it is over, they promise, it ing through some 10,000 pieces of back,” says Mike Kirklin, whose son sur- the tapes were meant to be their final
bombs are set and we’re waiting to charge will not be over. In memory and nightmares, evidence, 5,000 leads, the boys’ journals π GUNMEN WERE vived a shot in the face. “But we do need word, to all those who had picked on them
through the school. Seconds will be like they hope to live forever. “We’re going to and websites and the five secret home EQUAL PARTNERS to know. Why did they do this?” Still, the over the years, and to everyone who would
hours. I can’t wait. I’ll be shaking like a leaf.” kick-start a revolution,” Harris says—a revo- videos they made in the weeks before the Though Harris has been last thing the survivors want is to see come up with a theory about their inner
“It’s going to be like f___ing Doom,” lution of the dispossessed. They talk about massacre. Within the next few weeks, the called the dominant these boys on the cover of another maga- demons. It is clear listening to them that
Harris says. “Tick, tick, tick, tick ... Haa! That being ghosts who will haunt the survivors— investigators are expected to issue their re- personality, ballistics zine, back in the headlines, on the evening Harris and Klebold were not just having
f___ing shotgun is straight out of Doom!” “create flashbacks from what we do,” Harris port, and their findings are bound to sur- show Klebold fired about news. We need to understand them, but trouble with what their counselors called
as many rounds and killed
How easy it has been to fool everyone, as promises, “and drive them insane.” prise a town, and a country, that has heard about as many victims. we don’t want to look at them. And yet “anger management.” They fed the anger,
they staged their dress rehearsals, gathered It is getting late now. Harris looks at his all about the culture of cruelty, the bullying there is no escaping this story. Last week fueled it, so the fury could take hold, because
their props—the shotguns in their gym bags, watch. He says the time is 1:28 a.m. March jocks, and has concluded that two ugly, an- another child shot up another school, this they knew they would need it to do what
the pipe bombs in the closet. Klebold re- 15. Klebold says people will note the date gry boys just snapped, and fired back. time an Oklahoma junior high where four they had set out to do. “More rage. More
counts for the camera the time his parents and time when watching it. And he knows It turns out there is much more to the were injured, and all the questions came rage,” Harris says. “Keep building it on,” he
walked in on him when he was trying on his what his parents will be thinking. “If only story than that. gushing out one more time. says, motioning with his hands for emphasis.
black leather trench coat, with his sawed-off we could have reached them sooner or Why, if their motive was rage at the At Columbine, some wounds are slow Harris recalls how he moved around so
shotgun hidden underneath: “They didn’t found this tape,” he predicts they will say. athletes who taunted them, didn’t they to heal. The old library is walled off, while much with his military family and always
even know it was there.” Once, Harris re- “If only we would have searched their take their guns and bombs to the locker the victims’ families try to raise the mon- had to start over, “at the bottom of the lad-
≤People constantly make fun of my face, my hair, my shirts. ≥ ≤Directors will be fighting over this story.≥ —DYLAN KLEBOLD
—ERIC HARRIS
der.” People continually made fun of him— tipped to Harris’ poisonous website but as many of you as I can, especially a few
≤ Tarantino ... Spielberg.≥ —ERIC HARRIS
“my face, my hair, my shirts.” As for Kle- didn’t act on it, the judge and youth- people. Like Brooks Brown.”
bold, “If you could see all the anger I’ve services counselor who put the boys The Browns didn’t know what to do. “It should have been followed up,” had become the target of a domestic-ter- with Andre Agassi. “Get down!” Nielson
stored over the past four f___ing years …” through a year of community service after “We were talking about our son’s life,” says says Sheriff Stone, who did not take office rorism probe. screamed. She dialed 911 and dropped the
he says. His brother Byron was popular and they broke into a van and then concluded Judy Brown. She and her husband argued until January 1999. “It fell through the Price became head of the cafeteria phone when the two gunmen came in.
athletic and constantly “ripped” on him, as that they had been rehabilitated. Because heatedly. Randy Brown wanted to call cracks,” admits John Kiekbusch, the sher- team, re-creating the morning that hell And so the police have a tape of every-
did the brother’s friends. Except for his par- so many people are being blamed and Harris’ father. But Judy didn’t think the fa- iff’s division chief in charge of investiga- broke loose. The investigators have talked thing that happened next.
ents, Klebold says, his extended family treat- threatened with lawsuits, there are all ther would do anything; he hadn’t disci- tions and patrol. to the survivors, the teachers, the school The 911 dispatcher listening on the
ed him like the runt of the litter. “You made kinds of public explanations designed to plined his son for throwing an ice ball at the Some people still think Brooks Brown authorities; they have reviewed the video- open phone line could hear Harris and
me what I am,” he said. “You added to the diffuse and defend. But there are private Browns’ car. Randy considered anony- must have been involved. When he goes to tapes from four security cameras placed in Klebold laughing as their victims
rage.” As far back as the Foothills Day Care conversations going on as well, within the mously faxing printouts from the website to the Dairy Queen, the kid at the drive- the cafeteria, as well as the videos the screamed. When Harris found Cassie
center, he hated the “stuck-up” kids he felt families, among the cops, in the teachers’ Harris’ father at work, but Judy thought it through recognizes him and locks all the killers made. And they have walked the Bernall, he leaned down. “Peekaboo,” he
hated him. “Being shy didn’t help,” he ad- lounge, where people are asking them- might only provoke Harris to violence. doors and windows. Brown knows it is al- school, step by step, trying to re-create 46 said, and killed her. His shotgun kicked,
mits. “I’m going to kill you all. You’ve been selves what they could have done differ- Though she had been friends with Susan most impossible to convince people that minutes that left behind 15 dead bodies stunning him and breaking his nose. Blood
giving us s___ for years.” ently. Neil Gardner, the deputy assigned to Klebold for years, Judy hesitated to call and the rumors were never true. Like many and a thousand questions. streamed down his face as he turned to see
Klebold and Harris were completely the school who traded gunfire with Harris, tell her what was said on the website, which kids, his life now has its markers: before Battan is very clear about her responsi- Brea Pasquale sitting on the floor because
soaked in violence: in movies like Reser- says he wishes he could have done more. included details of Eric and Dylan’s making Columbine and after. bilities. “I work for the victims. When they she couldn’t fit under a table. “Do you want
voir Dogs; in gory video games that they But with the criticism, he has learned, bombs together. In the end, the Browns de- don’t have any more questions, then I feel to die today?” he asked her. “No,” she quiv-
tailored to their imaginations. Harris liked
to call himself “Reb,” short for rebel. Kle-
“you’re not a hero unless you die.”
Nearly everyone who ever knew Harris
cided to call the sheriff’s office. On the night
of March 18, a deputy came to their house. π THE INVESTIGATORS I’ve done my job.”
It quickly became obvious to the inves-
ered. Just then Klebold called to him,
which spared her life.
bold’s nickname was VoDKa (his favorite or Klebold has asked himself the same They gave him printouts of the website, and detective kate battan still sees it in tigators that the assault did not go as the Why hadn’t anyone stopped them yet?
liquor, with the capital DK for his initials). question: How could we have been duped? he wrote a report for what he labeled a “sus- her sleep—still sees what she saw that first killers had planned. They had wanted to It was now 11:29; because of the open line,
On pipe bombs used in the massacre he Yet the boys were not loners; they had a cir- picious incident.” The Browns provided day in April, when she was chosen to lead bomb first, then shoot. So they planted the 911 dispatcher knew for certain—for
wrote “VoDKa Vengeance.” cle of friends. Harris played soccer (until names and addresses for both Harris and the task force that would investigate the three sets of bombs: one set a few miles seven long minutes—that the gunmen
That they were aiming for 250 dead the fall of 1998), and Klebold was in the dra- Klebold, but they say they told the deputy massacre. Bullet holes in the banks of blue away, timed to go off first and lure police were there in the library and were shoot-
shows that their motives went far beyond ma club. Just the week before the rampage, that they did not want Harris to know their lockers. Ceiling tiles ajar where kids had away from the school; a second set in the ing fellow students. At that early stage,
targeting the people who teased them. They the boys had to write a poem for an English son had reported him. scampered to hide in the crawl space. cafeteria, to flush terrified students out into though, only about a dozen cops had ar-
planned it very carefully: when they would class. Harris wrote about stopping the hate A week or so later, Judy called the sher- Shoes left behind by kids who literally ran the parking lot, where Harris and Klebold rived on the scene, and none of them had
strike, where they would put the bombs, and loving the world. Klebold went to the iff’s office to find out what had become of out of them. Dead bodies in the library, would be waiting with their guns to mow protective gear or heavy weapons. They
whether the fire sprinklers would snuff out prom the weekend before the slaughter; their complaint. The detective she spoke where students cowered beneath tables. them down; and then a third set in their could have charged in with their hand-
their fuses. They could hardly wait. Harris Harris couldn’t get a date but joined him at with seemed uninterested; he even apolo- One boy died clenching his eyeglasses, and cars, timed to go off once the ambulances guns, but their training, and orders from
picks up the shotgun and makes shooting the postprom parties, to celebrate with stu- gized for being so callous because he had another gripped a pencil as he drew his last and rescue workers descended, to kill their commanders, told them to “secure
noises. “Isn’t it fun to get the respect that dents they were planning to kill. seen so much crime. Mrs. Brown persisted, breath. Was he writing a goodbye note? Or them as well. What actually happened in- the perimeter” so the shooters couldn’t es-
we’re going to deserve?” he asks. To adults, Klebold had always come and she and her husband met with detectives was he so scared that he forgot he held it? stead was mainly an improvisation. cape and couldn’t pursue the students who
The tapes are a cloudy window on across as the bashful, nervous type who could on March 31. Members of the bomb squad “It was like you walked in and time Just before 11 a.m. they hauled two duf- had fled. And by the time the trained swat
their moral order. They defend the friends not lie very well. Yet he managed to keep his helpfully showed them what a pipe bomb stopped,” says Battan. “These are kids. You fel bags containing propane-tank bombs units were pulling in, the killers were on
who bought the guns for them, who Harris dark side a secret. “People have no clue,” looked like—in case one turned up in their can’t help but think about what their last into the cafeteria. Then they returned to the move again.
and Klebold say knew nothing of their in- Klebold says on one videotape. But they mailbox. few minutes were like.” their cars, strapped on their weapons and Leaving the library, Harris and Kle-
tentions—as though they are concerned should have had. And this is one of the most The police already had a file on the Long after the bodies had been identi- ammunition, pulled on their black trench bold walked down a flight of stairs to the
that innocent people not be blamed for painful parts of the puzzle, to look back and boys, it turns out: they had been caught fied, Battan kept the Polaroids of them in coats and settled in to wait. cafeteria. It was empty, except for 450
their massacre of innocent people. If they see the flashing red lights—especially regard- breaking into a van and were about to be her briefcase. Every morning when starting Judgment Day, as they called it, was book bags and the four students who hid
hadn’t got the guns where they did, Harris ing Harris—that no one paid attention to. No sentenced. But somehow the new com- work, she’d look at them to remind herself to begin at 11:17 a.m. But the bombs beneath tables. All the killing and the
says, “we would have found something else.” one except, perhaps, the Brown family. plaint never intersected the first; the Har- whom she was working for. didn’t go off. After two minutes, they yelling upstairs had made the shooters
They had many chances to turn back— Brooks Brown became notorious after rises and Klebolds were never told that a On the Columbine task force, Battan walked toward the school and opened thirsty. Surveillance cameras recorded
and many chances to get caught. They the massacre because certain police offi- new complaint had been leveled at Eric was known as the Whip. As the lead inves- fire, shooting randomly and killing the them as they drank from cups that fleeing
“came close” one day, when an employee of cers let slip rumors that he might have Harris. And as weeks passed, the Browns tigator, she kept 80-plus detectives on first two of their 13 victims. And then they kids had left on tables. Then they went
Green Mountain Guns called Harris’ house somehow been involved. And indeed he found it harder to get their calls returned as track. The task force broke into teams: the headed into the building. back to work. They were frustrated that the
and his father answered the phone. “Hey, was—but not in the way the police were detectives focused on an unrelated triple pre-bomb team, which took the outside of Deputy Gardner was eating his lunch in bombs they had left, inside and outside,
your clips are in,” the clerk said. His father suggesting. Brown and Harris had had an homicide. Meanwhile, at the school, the school; the library team; the cafeteria his patrol car when a janitor called on the ra- had not exploded, and they watched out
replied that he hadn’t ordered any clips argument back in 1998, and Harris had Deputy Gardner told the two deans that the team; and the associates team, which in- dio, saying a girl was down in the parking lot. the windows as the police and ambulances
and, as Harris retells it, didn’t ask whether threatened Brown; Klebold also told him police were investigating a boy who was vestigated Harris’ and Klebold’s friends, Gardner drove toward her, heard gunshots and swat teams descended on the school.
the clerk had dialed the right number. If ei- that he should read Harris’ website on aol, looking up how to make pipe bombs on the including the so-called Trench Coat Mafia, and dived behind a Chevy Blazer, trading
ther one had asked just one question, says and he gave Brooks the Web address. Web. But the deans weren’t shown the Web as possible accomplices. shots with Harris. “I’ve got to kill this kid,” he most people watching the live televi-
Harris, “we would’ve been f___ed.” And there it all was: the dimensions page, nor were they given Eric’s name. Rich Price is an fbi special agent as- kept telling himself. But he was terrified of sion coverage that day saw them too, the
“We wouldn’t be able to do what we’re and nicknames of his pipe bombs. The tar- As more time passed and nothing hap- signed to the domestic terrorism squad in shooting someone else by accident—and his nearly 800 police officers who would
going to do,” Klebold adds. gets of his wrath. The meaning of his life. pened, the Browns’ fears eased—though Denver, a veteran of Oklahoma City and training instructions directed that he con- eventually mass outside the high school.
“I’m coming for EVERYONE soon and I they were troubled when their son started the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. He centrate on guarding the perimeter, so no The TV audience saw swat-team mem-
π THE WARNING SIGNS WILL be armed to the f___ing teeth and I

WILL shoot to kill.” He rails against the
hanging out with Harris again. Then came
April 20. As the gunmen entered the
was in the North Carolina mountains
searching for suspected bomber Eric
one could escape.
Patti Nielson, a teacher, had seen Harris
bers who stood for hours outside, while, as
far as everyone knew at the time, the gun-
you could fill a good-size room with people of Denver, “with their rich snobby school, Harris saw Brown and told him to Rudolph on April 20 when he heard about and Klebold coming and ran a few steps men were holding kids hostage inside. For
the people whose lives have been twisted attitude thinkin they are all high and run away. But when all the smoke had the rampage at Columbine. In TV news ahead of them into the library. One kid was the parents whose children were still
into ropes of guilt by the events leading up mighty … God, I can’t wait til I can kill you cleared and the bodies counted, the footage that afternoon, he saw his Den- doing his math homework on a calculator; trapped, there was no excuse for the wait.
to that awful day, and by the day itself. The people. Feel no remorse, no sense of Browns went public with their charge that ver-based colleagues on the scene and another was filling out a college applica- “When 500 officers go to a battle zone and
teachers who read the essays but didn’t shame. I don’t care if I live or die in the the police had failed to heed their warn- called his office. He was told to return to tion; another was reading an article in not one comes away with a scratch, then
hear the warnings, the cops who were shoot-out. All I want to do is kill and injure ings. And even some cops agree. Denver asap—suddenly two teenage boys People about Brooke Shields’ breakup something’s wrong,” charges Dale Todd,
≤People constantly make fun of my face, my hair, my shirts. ≥ ≤Directors will be fighting over this story.≥ —DYLAN KLEBOLD
—ERIC HARRIS
der.” People continually made fun of him— tipped to Harris’ poisonous website but as many of you as I can, especially a few
≤ Tarantino ... Spielberg.≥ —ERIC HARRIS
“my face, my hair, my shirts.” As for Kle- didn’t act on it, the judge and youth- people. Like Brooks Brown.”
bold, “If you could see all the anger I’ve services counselor who put the boys The Browns didn’t know what to do. “It should have been followed up,” had become the target of a domestic-ter- with Andre Agassi. “Get down!” Nielson
stored over the past four f___ing years …” through a year of community service after “We were talking about our son’s life,” says says Sheriff Stone, who did not take office rorism probe. screamed. She dialed 911 and dropped the
he says. His brother Byron was popular and they broke into a van and then concluded Judy Brown. She and her husband argued until January 1999. “It fell through the Price became head of the cafeteria phone when the two gunmen came in.
athletic and constantly “ripped” on him, as that they had been rehabilitated. Because heatedly. Randy Brown wanted to call cracks,” admits John Kiekbusch, the sher- team, re-creating the morning that hell And so the police have a tape of every-
did the brother’s friends. Except for his par- so many people are being blamed and Harris’ father. But Judy didn’t think the fa- iff’s division chief in charge of investiga- broke loose. The investigators have talked thing that happened next.
ents, Klebold says, his extended family treat- threatened with lawsuits, there are all ther would do anything; he hadn’t disci- tions and patrol. to the survivors, the teachers, the school The 911 dispatcher listening on the
ed him like the runt of the litter. “You made kinds of public explanations designed to plined his son for throwing an ice ball at the Some people still think Brooks Brown authorities; they have reviewed the video- open phone line could hear Harris and
me what I am,” he said. “You added to the diffuse and defend. But there are private Browns’ car. Randy considered anony- must have been involved. When he goes to tapes from four security cameras placed in Klebold laughing as their victims
rage.” As far back as the Foothills Day Care conversations going on as well, within the mously faxing printouts from the website to the Dairy Queen, the kid at the drive- the cafeteria, as well as the videos the screamed. When Harris found Cassie
center, he hated the “stuck-up” kids he felt families, among the cops, in the teachers’ Harris’ father at work, but Judy thought it through recognizes him and locks all the killers made. And they have walked the Bernall, he leaned down. “Peekaboo,” he
hated him. “Being shy didn’t help,” he ad- lounge, where people are asking them- might only provoke Harris to violence. doors and windows. Brown knows it is al- school, step by step, trying to re-create 46 said, and killed her. His shotgun kicked,
mits. “I’m going to kill you all. You’ve been selves what they could have done differ- Though she had been friends with Susan most impossible to convince people that minutes that left behind 15 dead bodies stunning him and breaking his nose. Blood
giving us s___ for years.” ently. Neil Gardner, the deputy assigned to Klebold for years, Judy hesitated to call and the rumors were never true. Like many and a thousand questions. streamed down his face as he turned to see
Klebold and Harris were completely the school who traded gunfire with Harris, tell her what was said on the website, which kids, his life now has its markers: before Battan is very clear about her responsi- Brea Pasquale sitting on the floor because
soaked in violence: in movies like Reser- says he wishes he could have done more. included details of Eric and Dylan’s making Columbine and after. bilities. “I work for the victims. When they she couldn’t fit under a table. “Do you want
voir Dogs; in gory video games that they But with the criticism, he has learned, bombs together. In the end, the Browns de- don’t have any more questions, then I feel to die today?” he asked her. “No,” she quiv-
tailored to their imaginations. Harris liked
to call himself “Reb,” short for rebel. Kle-
“you’re not a hero unless you die.”
Nearly everyone who ever knew Harris
cided to call the sheriff’s office. On the night
of March 18, a deputy came to their house. π THE INVESTIGATORS I’ve done my job.”
It quickly became obvious to the inves-
ered. Just then Klebold called to him,
which spared her life.
bold’s nickname was VoDKa (his favorite or Klebold has asked himself the same They gave him printouts of the website, and detective kate battan still sees it in tigators that the assault did not go as the Why hadn’t anyone stopped them yet?
liquor, with the capital DK for his initials). question: How could we have been duped? he wrote a report for what he labeled a “sus- her sleep—still sees what she saw that first killers had planned. They had wanted to It was now 11:29; because of the open line,
On pipe bombs used in the massacre he Yet the boys were not loners; they had a cir- picious incident.” The Browns provided day in April, when she was chosen to lead bomb first, then shoot. So they planted the 911 dispatcher knew for certain—for
wrote “VoDKa Vengeance.” cle of friends. Harris played soccer (until names and addresses for both Harris and the task force that would investigate the three sets of bombs: one set a few miles seven long minutes—that the gunmen
That they were aiming for 250 dead the fall of 1998), and Klebold was in the dra- Klebold, but they say they told the deputy massacre. Bullet holes in the banks of blue away, timed to go off first and lure police were there in the library and were shoot-
shows that their motives went far beyond ma club. Just the week before the rampage, that they did not want Harris to know their lockers. Ceiling tiles ajar where kids had away from the school; a second set in the ing fellow students. At that early stage,
targeting the people who teased them. They the boys had to write a poem for an English son had reported him. scampered to hide in the crawl space. cafeteria, to flush terrified students out into though, only about a dozen cops had ar-
planned it very carefully: when they would class. Harris wrote about stopping the hate A week or so later, Judy called the sher- Shoes left behind by kids who literally ran the parking lot, where Harris and Klebold rived on the scene, and none of them had
strike, where they would put the bombs, and loving the world. Klebold went to the iff’s office to find out what had become of out of them. Dead bodies in the library, would be waiting with their guns to mow protective gear or heavy weapons. They
whether the fire sprinklers would snuff out prom the weekend before the slaughter; their complaint. The detective she spoke where students cowered beneath tables. them down; and then a third set in their could have charged in with their hand-
their fuses. They could hardly wait. Harris Harris couldn’t get a date but joined him at with seemed uninterested; he even apolo- One boy died clenching his eyeglasses, and cars, timed to go off once the ambulances guns, but their training, and orders from
picks up the shotgun and makes shooting the postprom parties, to celebrate with stu- gized for being so callous because he had another gripped a pencil as he drew his last and rescue workers descended, to kill their commanders, told them to “secure
noises. “Isn’t it fun to get the respect that dents they were planning to kill. seen so much crime. Mrs. Brown persisted, breath. Was he writing a goodbye note? Or them as well. What actually happened in- the perimeter” so the shooters couldn’t es-
we’re going to deserve?” he asks. To adults, Klebold had always come and she and her husband met with detectives was he so scared that he forgot he held it? stead was mainly an improvisation. cape and couldn’t pursue the students who
The tapes are a cloudy window on across as the bashful, nervous type who could on March 31. Members of the bomb squad “It was like you walked in and time Just before 11 a.m. they hauled two duf- had fled. And by the time the trained swat
their moral order. They defend the friends not lie very well. Yet he managed to keep his helpfully showed them what a pipe bomb stopped,” says Battan. “These are kids. You fel bags containing propane-tank bombs units were pulling in, the killers were on
who bought the guns for them, who Harris dark side a secret. “People have no clue,” looked like—in case one turned up in their can’t help but think about what their last into the cafeteria. Then they returned to the move again.
and Klebold say knew nothing of their in- Klebold says on one videotape. But they mailbox. few minutes were like.” their cars, strapped on their weapons and Leaving the library, Harris and Kle-
tentions—as though they are concerned should have had. And this is one of the most The police already had a file on the Long after the bodies had been identi- ammunition, pulled on their black trench bold walked down a flight of stairs to the
that innocent people not be blamed for painful parts of the puzzle, to look back and boys, it turns out: they had been caught fied, Battan kept the Polaroids of them in coats and settled in to wait. cafeteria. It was empty, except for 450
their massacre of innocent people. If they see the flashing red lights—especially regard- breaking into a van and were about to be her briefcase. Every morning when starting Judgment Day, as they called it, was book bags and the four students who hid
hadn’t got the guns where they did, Harris ing Harris—that no one paid attention to. No sentenced. But somehow the new com- work, she’d look at them to remind herself to begin at 11:17 a.m. But the bombs beneath tables. All the killing and the
says, “we would have found something else.” one except, perhaps, the Brown family. plaint never intersected the first; the Har- whom she was working for. didn’t go off. After two minutes, they yelling upstairs had made the shooters
They had many chances to turn back— Brooks Brown became notorious after rises and Klebolds were never told that a On the Columbine task force, Battan walked toward the school and opened thirsty. Surveillance cameras recorded
and many chances to get caught. They the massacre because certain police offi- new complaint had been leveled at Eric was known as the Whip. As the lead inves- fire, shooting randomly and killing the them as they drank from cups that fleeing
“came close” one day, when an employee of cers let slip rumors that he might have Harris. And as weeks passed, the Browns tigator, she kept 80-plus detectives on first two of their 13 victims. And then they kids had left on tables. Then they went
Green Mountain Guns called Harris’ house somehow been involved. And indeed he found it harder to get their calls returned as track. The task force broke into teams: the headed into the building. back to work. They were frustrated that the
and his father answered the phone. “Hey, was—but not in the way the police were detectives focused on an unrelated triple pre-bomb team, which took the outside of Deputy Gardner was eating his lunch in bombs they had left, inside and outside,
your clips are in,” the clerk said. His father suggesting. Brown and Harris had had an homicide. Meanwhile, at the school, the school; the library team; the cafeteria his patrol car when a janitor called on the ra- had not exploded, and they watched out
replied that he hadn’t ordered any clips argument back in 1998, and Harris had Deputy Gardner told the two deans that the team; and the associates team, which in- dio, saying a girl was down in the parking lot. the windows as the police and ambulances
and, as Harris retells it, didn’t ask whether threatened Brown; Klebold also told him police were investigating a boy who was vestigated Harris’ and Klebold’s friends, Gardner drove toward her, heard gunshots and swat teams descended on the school.
the clerk had dialed the right number. If ei- that he should read Harris’ website on aol, looking up how to make pipe bombs on the including the so-called Trench Coat Mafia, and dived behind a Chevy Blazer, trading
ther one had asked just one question, says and he gave Brooks the Web address. Web. But the deans weren’t shown the Web as possible accomplices. shots with Harris. “I’ve got to kill this kid,” he most people watching the live televi-
Harris, “we would’ve been f___ed.” And there it all was: the dimensions page, nor were they given Eric’s name. Rich Price is an fbi special agent as- kept telling himself. But he was terrified of sion coverage that day saw them too, the
“We wouldn’t be able to do what we’re and nicknames of his pipe bombs. The tar- As more time passed and nothing hap- signed to the domestic terrorism squad in shooting someone else by accident—and his nearly 800 police officers who would
going to do,” Klebold adds. gets of his wrath. The meaning of his life. pened, the Browns’ fears eased—though Denver, a veteran of Oklahoma City and training instructions directed that he con- eventually mass outside the high school.
“I’m coming for EVERYONE soon and I they were troubled when their son started the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. He centrate on guarding the perimeter, so no The TV audience saw swat-team mem-
π THE WARNING SIGNS WILL be armed to the f___ing teeth and I

WILL shoot to kill.” He rails against the
hanging out with Harris again. Then came
April 20. As the gunmen entered the
was in the North Carolina mountains
searching for suspected bomber Eric
one could escape.
Patti Nielson, a teacher, had seen Harris
bers who stood for hours outside, while, as
far as everyone knew at the time, the gun-
you could fill a good-size room with people of Denver, “with their rich snobby school, Harris saw Brown and told him to Rudolph on April 20 when he heard about and Klebold coming and ran a few steps men were holding kids hostage inside. For
the people whose lives have been twisted attitude thinkin they are all high and run away. But when all the smoke had the rampage at Columbine. In TV news ahead of them into the library. One kid was the parents whose children were still
into ropes of guilt by the events leading up mighty … God, I can’t wait til I can kill you cleared and the bodies counted, the footage that afternoon, he saw his Den- doing his math homework on a calculator; trapped, there was no excuse for the wait.
to that awful day, and by the day itself. The people. Feel no remorse, no sense of Browns went public with their charge that ver-based colleagues on the scene and another was filling out a college applica- “When 500 officers go to a battle zone and
teachers who read the essays but didn’t shame. I don’t care if I live or die in the the police had failed to heed their warn- called his office. He was told to return to tion; another was reading an article in not one comes away with a scratch, then
hear the warnings, the cops who were shoot-out. All I want to do is kill and injure ings. And even some cops agree. Denver asap—suddenly two teenage boys People about Brooke Shields’ breakup something’s wrong,” charges Dale Todd,
≤I’m sorry. Like Shakespeare says, Good wombs hath borne bad sons. ≥ —ERIC HARRIS
≤ I’m going to kill you all. You’ve been giving us s___ for years.≥ —DYLAN KLEBOLD
whose son Evan was wounded inside the men fired a few more rounds out the win- death toll could have been far worse. But gether. Nathan is a problematic witness, appreciated that.” He adds, “I’m sorry I their hats? It’s not just jocks; the whole
school. “I expected dead officers, crippled dow at cops and medics below. Then Kle- some parents still think it didn’t need to partly because he accepted money from have so much rage.” school’s disgusted with them. They’re a
officers, disfigured officers—not just chil- bold placed one final Molotov cocktail, have been as high as it was. They pressed tabloids after the massacre. His story also At one point Harris gets very quiet. His bunch of homos, grabbing each other’s pri-
dren and teachers.” made from a Frappuccino bottle, on a Colorado Governor Bill Owens, who has amounts to hearsay because it is based on parents have probably noticed that he’s be- vate parts. If you want to get rid of some-
This criticism is “like a punch in the table. As it sizzled and smoked, Harris appointed a commission to review something Harris supposedly said. Inves- come distant, withdrawn lately—but it’s one, usually you tease ’em. So the whole
gut,” says sheriff’s captain Terry Manwar- shot himself, falling to the floor. When Columbine and possibly update swat tac- tigators have not been able to ask Mr. been for their own good. “I don’t want to school would call them homos, and when
ing, who was the swat commander that day. Klebold fired seconds later, his Boston tics for assailants who are moving and Harris about it either; the Harrises’ spend any more time with them,” he says. they did something sick, we’d tell them,
“We were prepared to die for those kids.” Red Sox cap landed on Harris’ leg. They shooting. “There may be times when you lawyer put that kind of question off limits “I wish they were out of town so I didn’t ‘You’re sick and that’s wrong.’ ”
So why the delay in attacking the gun- were dead by 12:05 p.m., when the sprin- just walk through until you find the killers,” as a condition for their sitting down with have to look at them and bond more.” Others agree that the whole social-
men? Chaos played a big part. From the kler turned on, extinguishing what was Owens says. “This is the first time this has investigators at all. cruelty angle was overblown—just like the
moment of the first report of gunshots at supposed to be their last bomb. happened.” The local lawmen “didn’t know As for the Klebolds, Kate Battan and over the months, the police have kept notion that the Trench Coat Mafia was
Columbine, swat-team members raced in But the police didn’t know any of this. what they were dealing with.” her sergeant, Randy West, were con- the school apprised of the progress of their some kind of gang, which it never was.
from every direction, some without their They were still searching, slowly, along vinced after their interviews that the par- investigation: principal Frank DeAngelis Steven Meier, an English teacher and ad-
equipment, some in jeans and T shirts, just
trying to get there quickly. They had only
corridors and in classrooms. They found
two janitors hiding in the meat freezer. πTHE PARENTS ents were fooled liked everyone else.
“They were not absentee parents. They’re
has not seen the videotapes, but the evi-
dence that the boys were motivated by
viser to the school newspaper, says, “I
think these kids wanted to do something
two Plexiglas ballistic shields among them. Students and teachers had barricaded before the swat teams ever found normal people who seem to care for their many things has prompted some at the that they could be famous for. Other peo-
As Manwaring dressed in his bulletproof themselves and refused to open doors, the gunmen’s bodies, investigators had al- children and were involved in their life,” school to quietly claim vindication. The ple tend to wait until they graduate and try
gear, he says, he asked several kids to draw worried that the shooters might be posing ready left to search the boys’ homes: the says Battan. They too have suffered a ter- charge was that Columbine’s social climate to make their mark in the working world
on notebook paper whatever they could re- as cops. kids who had managed to flee had told rible loss, both of a child and of their trust was somehow so rancid, the abuse by the and try to be famous in a positive way. I
member of the layout of the sprawling, Upstairs in a science classroom, stu- them whom they should be hunting. in their instincts. On what would have school’s athletes so relentless, that it drove think these kids had a dismal view of life
250,000-sq.-ft. school. But the kids were so dent Kevin Starkey called 911. Teacher When they knocked on each family’s been Klebold’s 18th birthday recently, these boys to murder. The police investiga- and of their own mortality. To just focus
upset that they were not even sure which Dave Sanders had been shot running in door, it was Mr. Harris and Mr. Klebold Susan Klebold baked him a cake. “They tion provides the school with its best de- on the bullying aspect is just to focus on
way was north. the upstairs hallway, trying to warn people; who answered. By then, news of the assault don’t have victims’ advocates to help fense. “There is nowhere in any of the sher- one small piece of the entire picture.”
Through most of the 46 minutes that he was bleeding badly and needed help at Columbine was playing out live on TV. them through this,” Battan says. They do, iff’s or school’s investigation of what Meier points out that Harris’ brother,
Harris and Klebold were shooting up the fast. But by this time the 911 lines were so Mr. Harris’ first reflex was to call his wife however, have a band of devoted friends, happened that shows this was caused by from all accounts, is a great kid. “Why
school, police say they couldn’t tell where flooded with calls that the phone company and tell her to come home. And he called and see one or more of them almost every jock culture,” says county school spokes- would a family have one good son and one
the gunmen were, or how many of them started disconnecting people—including his lawyer. day. In private, the Klebolds try to recall man Rick Kaufman. “Both Harris and Kle- bad son?” asks Meier. “Why is it that some
there were. Students and teachers trapped Starkey. Finally the 911 dispatcher used The Klebolds had not been told that every interaction they had with the son bold dished out as much ribbing as they re- people turn out to be rotten?”
in various parts of the school were flooding his personal cell phone and kept a line their son was definitely involved. They they now realize they never knew: the ceived. They wanted to become cult
911 dispatchers with calls reporting that open to the classroom so he could help knew his car had been found in the park- talks, the car rides, the times they heroes. They wanted to make a statement.” the killers made their last videotape on
the shooters were, simultaneously, inside guide police there. ing lot. They knew witnesses had identi- grounded him for something minor. “She That’s an overstatement, and it begs the morning of the massacre. This is the
the cafeteria, the library and the front of- Listening to another dispatcher in his fied him as a gunman. They knew he was wants to know all of it,” a friend says of the question of why the boys wanted to only tape the Klebolds have seen; the Har-
fice. They might have simply followed the earpiece, Sergeant Barry Williams, who friends with Harris. And they knew he still Mrs. Klebold. make such an obscene statement. But rises have seen none of them. First Harris
sounds of gunfire—except, police say, fire was leading a second swat team inside, had not come home, though it was getting Many of the victims’ parents wish many students and faculty were horrified holds the camera while Klebold speaks. As
alarms were ringing so loudly that they tried to track Sanders down—but he says late. Mr. Klebold said they had to face the they could talk to the Klebolds and Har- by the way their school was portrayed af- the camera zooms in tight, Klebold is wear-
couldn’t hear a gunshot 20 feet away. no one could tell him where the science facts. But neither he nor his wife was rises, parent to parent. Donna Taylor is ter the massacre and have tried for the ing a Boston Red Sox cap, turned back-
So the officers treated the problem as a rooms were. Still, he and his team searched ready to accept the ugly truth, and they caring for her son Mark, 16, who took six past eight months to correct the record. “I ward. “It’s a half-hour before our Judg-
hostage situation, moving into the school on, looking for a rag that kids said they had couldn’t believe it was happening. “This is 9-mm rounds and spent 39 days in the have asked students on occasion,” says ment Day,” Klebold says into the camera.
through entrances far from the one where tied on the doorknob as a signal. real,” Mr. Klebold kept saying, as if he had hospital. She has tried to make contact. DeAngelis, “ ‘The things you’ve read in the He wants to tell his parents goodbye. “I
Harris and Klebold entered. The units The team finally found Sanders in a to convince himself. “He’s involved.” “We just want to know,” she explains. paper—is that happening? Am I just didn’t like life very much,” he says. “Just
painstakingly searched each hallway and room with 50 or 60 kids. A paramedic Within 10 days, the Klebolds sat down “From Day One, I wanted to meet and naive?’ And they’ve said, ‘Mr. DeAngelis, know I’m going to a better place than
closet and classroom and crawl space for went to work, trying to stop the bleeding with investigators and began to answer talk with them. I mean, maybe they did we don’t see it.’ ” here,” he says.
gunmen, bombs and booby traps. “Every and get him out to an ambulance. But it their questions. It would be months before watch their boys, and we’re not hearing Maybe they saw the kids who flicked He takes the camera from Harris, who
time we came around a corner,” says had all taken too long. Though Harris and the same interviews would take place with their story.” the ketchup packets or tossed the bottles at begins his quick goodbye. “I know my
Sergeant Allen Simmons, who led the first Klebold had killed themselves three the Harrises, who were seeking immunity Throughout the videotapes, it seems the trench-coat kids in the cafeteria. But mom and dad will be in shock and disbe-
four swat officers inside, “we didn’t know hours earlier, the swat team hadn’t from prosecution. District Attorney David as though the only people about whom the things never got out of hand, they say. Evan lief,” he says. “I can’t help it.”
what was waiting for us.” They created safe reached Sanders until close to 3 p.m. Thomas says he has not ruled out charges. killers felt remorse were their parents. “It Todd, the 255-lb. defensive lineman who Klebold interrupts. “It’s what we had to
corridors to evacuate the students they Sanders’ daughter Angela often talks to But at this point, he lacks sufficient evi- f___ing sucks to do this to them,” Harris was wounded in the library, describes the do,” he says.
found hiding in classrooms. And they the students who tried to save her dad. dence of any wrongdoing. And he is not says of his parents. “They’re going to be climate this way: “Columbine is a clean, Then they list some favorite CDs and
moved very slowly and cautiously. “How many of those kids could have lived sure whether charging the parents would put through hell once we do this.” And good place except for those rejects,” Todd other belongings that they want to will to
Evan Todd, 16, tells a different story. if they had moved more quickly?” she asks. do any good. “Could I really do anything to then he speaks directly to them. “There’s says of Klebold and Harris and their certain friends. Klebold snaps his fingers
Wounded in the library, he waited until the “This is what I do every day. I sit and pon- punish them anymore?” nothing you guys could’ve done to prevent friends. “Most kids didn’t want them there. for Harris to hurry up. Time’s running out.
killers moved on, and then he fled outside der, ‘What if?’” Sheriff Stone questioned the Harrises this,” he says. They were into witchcraft. They were into “That’s it,” concludes Harris, very suc-
to safety. Evan, who is familiar with guns, The swat team members wonder too. himself. “You want to go after them. How Klebold tells his mom and dad they voodoo dolls. Sure, we teased them. But cinctly. “Sorry. Goodbye.” —With reporting
says he immediately briefed a dozen police By the time they got to the library, they could they not know?” says Stone. “Then have been “great parents” who taught him what do you expect with kids who come to by Andrew Goldstein, Maureen Harrington and
officers. “I described it all to them—the found that the assault on the school was all you realize they are no different from the “self-awareness, self-reliance … I always school with weird hairdos and horns on Richard Woodbury/Littleton
guns they were using, the ammo. I told over. Scattered around the library was “a rest of us.”
them they could save lives [of the wound- sea of bombs” that had not exploded. Try- Still, of all the unresolved issues
ed still in the library if they moved in right ing not to kick anything, the swat team about who knew what, the most serious
away]. They told me to calm down and take members looked for survivors. And then involves Mr. Harris. Investigators have
my frustrations elsewhere.” they found the killers, already dead. heard from former Columbine student
At about noon Harris and Klebold re- “We’ll never know why they stopped Nathan Dykeman that Mr. Harris may
turned to the library. All but two wound- when they did,” says Battan. once have found a pipe bomb. Nathan
ed kids and four teachers had managed to Given how long the cops took and how claims Eric Harris told him that his dad
get out while they were gone. The gun- much ammunition the killers had, the took him out and they detonated it to-
≤I’m sorry. Like Shakespeare says, Good wombs hath borne bad sons. ≥ —ERIC HARRIS
≤ I’m going to kill you all. You’ve been giving us s___ for years.≥ —DYLAN KLEBOLD
whose son Evan was wounded inside the men fired a few more rounds out the win- death toll could have been far worse. But gether. Nathan is a problematic witness, appreciated that.” He adds, “I’m sorry I their hats? It’s not just jocks; the whole
school. “I expected dead officers, crippled dow at cops and medics below. Then Kle- some parents still think it didn’t need to partly because he accepted money from have so much rage.” school’s disgusted with them. They’re a
officers, disfigured officers—not just chil- bold placed one final Molotov cocktail, have been as high as it was. They pressed tabloids after the massacre. His story also At one point Harris gets very quiet. His bunch of homos, grabbing each other’s pri-
dren and teachers.” made from a Frappuccino bottle, on a Colorado Governor Bill Owens, who has amounts to hearsay because it is based on parents have probably noticed that he’s be- vate parts. If you want to get rid of some-
This criticism is “like a punch in the table. As it sizzled and smoked, Harris appointed a commission to review something Harris supposedly said. Inves- come distant, withdrawn lately—but it’s one, usually you tease ’em. So the whole
gut,” says sheriff’s captain Terry Manwar- shot himself, falling to the floor. When Columbine and possibly update swat tac- tigators have not been able to ask Mr. been for their own good. “I don’t want to school would call them homos, and when
ing, who was the swat commander that day. Klebold fired seconds later, his Boston tics for assailants who are moving and Harris about it either; the Harrises’ spend any more time with them,” he says. they did something sick, we’d tell them,
“We were prepared to die for those kids.” Red Sox cap landed on Harris’ leg. They shooting. “There may be times when you lawyer put that kind of question off limits “I wish they were out of town so I didn’t ‘You’re sick and that’s wrong.’ ”
So why the delay in attacking the gun- were dead by 12:05 p.m., when the sprin- just walk through until you find the killers,” as a condition for their sitting down with have to look at them and bond more.” Others agree that the whole social-
men? Chaos played a big part. From the kler turned on, extinguishing what was Owens says. “This is the first time this has investigators at all. cruelty angle was overblown—just like the
moment of the first report of gunshots at supposed to be their last bomb. happened.” The local lawmen “didn’t know As for the Klebolds, Kate Battan and over the months, the police have kept notion that the Trench Coat Mafia was
Columbine, swat-team members raced in But the police didn’t know any of this. what they were dealing with.” her sergeant, Randy West, were con- the school apprised of the progress of their some kind of gang, which it never was.
from every direction, some without their They were still searching, slowly, along vinced after their interviews that the par- investigation: principal Frank DeAngelis Steven Meier, an English teacher and ad-
equipment, some in jeans and T shirts, just
trying to get there quickly. They had only
corridors and in classrooms. They found
two janitors hiding in the meat freezer. πTHE PARENTS ents were fooled liked everyone else.
“They were not absentee parents. They’re
has not seen the videotapes, but the evi-
dence that the boys were motivated by
viser to the school newspaper, says, “I
think these kids wanted to do something
two Plexiglas ballistic shields among them. Students and teachers had barricaded before the swat teams ever found normal people who seem to care for their many things has prompted some at the that they could be famous for. Other peo-
As Manwaring dressed in his bulletproof themselves and refused to open doors, the gunmen’s bodies, investigators had al- children and were involved in their life,” school to quietly claim vindication. The ple tend to wait until they graduate and try
gear, he says, he asked several kids to draw worried that the shooters might be posing ready left to search the boys’ homes: the says Battan. They too have suffered a ter- charge was that Columbine’s social climate to make their mark in the working world
on notebook paper whatever they could re- as cops. kids who had managed to flee had told rible loss, both of a child and of their trust was somehow so rancid, the abuse by the and try to be famous in a positive way. I
member of the layout of the sprawling, Upstairs in a science classroom, stu- them whom they should be hunting. in their instincts. On what would have school’s athletes so relentless, that it drove think these kids had a dismal view of life
250,000-sq.-ft. school. But the kids were so dent Kevin Starkey called 911. Teacher When they knocked on each family’s been Klebold’s 18th birthday recently, these boys to murder. The police investiga- and of their own mortality. To just focus
upset that they were not even sure which Dave Sanders had been shot running in door, it was Mr. Harris and Mr. Klebold Susan Klebold baked him a cake. “They tion provides the school with its best de- on the bullying aspect is just to focus on
way was north. the upstairs hallway, trying to warn people; who answered. By then, news of the assault don’t have victims’ advocates to help fense. “There is nowhere in any of the sher- one small piece of the entire picture.”
Through most of the 46 minutes that he was bleeding badly and needed help at Columbine was playing out live on TV. them through this,” Battan says. They do, iff’s or school’s investigation of what Meier points out that Harris’ brother,
Harris and Klebold were shooting up the fast. But by this time the 911 lines were so Mr. Harris’ first reflex was to call his wife however, have a band of devoted friends, happened that shows this was caused by from all accounts, is a great kid. “Why
school, police say they couldn’t tell where flooded with calls that the phone company and tell her to come home. And he called and see one or more of them almost every jock culture,” says county school spokes- would a family have one good son and one
the gunmen were, or how many of them started disconnecting people—including his lawyer. day. In private, the Klebolds try to recall man Rick Kaufman. “Both Harris and Kle- bad son?” asks Meier. “Why is it that some
there were. Students and teachers trapped Starkey. Finally the 911 dispatcher used The Klebolds had not been told that every interaction they had with the son bold dished out as much ribbing as they re- people turn out to be rotten?”
in various parts of the school were flooding his personal cell phone and kept a line their son was definitely involved. They they now realize they never knew: the ceived. They wanted to become cult
911 dispatchers with calls reporting that open to the classroom so he could help knew his car had been found in the park- talks, the car rides, the times they heroes. They wanted to make a statement.” the killers made their last videotape on
the shooters were, simultaneously, inside guide police there. ing lot. They knew witnesses had identi- grounded him for something minor. “She That’s an overstatement, and it begs the morning of the massacre. This is the
the cafeteria, the library and the front of- Listening to another dispatcher in his fied him as a gunman. They knew he was wants to know all of it,” a friend says of the question of why the boys wanted to only tape the Klebolds have seen; the Har-
fice. They might have simply followed the earpiece, Sergeant Barry Williams, who friends with Harris. And they knew he still Mrs. Klebold. make such an obscene statement. But rises have seen none of them. First Harris
sounds of gunfire—except, police say, fire was leading a second swat team inside, had not come home, though it was getting Many of the victims’ parents wish many students and faculty were horrified holds the camera while Klebold speaks. As
alarms were ringing so loudly that they tried to track Sanders down—but he says late. Mr. Klebold said they had to face the they could talk to the Klebolds and Har- by the way their school was portrayed af- the camera zooms in tight, Klebold is wear-
couldn’t hear a gunshot 20 feet away. no one could tell him where the science facts. But neither he nor his wife was rises, parent to parent. Donna Taylor is ter the massacre and have tried for the ing a Boston Red Sox cap, turned back-
So the officers treated the problem as a rooms were. Still, he and his team searched ready to accept the ugly truth, and they caring for her son Mark, 16, who took six past eight months to correct the record. “I ward. “It’s a half-hour before our Judg-
hostage situation, moving into the school on, looking for a rag that kids said they had couldn’t believe it was happening. “This is 9-mm rounds and spent 39 days in the have asked students on occasion,” says ment Day,” Klebold says into the camera.
through entrances far from the one where tied on the doorknob as a signal. real,” Mr. Klebold kept saying, as if he had hospital. She has tried to make contact. DeAngelis, “ ‘The things you’ve read in the He wants to tell his parents goodbye. “I
Harris and Klebold entered. The units The team finally found Sanders in a to convince himself. “He’s involved.” “We just want to know,” she explains. paper—is that happening? Am I just didn’t like life very much,” he says. “Just
painstakingly searched each hallway and room with 50 or 60 kids. A paramedic Within 10 days, the Klebolds sat down “From Day One, I wanted to meet and naive?’ And they’ve said, ‘Mr. DeAngelis, know I’m going to a better place than
closet and classroom and crawl space for went to work, trying to stop the bleeding with investigators and began to answer talk with them. I mean, maybe they did we don’t see it.’ ” here,” he says.
gunmen, bombs and booby traps. “Every and get him out to an ambulance. But it their questions. It would be months before watch their boys, and we’re not hearing Maybe they saw the kids who flicked He takes the camera from Harris, who
time we came around a corner,” says had all taken too long. Though Harris and the same interviews would take place with their story.” the ketchup packets or tossed the bottles at begins his quick goodbye. “I know my
Sergeant Allen Simmons, who led the first Klebold had killed themselves three the Harrises, who were seeking immunity Throughout the videotapes, it seems the trench-coat kids in the cafeteria. But mom and dad will be in shock and disbe-
four swat officers inside, “we didn’t know hours earlier, the swat team hadn’t from prosecution. District Attorney David as though the only people about whom the things never got out of hand, they say. Evan lief,” he says. “I can’t help it.”
what was waiting for us.” They created safe reached Sanders until close to 3 p.m. Thomas says he has not ruled out charges. killers felt remorse were their parents. “It Todd, the 255-lb. defensive lineman who Klebold interrupts. “It’s what we had to
corridors to evacuate the students they Sanders’ daughter Angela often talks to But at this point, he lacks sufficient evi- f___ing sucks to do this to them,” Harris was wounded in the library, describes the do,” he says.
found hiding in classrooms. And they the students who tried to save her dad. dence of any wrongdoing. And he is not says of his parents. “They’re going to be climate this way: “Columbine is a clean, Then they list some favorite CDs and
moved very slowly and cautiously. “How many of those kids could have lived sure whether charging the parents would put through hell once we do this.” And good place except for those rejects,” Todd other belongings that they want to will to
Evan Todd, 16, tells a different story. if they had moved more quickly?” she asks. do any good. “Could I really do anything to then he speaks directly to them. “There’s says of Klebold and Harris and their certain friends. Klebold snaps his fingers
Wounded in the library, he waited until the “This is what I do every day. I sit and pon- punish them anymore?” nothing you guys could’ve done to prevent friends. “Most kids didn’t want them there. for Harris to hurry up. Time’s running out.
killers moved on, and then he fled outside der, ‘What if?’” Sheriff Stone questioned the Harrises this,” he says. They were into witchcraft. They were into “That’s it,” concludes Harris, very suc-
to safety. Evan, who is familiar with guns, The swat team members wonder too. himself. “You want to go after them. How Klebold tells his mom and dad they voodoo dolls. Sure, we teased them. But cinctly. “Sorry. Goodbye.” —With reporting
says he immediately briefed a dozen police By the time they got to the library, they could they not know?” says Stone. “Then have been “great parents” who taught him what do you expect with kids who come to by Andrew Goldstein, Maureen Harrington and
officers. “I described it all to them—the found that the assault on the school was all you realize they are no different from the “self-awareness, self-reliance … I always school with weird hairdos and horns on Richard Woodbury/Littleton
guns they were using, the ammo. I told over. Scattered around the library was “a rest of us.”
them they could save lives [of the wound- sea of bombs” that had not exploded. Try- Still, of all the unresolved issues
ed still in the library if they moved in right ing not to kick anything, the swat team about who knew what, the most serious
away]. They told me to calm down and take members looked for survivors. And then involves Mr. Harris. Investigators have
my frustrations elsewhere.” they found the killers, already dead. heard from former Columbine student
At about noon Harris and Klebold re- “We’ll never know why they stopped Nathan Dykeman that Mr. Harris may
turned to the library. All but two wound- when they did,” says Battan. once have found a pipe bomb. Nathan
ed kids and four teachers had managed to Given how long the cops took and how claims Eric Harris told him that his dad
get out while they were gone. The gun- much ammunition the killers had, the took him out and they detonated it to-
S P E C I A L R E P O R T T H E C O L U MB IN E TA P E S S P E C I A L R E P O R T T H E C O L U MB IN E TA P E S
T H E P R I N C I P A L
VIEWPOINT π James Garbarino
COULD HE HAVE DONE MORE?

he night after principal frank the play last year when Dylan was lighting SOME KIDS ARE ORCHIDS
T DeAngelis lost part of his school to Eric
Harris and Dylan Klebold, he got no
sleep. In such bleak hours, a man takes
account, and DeAngelis wasn’t sure he liked
the results. “I feel so guilty,” he told Jon
specialist ... Ask my wife how many hours
I’m gone.”
DeAngelis admits that harassment
could have occurred without his knowing,
without anyone complaining. Kids as trou- M
ost of us think we know the kind of kid who becomes a killer, and most
of the time we’re right. Boys commit about 85% of all youth homicides, and in
those cases about 90% conform to a pattern in which the line from bad parenting
and bad environment to murder is usually clear. Through my work, I see these
DeStefano not long after morning came. “I bled as Harris and Klebold aren’t likely to boys and young men in the courtroom and in prison with depressing regularity. Their lives
failed myself and my community.” Besides stop making bombs one day and decide start with abuse, neglect and emotional deprivation at home. Add the effects of racism,
being a close friend, DeStefano is president what they really should do is talk to an ex- poverty, the drug and gang cultures, and it is not surprising that in a violent society like
of the school board. Now DeAngelis asked jock principal about what’s bugging them. ours, damaged children become deadly teens.
him, “How can you ever trust me with your And an alienated teen probably wouldn’t But what about the other 10% of kids who kill: the boys who have loving parents and
students again?” expose his interior life during a well-at- are not poor? What about boys like Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris, or Kip Kinkel of Spring-
Since that night, DeAngelis has had to tended extracurricular event. But DeAnge- field, Ore., who killed his parents and two schoolmates in 1998? Are their parents to blame
grope around in a darkness most of us will lis says the official police report on when these kids become killers? I have learned as a researcher and an expert witness in
never know. The entire nation has won- Columbine, set for release in January, will youth homicide cases that the answer is usually no.
dered why Harris and Klebold did what show that the school wasn’t a brutish place Most children are like dandelions; they thrive if given half a chance. Some are more
they did, but imagine wondering whether where cool kids humiliated outcasts every like orchids. They do fine while young enough to be nurtured by loving parents, but wilt
you could have stopped it. The uncertain- day. as adolescents subjected to peer competition, bullying and rejection, particularly in big high
ties of Columbine will be with DeAngelis That report may be gratifying, but the schools. Research shows that while only 10% of children who are born temperamentally
forever. search for answers can leave you feeling “easy” have adjustment problems in elementary school, 70% of those who are “difficult”
Remarkably, though, those doubts empty. What progress DeAngelis has made temperamentally have such problems. And while most fragile children do fine in early
haven’t broken him. In a four-hour inter- in his search owes something to the support childhood, 50% have significant difficulties once they enter adolescence. Then children re-
view with Time, DeAngelis said he had he has enjoyed in Littleton. The day after the spond to the influence of peers and the larger culture in the neighborhood and the nation.
shaken off much of the guilt he felt that aw- massacre, he went to address students and The U.S. youth homicide rate is about 10 times higher than in Canada.
ful morning. Before he was principal, parents at a local church. He felt uncertain, The “normal” culture of adolescence today contains elements that are so nasty that it
DeAngelis spent 14 years coaching football but when his name was announced, the becomes hard for parents (and professionals) to distinguish between what in a teenager’s
and baseball, and these days he seems like place erupted in a spontaneous ovation. As talk, dress and taste in music, films and video games indicates psychological trouble and
a coach again, ready for battle. “People are he had in the past, DeAngelis told the stu- what is simply a sign of the times. Most kids who subscribe to the trench-coated Goth
telling me I should have known. I’m telling dents he loved them. lifestyle, or have multiple body piercings, or listen to Marilyn Manson, or play the video
you, it’s inaccurate,” he says. “This harass- But DeAngelis remains frustrated. game Doom are normal kids caught in a toxic culture.
ment by athletes on Eric and Dylan that Sometimes he thinks about the final con- Intelligent kids with good social skills can be quite skillful at hiding who they really
has been printed time and time again—I versation he had with Dave Sanders, the are from their parents. They may do this to avoid punishment, to escape being identified
never received a call indicating that these teacher killed April 20. Both men had been as “crazy,” or to protect the parents they love from being disappointed or worried. In the
people were harassing them. At no time coaches. They had been to each other’s wake of his shooting rampage, Kip Kinkel reported that he had been hearing voices but
did Eric or Dylan walk into my office and wedding, had kids around the same age. On didn’t tell anyone. Klebold successfully hid his inner turmoil from his loving parents. Any-
say, ‘Mr. DeAngelis, I’m concerned.’ ” April 19 they sat together at a baseball game, way, how many parents are capable of thinking the worst of their son—for example, that
Like many principals, DeAngelis makes and their how-are-you chat turned more he harbors murderous fantasies, or that he could go so far as acting them out? Even if par-
his school his life, a life of after-hours student contemplative: the long hours they spent, ents know their child as an individual, they may not understand what he is capable of when
baseball games and debate tournaments and the many challenges of working with teen- in the company of another boy. Though it appears from public accounts that Harris was
art shows. These days at least, DeAngelis is- agers—“Is all the time worth it?” they won- more prone to violence than Klebold, neither kid was likely to go on this rampage alone.
n’t falsely modest about this commitment: dered. They both said yes then. And DeAn- I think many of us are too ready to blame good parents for how their children cope
“People are saying I was out of touch with gelis says yes now.—By John Cloud and Andrew with a violent and coarse society. Even loving, attentive parents can lose children who are
this school. I put in hours and hours and Goldstein/Littleton temperamentally vulnerable—if they develop a secret life, get caught up in the dark side
hours at extracurricular activities. I was at of the culture and form dangerous peer alliances. And that’s scary for any parent to ac-
knowledge.
Garbarino is professor of human development at Cornell University and is author of Lost

Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them
S P E C I A L R E P O R T T H E C O L U MB IN E TA P E S S P E C I A L R E P O R T T H E C O L U MB IN E TA P E S
T H E P R I N C I P A L
VIEWPOINT π James Garbarino
COULD HE HAVE DONE MORE?

he night after principal frank the play last year when Dylan was lighting SOME KIDS ARE ORCHIDS
T DeAngelis lost part of his school to Eric
Harris and Dylan Klebold, he got no
sleep. In such bleak hours, a man takes
account, and DeAngelis wasn’t sure he liked
the results. “I feel so guilty,” he told Jon
specialist ... Ask my wife how many hours
I’m gone.”
DeAngelis admits that harassment
could have occurred without his knowing,
without anyone complaining. Kids as trou- M
ost of us think we know the kind of kid who becomes a killer, and most
of the time we’re right. Boys commit about 85% of all youth homicides, and in
those cases about 90% conform to a pattern in which the line from bad parenting
and bad environment to murder is usually clear. Through my work, I see these
DeStefano not long after morning came. “I bled as Harris and Klebold aren’t likely to boys and young men in the courtroom and in prison with depressing regularity. Their lives
failed myself and my community.” Besides stop making bombs one day and decide start with abuse, neglect and emotional deprivation at home. Add the effects of racism,
being a close friend, DeStefano is president what they really should do is talk to an ex- poverty, the drug and gang cultures, and it is not surprising that in a violent society like
of the school board. Now DeAngelis asked jock principal about what’s bugging them. ours, damaged children become deadly teens.
him, “How can you ever trust me with your And an alienated teen probably wouldn’t But what about the other 10% of kids who kill: the boys who have loving parents and
students again?” expose his interior life during a well-at- are not poor? What about boys like Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris, or Kip Kinkel of Spring-
Since that night, DeAngelis has had to tended extracurricular event. But DeAnge- field, Ore., who killed his parents and two schoolmates in 1998? Are their parents to blame
grope around in a darkness most of us will lis says the official police report on when these kids become killers? I have learned as a researcher and an expert witness in
never know. The entire nation has won- Columbine, set for release in January, will youth homicide cases that the answer is usually no.
dered why Harris and Klebold did what show that the school wasn’t a brutish place Most children are like dandelions; they thrive if given half a chance. Some are more
they did, but imagine wondering whether where cool kids humiliated outcasts every like orchids. They do fine while young enough to be nurtured by loving parents, but wilt
you could have stopped it. The uncertain- day. as adolescents subjected to peer competition, bullying and rejection, particularly in big high
ties of Columbine will be with DeAngelis That report may be gratifying, but the schools. Research shows that while only 10% of children who are born temperamentally
forever. search for answers can leave you feeling “easy” have adjustment problems in elementary school, 70% of those who are “difficult”
Remarkably, though, those doubts empty. What progress DeAngelis has made temperamentally have such problems. And while most fragile children do fine in early
haven’t broken him. In a four-hour inter- in his search owes something to the support childhood, 50% have significant difficulties once they enter adolescence. Then children re-
view with Time, DeAngelis said he had he has enjoyed in Littleton. The day after the spond to the influence of peers and the larger culture in the neighborhood and the nation.
shaken off much of the guilt he felt that aw- massacre, he went to address students and The U.S. youth homicide rate is about 10 times higher than in Canada.
ful morning. Before he was principal, parents at a local church. He felt uncertain, The “normal” culture of adolescence today contains elements that are so nasty that it
DeAngelis spent 14 years coaching football but when his name was announced, the becomes hard for parents (and professionals) to distinguish between what in a teenager’s
and baseball, and these days he seems like place erupted in a spontaneous ovation. As talk, dress and taste in music, films and video games indicates psychological trouble and
a coach again, ready for battle. “People are he had in the past, DeAngelis told the stu- what is simply a sign of the times. Most kids who subscribe to the trench-coated Goth
telling me I should have known. I’m telling dents he loved them. lifestyle, or have multiple body piercings, or listen to Marilyn Manson, or play the video
you, it’s inaccurate,” he says. “This harass- But DeAngelis remains frustrated. game Doom are normal kids caught in a toxic culture.
ment by athletes on Eric and Dylan that Sometimes he thinks about the final con- Intelligent kids with good social skills can be quite skillful at hiding who they really
has been printed time and time again—I versation he had with Dave Sanders, the are from their parents. They may do this to avoid punishment, to escape being identified
never received a call indicating that these teacher killed April 20. Both men had been as “crazy,” or to protect the parents they love from being disappointed or worried. In the
people were harassing them. At no time coaches. They had been to each other’s wake of his shooting rampage, Kip Kinkel reported that he had been hearing voices but
did Eric or Dylan walk into my office and wedding, had kids around the same age. On didn’t tell anyone. Klebold successfully hid his inner turmoil from his loving parents. Any-
say, ‘Mr. DeAngelis, I’m concerned.’ ” April 19 they sat together at a baseball game, way, how many parents are capable of thinking the worst of their son—for example, that
Like many principals, DeAngelis makes and their how-are-you chat turned more he harbors murderous fantasies, or that he could go so far as acting them out? Even if par-
his school his life, a life of after-hours student contemplative: the long hours they spent, ents know their child as an individual, they may not understand what he is capable of when
baseball games and debate tournaments and the many challenges of working with teen- in the company of another boy. Though it appears from public accounts that Harris was
art shows. These days at least, DeAngelis is- agers—“Is all the time worth it?” they won- more prone to violence than Klebold, neither kid was likely to go on this rampage alone.
n’t falsely modest about this commitment: dered. They both said yes then. And DeAn- I think many of us are too ready to blame good parents for how their children cope
“People are saying I was out of touch with gelis says yes now.—By John Cloud and Andrew with a violent and coarse society. Even loving, attentive parents can lose children who are
this school. I put in hours and hours and Goldstein/Littleton temperamentally vulnerable—if they develop a secret life, get caught up in the dark side
hours at extracurricular activities. I was at of the culture and form dangerous peer alliances. And that’s scary for any parent to ac-
knowledge.
Garbarino is professor of human development at Cornell University and is author of Lost

Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them
SPECIAL REPORT: THE COLUMBINE TAPES SPECIAL REPORT THE COLUMBINE TAPES
Linda decided to support the girls on ries of suffering were so wrenching that that they’re going to look at to see what hap-
THE VICTIMS: NEVER AGAIN opening night. “It was definitely a big step
for me,” she says. “But I know I wasn’t
alone. I was with Dave every step of the
way.” The girls went out and won handily,
for Linda and for coach Sanders.
several people had to leave the courtroom
and a clerk had to get three extra boxes of
tissues. When Manes was finally escorted
out of the courtroom in handcuffs, sen-
tenced to six years in prison, the families
pened afterward. I just think that’s a huge
responsibility for us, and we’re doing a
pretty good job of it.” Adds Lindsey White,
who serves in the senior senate: “There are
still cliques. You’re going to get that no mat-
Although often overcome by tears, many The families at the potluck gathering
were putting together laundry baskets for
clapped. It wasn’t much, but it was the first
sense of justice they had got since April.
ter what. But more people are willing to talk
to other people they don’t usually talk to.”
Columbine victims’ families are determined the needy. They filled 40 baskets—donated
by the Denver Foundation—with clothing,
food, soap and lotions, and drove them to
At the hearing, Tom Mauser was the
only speaker who did not focus on the loss
of his son. Instead, Mauser talked about
All summer, principal Frank DeAnge-
lis has been listening. He spent July and
August serving on two school-safety task
not to be overwhelmed by rage shelters and charities. “This is a club nobody
wants to join,” says Bob Curnow, whose 14-
guns. “I want you to consider,” he told the
courtroom, “that we lose an average of 13
forces, reviewing everything from metal
detectors to dress codes to having four or
By ANDREW GOLDSTEIN LITTLETON year-old son Steven was killed, “but now we young lives every day to gunshots. Every five armed officers patrol school grounds.
need to be role models, to create something day. Every day.” “I’m not sure if that’s the answer,” says
lives back together. The victims’ families Carla Hochhalter killed herself, Ted positive out of all that’s happened.” Two weeks before the shootings, Daniel DeAngelis. “I think where money needs to
F
or some of the families of the
dead children of Columbine, the have written thousands of thank-you notes, Hochhalter was left to care for Anne Marie And they are. Patricia DePooter, whose Mauser came home from school and asked be spent is educating our students about
very idea of “closure” is an insult have created scholarships in the names of by himself. The parents of Corey DePoot- son Corey had always wanted to be a Ma- his parents if they knew about the loopholes tolerance, about respecting one another,
and a hoax. There can never be their children, and are trying to raise money er, who was killed at Columbine, gave the rine, helps the Corps collect toys and other in the Brady Bill. Looking back, says about communication.” While Columbine
closure for them. “To say that we to build a new library. Students and teach- Hochhalters a freezer they had received as gifts for impoverished kids. Linda Sanders, Mauser, “that was a sign.” His fight against High School did add an additional campus
want to move on and put this be- ers have managed to have a relatively nor- a gift, and they—along with other families who says all the support from across the gun violence is his way of honoring Daniel’s supervisor this year, along with 16 security
hind us, that’s not true,” says Brian mal school year, and many are using April 20 of the dead—stocked it with food. nation “has restored my faith in humanity,” memory. Mauser protested the n.r.a. con- cameras and a keyless entry system, DeAn-
Rohrbough, whose son Daniel was among as inspiration to rethink the way they treat With the pain of the six-month anniver- has written 1,700 thank-you cards, but vention held in Denver two weeks after the gelis is most proud of Columbine’s efforts
the first to die. There is still too much pain their peers. All say they are committed to sary behind them, the families were finding she’s worried she’s missed some people. shootings; he picketed the offices of Col- at prevention: the Links program that pairs
and too many questions, and even if the an- finding ways to ensure that a tragedy like joy in taking baby steps: Kacey Ruegsegger, Next fall the Mausers plan to adopt a baby orado’s U.S. Senators Wayne Allard and Ben upperclassmen with incoming freshmen;
swers come, their children will never come this doesn’t happen again, anywhere. who was a world-class quarter-horse rider girl from China. Nighthorse Campbell after they voted to the emphasis on “zero tolerance” of threats
back, and nothing will be the same again. Even the growing pile of potential law- before the blast shattered her right arm and And together, many of the victims’ keep background checks at gun shows vol- and harassment; the hiring by the school
And so, he is still burning. His rage suits is not what it appears. The families in- shoulder, is back in the saddle again, com- families have formed the hope (Healing untary; and he’s joined the Bell Campaign, district of Jackson Katz, a consultant who
starts with the killers. Rohrbough is the sist they are less interested in blame or rec- peting even though after bone transplants of People Everywhere) library fund. Last a group that lobbies against gun violence. speaks to coaches and athletes about using
one who took down the two crosses meant ompense, than simply answers. A few do and three operations she still might never week the families announced hope’s cam- “There’s something wrong with a country their status to be role models, and the peer-
to commemorate the shooters alongside need money because of mounting medical have full use of her arm. Richard Castaldo, paign to raise at least $3.1 million to build when a kid can get a gun so easily and counselor program, in which senior leaders
the victims. But he has other culprits in bills. Expenses for Richard Castaldo, who is whose eight gunshot wounds left him a a new library adjacent to the school and to shoot that gun into the face of another kid, can help identify students in need of sup-
his sights. “For 20 minutes the Jefferson paralyzed from the waist down, could top paraplegic, has spent four months in the tear away the floor of the existing library to like my child,” says Mauser. “Unfortunately port. At Columbine’s opening-day rally in
sheriff knew absolutely where Klebold and $1 million. Mark Taylor, who has had four hospital and suffered through seven opera- create a stunning two-story atrium with a it looks like it’s going to take a lot more of August, DeAngelis urged all students “who
Harris were in the building,” he says. “For operations and faces a long, painful road to tions, but now he’s back at Columbine. view of the Rockies. “The library is a kind these tragedies for real change to occur.” don’t feel part of the Columbine family” to
20 minutes they listened to them murder- recovery, needed an $1,800 therapeutic Every day a special lift hoists Richard and of sanctuary. It was the heart and soul of the Students at Columbine don’t want to come to his office and let him know why.
ing children, and they did absolutely noth- mattress, but his hmo refused to pay for it, his black wheelchair into the big yellow school,” says Don Fleming. “How could wait that long. Eleven of them—their back- In September a Columbine student ex-
ing.” As for the school, he charges, “jocks and the family had to find other means. “If Bluebird school bus that can seat 72 passen- you go in and concentrate, knowing that 10 grounds as diverse as can be hoped for in this pressed to victim parent Bob Curnow what
could get away with anything. If they want- the insurance companies aren’t doing their gers but is reserved just for him; Richard kids were murdered there?” mostly white, Abercrombie and Fitch com- many of her peers were feeling. “I just
ed to punch a kid in the mouth and walk job,” asks Donna Taylor, “then what are we plans to graduate with his class in June. In early November, several of the vic- munity—spend an hour one morning sitting want everything to get back to normal,” she
away, they could. Had I known this, my son supposed to do but sue?” Families that kept their dead children’s tims’ families came together under different around the conference table in the front said. Curnow told her: “I understand what
wouldn’t have been there. They did noth- Most families filed intents to sue simply rooms locked up since April 20 have finally circumstances to testify at the sentencing office. They’re brainstorming about what you’re feeling. But you need to know that
ing to protect students from each other.” because the sheriff’s office had not yet fin- begun to open the doors: Dee Fleming goes hearing of Mark Manes, the 22-year-old ac- they’ve learned from their tragedy, and normal, before April 20, will never occur to
At a glance it would be easy to conclude ished its report by the time Colorado’s 180- inside her daughter Kelly’s room with Kel- quaintance of Klebold’s and Harris’ who what they plan to do so that it never happens you again. You need to redefine what nor-
that the Columbine community is still shat- day deadline to file such intents came, and ly’s friends, listens to stories about her bought Dylan’s semiautomatic Tec-9. With again. “I don’t tease my friends as much as mal is with this event as part of your life.”
tered in pieces—angry, frightened, heart- the families wanted to keep their options daughter and invites the girls to take home their suicide pact, Harris and Klebold had I used to,” says freshman Kent Van Zant. “I And so it is with everyone in this commu-
broken. On the six-month anniversary of open in case the report fails to answer the special keepsakes. The Mausers had always cheated their victims of a day in court, so try to be a lot nicer now to everybody.” nity, and maybe in the nation too. We suf-
the shooting in October, a Columbine se- questions that have haunted them since slept with their son Daniel’s door closed, but this hearing might be the only chance for Senior Joel Kuhns, who was in Harris’ fer through tragedies, we grieve, and we
nior threatened to “finish the job” started April. Why didn’t the police or the school since summer they’ve kept it open. Patricia the families to describe in a court of law video class last year, says that this year, “a try to learn. —With reporting by Maureen
by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and hun- pick up on the killers’ warning signs? Why, Depooter takes comfort in going into her what they’ve been through. Representa- lot of seniors have been more open to peo- Harrington and Richard Woodbury/Littleton
dreds of panicked parents kept their kids once the carnage began, didn’t the police son’s room, gazing at his clothes and shoes tives from nine families spoke, and the sto- ple, even to underclassmen. This is the class
home from school. Some fired off angry move in faster? “We’d love to know exactly as he left them that April morning, and even
letters saying that when it comes to the what happened,” says Darcey Ruegsegger, taking an occasional whiff of his cologne.
safety of their kids, the school is still “in de-
nial.” Two days later, Carla Hochhalter, the
whose daughter Kacey is recovering from
a shotgun wound in the back. “Not to
It’s still hard for Linda Sanders to talk
about her husband Dave, the much loved ≤I came home from school. I will be able to pass that test.
mother of Anne Marie, who was paralyzed
in the April 20 shootings, walked into the
Alpha Pawn Shop, asked to see a gun and
blame, but just to know. If there were mis-
takes made, then by learning perhaps we
can prevent something like this from hap-
teacher and coach who died while herald-
ing kids to safety, without welling up with
tears. By the end of November, she still had
I will be able to keep daydreaming. I will be able to graduate,
shot herself. Michael Shoels, whose son
Isaih was murdered, appeared at a rally
pening again.”
On the Sunday before Thanksgiving,
not gone back to the campus. Every time
she had been inside the school, she was
and I am still alive.≥ —COURTNEY SHAKOWSKI,
writer for Columbine yearbook
with Al Sharpton, ranting against the many of the victims’ families gathered at walking with Dave or going to pick him up
killers’ parents and the police. “I’m as angry St. Luke’s Church for their monthly pot- or watch him coach. Returning, she feared,
as the day it happened,” says Shoels. And 18 luck dinner. Few of these families had even would destroy all those positive memories.
families filed notices of intent to sue the met before April 20, but the tragedy has But last week was the opening game for the
school district, the sheriff’s office or both. brought them together. “They’re my fami- girls’ basketball team, which Dave had
But beneath all the public outrage, there ly now,” says Don Fleming. “They have be- coached. The girls from the team have reg-
are signs that most of the victims of come our closest friends.” They sit around, ularly stopped by Linda’s house with gifts
Columbine have been quietly piecing their tell stories and support one another. After or just to talk and keep her company. So
SPECIAL REPORT: THE COLUMBINE TAPES S P E C I A L R E P O R T T H E C O L U MB IN E TA P E S
THE VICTIMS: NEVER AGAIN

Linda decided to support the girls on ries of suffering were so wrenching that that they’re going to look at to see what hap-
opening night. “It was definitely a big step several people had to leave the courtroom pened afterward. I just think that’s a huge
for me,” she says. “But I know I wasn’t and a clerk had to get three extra boxes of responsibility for us, and we’re doing a
alone. I was with Dave every step of the tissues. When Manes was finally escorted pretty good job of it.” Adds Lindsey White,
way.” The girls went out and won handily, out of the courtroom in handcuffs, sen- who serves in the senior senate: “There are
for Linda and for coach Sanders. tenced to six years in prison, the families still cliques. You’re going to get that no mat-
Although often overcome by tears, many The families at the potluck gathering
were putting together laundry baskets for
clapped. It wasn’t much, but it was the first
sense of justice they had got since April.
ter what. But more people are willing to talk
to other people they don’t usually talk to.”
Columbine victims’ families are determined the needy. They filled 40 baskets—donated
by the Denver Foundation—with clothing,
food, soap and lotions, and drove them to
At the hearing, Tom Mauser was the
only speaker who did not focus on the loss
of his son. Instead, Mauser talked about
All summer, principal Frank DeAnge-
lis has been listening. He spent July and
August serving on two school-safety task
not to be overwhelmed by rage shelters and charities. “This is a club nobody
wants to join,” says Bob Curnow, whose 14-
guns. “I want you to consider,” he told the
courtroom, “that we lose an average of 13
forces, reviewing everything from metal
detectors to dress codes to having four or
By ANDREW GOLDSTEIN LITTLETON
year-old son Steven was killed, “but now we young lives every day to gunshots. Every five armed officers patrol school grounds.
need to be role models, to create something day. Every day.” “I’m not sure if that’s the answer,” says
Carla Hochhalter killed herself, Ted
lives back together. The victims’ families positive out of all that’s happened.” Two weeks before the shootings, Daniel DeAngelis. “I think where money needs to
F
or some of the families of the
Hochhalter was left to care for Anne Marie
dead children of Columbine, the have written thousands of thank-you notes, And they are. Patricia DePooter, whose Mauser came home from school and asked be spent is educating our students about
by himself. The parents of Corey DePoot-
very idea of “closure” is an insult have created scholarships in the names of son Corey had always wanted to be a Ma- his parents if they knew about the loopholes tolerance, about respecting one another,
er, who was killed at Columbine, gave the
and a hoax. There can never be their children, and are trying to raise money rine, helps the Corps collect toys and other in the Brady Bill. Looking back, says about communication.” While Columbine
Hochhalters a freezer they had received as
closure for them. “To say that we to build a new library. Students and teach- gifts for impoverished kids. Linda Sanders, Mauser, “that was a sign.” His fight against High School did add an additional campus
a gift, and they—along with other families
want to move on and put this be- ers have managed to have a relatively nor- who says all the support from across the gun violence is his way of honoring Daniel’s supervisor this year, along with 16 security
of the dead—stocked it with food.
hind us, that’s not true,” says Brian mal school year, and many are using April 20 nation “has restored my faith in humanity,” memory. Mauser protested the n.r.a. con- cameras and a keyless entry system, DeAn-
With the pain of the six-month anniver-
Rohrbough, whose son Daniel was among as inspiration to rethink the way they treat has written 1,700 thank-you cards, but vention held in Denver two weeks after the gelis is most proud of Columbine’s efforts
sary behind them, the families were finding
the first to die. There is still too much pain their peers. All say they are committed to she’s worried she’s missed some people. shootings; he picketed the offices of Col- at prevention: the Links program that pairs
joy in taking baby steps: Kacey Ruegsegger,
and too many questions, and even if the an- finding ways to ensure that a tragedy like Next fall the Mausers plan to adopt a baby orado’s U.S. Senators Wayne Allard and Ben upperclassmen with incoming freshmen;
who was a world-class quarter-horse rider
swers come, their children will never come this doesn’t happen again, anywhere. girl from China. Nighthorse Campbell after they voted to the emphasis on “zero tolerance” of threats
before the blast shattered her right arm and
back, and nothing will be the same again. Even the growing pile of potential law- And together, many of the victims’ keep background checks at gun shows vol- and harassment; the hiring by the school
shoulder, is back in the saddle again, com-
And so, he is still burning. His rage suits is not what it appears. The families in- families have formed the hope (Healing untary; and he’s joined the Bell Campaign, district of Jackson Katz, a consultant who
peting even though after bone transplants
starts with the killers. Rohrbough is the sist they are less interested in blame or rec- of People Everywhere) library fund. Last a group that lobbies against gun violence. speaks to coaches and athletes about using
and three operations she still might never
one who took down the two crosses meant ompense, than simply answers. A few do week the families announced hope’s cam- “There’s something wrong with a country their status to be role models, and the peer-
have full use of her arm. Richard Castaldo,
to commemorate the shooters alongside need money because of mounting medical paign to raise at least $3.1 million to build when a kid can get a gun so easily and counselor program, in which senior leaders
whose eight gunshot wounds left him a
the victims. But he has other culprits in bills. Expenses for Richard Castaldo, who is a new library adjacent to the school and to shoot that gun into the face of another kid, can help identify students in need of sup-
paraplegic, has spent four months in the
his sights. “For 20 minutes the Jefferson paralyzed from the waist down, could top tear away the floor of the existing library to like my child,” says Mauser. “Unfortunately port. At Columbine’s opening-day rally in
hospital and suffered through seven opera-
sheriff knew absolutely where Klebold and $1 million. Mark Taylor, who has had four create a stunning two-story atrium with a it looks like it’s going to take a lot more of August, DeAngelis urged all students “who
tions, but now he’s back at Columbine.
Harris were in the building,” he says. “For operations and faces a long, painful road to view of the Rockies. “The library is a kind these tragedies for real change to occur.” don’t feel part of the Columbine family” to
Every day a special lift hoists Richard and
20 minutes they listened to them murder- recovery, needed an $1,800 therapeutic of sanctuary. It was the heart and soul of the Students at Columbine don’t want to come to his office and let him know why.
his black wheelchair into the big yellow
ing children, and they did absolutely noth- mattress, but his hmo refused to pay for it, school,” says Don Fleming. “How could wait that long. Eleven of them—their back- In September a Columbine student ex-
Bluebird school bus that can seat 72 passen-
ing.” As for the school, he charges, “jocks and the family had to find other means. “If you go in and concentrate, knowing that 10 grounds as diverse as can be hoped for in this pressed to victim parent Bob Curnow what
gers but is reserved just for him; Richard
could get away with anything. If they want- the insurance companies aren’t doing their kids were murdered there?” mostly white, Abercrombie and Fitch com- many of her peers were feeling. “I just
plans to graduate with his class in June.
ed to punch a kid in the mouth and walk job,” asks Donna Taylor, “then what are we In early November, several of the vic- munity—spend an hour one morning sitting want everything to get back to normal,” she
Families that kept their dead children’s
away, they could. Had I known this, my son supposed to do but sue?” tims’ families came together under different around the conference table in the front said. Curnow told her: “I understand what
rooms locked up since April 20 have finally
wouldn’t have been there. They did noth- Most families filed intents to sue simply circumstances to testify at the sentencing office. They’re brainstorming about what you’re feeling. But you need to know that
begun to open the doors: Dee Fleming goes
ing to protect students from each other.” because the sheriff’s office had not yet fin- hearing of Mark Manes, the 22-year-old ac- they’ve learned from their tragedy, and normal, before April 20, will never occur to
inside her daughter Kelly’s room with Kel-
At a glance it would be easy to conclude ished its report by the time Colorado’s 180- quaintance of Klebold’s and Harris’ who what they plan to do so that it never happens you again. You need to redefine what nor-
ly’s friends, listens to stories about her
that the Columbine community is still shat- day deadline to file such intents came, and bought Dylan’s semiautomatic Tec-9. With again. “I don’t tease my friends as much as mal is with this event as part of your life.”
daughter and invites the girls to take home
tered in pieces—angry, frightened, heart- the families wanted to keep their options their suicide pact, Harris and Klebold had I used to,” says freshman Kent Van Zant. “I And so it is with everyone in this commu-
special keepsakes. The Mausers had always
broken. On the six-month anniversary of open in case the report fails to answer the cheated their victims of a day in court, so try to be a lot nicer now to everybody.” nity, and maybe in the nation too. We suf-
slept with their son Daniel’s door closed, but
the shooting in October, a Columbine se- questions that have haunted them since this hearing might be the only chance for Senior Joel Kuhns, who was in Harris’ fer through tragedies, we grieve, and we
since summer they’ve kept it open. Patricia
nior threatened to “finish the job” started April. Why didn’t the police or the school the families to describe in a court of law video class last year, says that this year, “a try to learn. —With reporting by Maureen
Depooter takes comfort in going into her
by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and hun- pick up on the killers’ warning signs? Why, what they’ve been through. Representa- lot of seniors have been more open to peo- Harrington and Richard Woodbury/Littleton
son’s room, gazing at his clothes and shoes
dreds of panicked parents kept their kids once the carnage began, didn’t the police tives from nine families spoke, and the sto- ple, even to underclassmen. This is the class
as he left them that April morning, and even
home from school. Some fired off angry move in faster? “We’d love to know exactly
taking an occasional whiff of his cologne.
letters saying that when it comes to the what happened,” says Darcey Ruegsegger,
It’s still hard for Linda Sanders to talk
safety of their kids, the school is still “in de-
nial.” Two days later, Carla Hochhalter, the
whose daughter Kacey is recovering from
a shotgun wound in the back. “Not to
about her husband Dave, the much loved
teacher and coach who died while herald-
≤I came home from school. I will be able to pass that test.
mother of Anne Marie, who was paralyzed
in the April 20 shootings, walked into the
Alpha Pawn Shop, asked to see a gun and
blame, but just to know. If there were mis-
takes made, then by learning perhaps we
can prevent something like this from hap-
ing kids to safety, without welling up with
tears. By the end of November, she still had
I will be able to keep daydreaming. I will be able to graduate,
shot herself. Michael Shoels, whose son
Isaih was murdered, appeared at a rally
pening again.”
On the Sunday before Thanksgiving,
not gone back to the campus. Every time
she had been inside the school, she was and I am still alive.≥ —COURTNEY SHAKOWSKI,
writer for Columbine yearbook
walking with Dave or going to pick him up
with Al Sharpton, ranting against the many of the victims’ families gathered at
or watch him coach. Returning, she feared,
killers’ parents and the police. “I’m as angry St. Luke’s Church for their monthly pot-
would destroy all those positive memories.
as the day it happened,” says Shoels. And 18 luck dinner. Few of these families had even
But last week was the opening game for the
families filed notices of intent to sue the met before April 20, but the tragedy has
girls’ basketball team, which Dave had
school district, the sheriff’s office or both. brought them together. “They’re my fami-
coached. The girls from the team have reg-
But beneath all the public outrage, there ly now,” says Don Fleming. “They have be-
ularly stopped by Linda’s house with gifts
are signs that most of the victims of come our closest friends.” They sit around,
or just to talk and keep her company. So
Columbine have been quietly piecing their tell stories and support one another. After
T H E E V A N G E L I S T S
AN ACT OF GOD?
The family of Rachel Scott believes she died at SPECIAL REPORT THE COLUMBINE TAPES
Columbine to spark a spiritual revival among youth T H E P O L I T I C S
By S.C. GWYNNE LITTLE ROCK know when.” Her last diary entry, written 20 Bernall as the girl in the library who said
D
arrell scott is tired. since his
daughter Rachel was murdered at
Columbine High eight months ago,
Darrell, 50, has left his job as a sales
minutes before she died, was a drawing of a
pair of eyes crying; from the eyes fell 13
drops onto a rose—images Darrell says had
been described to him in an earlier phone
call from a man he did not know.
she believed in God just before she was
shot. When police later took Craig back to
the library, he pointed forward, to the
place where he had heard the question
asked. His face turned ashen when he real-
ENTER THE BIG GUNS
The feds threaten gunmakers with a huge lawsuit,
manager for a food company, and now lives Among the many stories about Rachel ized that Cassie had been sitting at a table
on the road, speaking at churches, stadi- was one that first appeared in a local Chris- behind him. One policeman said he and most can’t afford not to talk settlement
ums and high school gyms from Dallas to tian newspaper, saying she had been asked thought Craig was going to vomit. The girl
Bismarck. He takes Dramamine for mo- if she believed in God and had answered who actually said the words Craig heard, ight months after columbine—and partment of Housing and Urban Develop-
tion sickness and eats in Cracker Barrel
restaurants. It might seem like a dreary
existence, reliving your daughter’s death
over and over. But while others in Littleton
still seethe with anger, Darrell and his fam-
yes before Eric Harris shot her. The ac-
count was credited to Richard Castaldo, the
now paralyzed boy who was having lunch
with Rachel when she died. The Scott fam-
ily believes this account. But in an inter-
according to witnesses interviewed by po-
lice, was Valeen Schnurr.
Members of the Scott family say every
atom of their lives has been rearranged
since Columbine. “Things I did before, like
E only one day after the small Oklahoma
town of Fort Gibson became the latest
stage for an apple-cheeked boy to open
fire on his schoolmates—the gun industry
faced its biggest threat, the one that could
ment. The department hasn’t decided how
much to ask for in damages, but the number
would be hefty—and added to what the 29
cities and counties are seeking in their law-
suits, the gunmakers face potential expo-
ily have found deliverance from despair. view with Time last week, Castaldo denied shopping or going to movies or eating out, finally force major changes in the way sure running into the billions. Their
To them Rachel’s death was a Christian telling the story. Darrell, who agrees that seem frivolous now,” says Bethanee. Beth firearms are made and marketed. pockets are not really as deep as those of the
martyrdom—an act of God meant to spark Castaldo would be the only plausible says, “Things don’t mean much anymore. On Tuesday, the Clinton Administra- tobacco industry, which has faced a similar
a spiritual revolution in young people. source of such a story, says, “I’m surprised. They bring no joy or comfort. It’s only peo- tion said it was preparing to file a class siege, and many of their insurers have said
This conviction has brought Darrell’s If he said that, then either it didn’t happen ple now. And even my friends have action on behalf of the nation’s 3,191 public- they won’t pay to defend the lawsuits.
family, including his ex-wife, together in a or he changed his story.” changed.” Darrell spends hours at Rachel’s housing authorities. Twenty-nine cities and The attack on the gunmakers, is pat-
ministry they call the Columbine Redemp- Darrell, former pastor of a 300- grave when he is not on the road, indulging counties have already filed suits against the terned closely on the tobacco campaign
tion. The message is powerful: in London, member church in Lakewood, Colo., first in the tears he can’t afford to shed on the manufacturers since October of last year, and even involves some of the same
Ky., a town of 7,000, fully 5,500 people came to prominence with an appearance podium. “The biggest thing I do for him is seeking to recover the public costs of gun vi- lawyers. But the federal role is different
showed up to hear Darrell speak. That was before the House Judiciary Committee in just listen to him cry and talk about her,” olence, force the design of safer firearms, this time. When the government finally
a jaw dropper, but he regularly draws May after the Columbine killings. He de- says friend Wayne Worthy of Springfield, and restrict the flow of guns to illegitimate sued the tobacco companies last Septem-
crowds of more than 3,000. “God is using clared the answer to school violence “lies Mo., who helps with the new ministry. buyers. As the suits have made their way ber, it was more than a year after
this tragedy to wake up not only America not in gun laws” but in a “simple trust in Darrell is also pushing ahead with his through the courts, the industry and plain- the states had concluded a far-reaching
but also the world,” Darrell told a Christian God.” His message resonated strongly with vision of a large youth ministry based on his tiffs have held sporadic settlement talks, to settlement with the industry. This time
group in Little Rock in November. “God is Christian groups. Soon he was deluged with daughter’s life and journals. He has become little effect. But that could change dramati- the feds are jumping in when they can
using Rachel as a vehicle. If I believed for speaking engagements. And he invited his a prominent advocate of reinstating prayer cally with the arrival of the feds, who will make a difference, even after a year when
one second that God had forsaken my daughters Bethanee, 24, and Dana, 22, as in schools. He has stepped up his fund rais- throw their weight behind the plaintiffs’ Congress did nothing to further gun con-
daughter or that he had gone to sleep or well as his ex-wife (Rachel’s mother) Beth ing—he earns about $1,500 for the ministry demands. The plaintiffs want gunmakers to trol. Some manufacturers, like Glock, said
that he wasn’t aware, I would be one of the Nimmo, to become full-time members of each time he speaks—and in December distribute only to dealers who won’t sell at last week they would consider meeting
angriest men in America.” the Columbine Redemption. Beth and brought out the first issue of a magazine gun shows, to require that dealers sell only with the Clinton Administration, while
Instead, Darrell believes Rachel’s Dana speak to groups; Bethanee answers called Rachel’s Journal. He wants to build a one gun a month per buyer, to cut off those others—notably Sturm, Ruger & Co., the
death was meant to be. He believes this mail and runs the Littleton office. Darrell’s combined Columbine memorial and Chris- who sell a disproportionate number of guns largest gunmaker—indicated they plan to
because of the eerily prophetic journals fiancé Sandy will be joining him on the road tian youth center that would focus on teach- linked to crimes, and to make the industry fight it out.
Rachel kept, as well as a number of “vi- after their Jan. 30 wedding. ing and training young people from around develop “smart” guns that only their own- In any case, the lawsuits have caused a rift
sions” experienced by others that prove, In spite of their shatterproof belief that the country. And he wants to build a 200-ft.- ers can use. between some gunmakers and the National
say the Scotts, that the killings at Rachel did not die in vain, the last eight high cross somewhere in the area. The feds and the plaintiffs say they’re Rifle Association, which cares more about the
Columbine were “a spiritual event.” months have been difficult for the Scott The big question is whether the not after big money, not yet anyway. And principles involved than the economics.
The voluminous journals, which her family. Craig Scott, Rachel’s 16-year-old Columbine tragedy has spiritual legs. “We that’s one reason the gunmakers might yield: Gunmakers point out that they are the ones
parents discovered only after her death, and brother, who was kneeling next to Isaiah all realize that at some point the Colum- if there’s no a settlement, the feds will be being sued, not the n.r.a. Says Robert Delfay,
which contain poetry, letters to God and Shoels and Matt Kechter when they were bine story is not going to be as strong as it asking for compensation. The public-hous- head of the manufacturers’ trade group: “If
drawings, convey Rachel’s belief that she shot to death in the library, has had the was,” says Pastor Billy Epperhart of Lit- ing authorities spend about $1 billion a year the day comes when we have to do something
was not going to live to see adulthood, and hardest time. Though he has on occasion tleton, a close friend of the Scotts’. “There trying to keep their 3.3 million residents the n.r.a. doesn’t approve of, we’ll tell them
that God was going to use her for some pur- spoken to groups with Darrell, he refuses to has to be something that is bigger than safe from gun violence, according to the De- and so be it.” —By Viveca Novak/Washington
pose. On May 2, 1998, she wrote, “This will return to Columbine High and is being Columbine. The question is, What does it
be my last year, Lord. I have gotten what I schooled by a county home-tutoring pro- look like for Darrell’s life?” Right now it
can. Thank you.” On another occasion she gram. “Some days he can’t get out of bed,” just looks busy: he has speaking engage-
wrote, “God is going to use me to reach the says his mother Beth. ments booked through the end of the year
young people, I don’t know how, I don’t It was Craig who first identified Cassie 2000. —With reporting by Timothy Roche/Littleton
T H E E V A N G E L I S T S
AN ACT OF GOD?
The family of Rachel Scott believes she died at SPECIAL REPORT THE COLUMBINE TAPES
Columbine to spark a spiritual revival among youth T H E P O L I T I C S
By S.C. GWYNNE LITTLE ROCK know when.” Her last diary entry, written 20 Bernall as the girl in the library who said
D
arrell scott is tired. since his
daughter Rachel was murdered at
Columbine High eight months ago,
Darrell, 50, has left his job as a sales
minutes before she died, was a drawing of a
pair of eyes crying; from the eyes fell 13
drops onto a rose—images Darrell says had
been described to him in an earlier phone
call from a man he did not know.
she believed in God just before she was
shot. When police later took Craig back to
the library, he pointed forward, to the
place where he had heard the question
asked. His face turned ashen when he real-
ENTER THE BIG GUNS
The feds threaten gunmakers with a huge lawsuit,
manager for a food company, and now lives Among the many stories about Rachel ized that Cassie had been sitting at a table
on the road, speaking at churches, stadi- was one that first appeared in a local Chris- behind him. One policeman said he and most can’t afford not to talk settlement
ums and high school gyms from Dallas to tian newspaper, saying she had been asked thought Craig was going to vomit. The girl
Bismarck. He takes Dramamine for mo- if she believed in God and had answered who actually said the words Craig heard, ight months after columbine—and partment of Housing and Urban Develop-
tion sickness and eats in Cracker Barrel
restaurants. It might seem like a dreary
existence, reliving your daughter’s death
over and over. But while others in Littleton
still seethe with anger, Darrell and his fam-
yes before Eric Harris shot her. The ac-
count was credited to Richard Castaldo, the
now paralyzed boy who was having lunch
with Rachel when she died. The Scott fam-
ily believes this account. But in an inter-
according to witnesses interviewed by po-
lice, was Valeen Schnurr.
Members of the Scott family say every
atom of their lives has been rearranged
since Columbine. “Things I did before, like
E only one day after the small Oklahoma
town of Fort Gibson became the latest
stage for an apple-cheeked boy to open
fire on his schoolmates—the gun industry
faced its biggest threat, the one that could
ment. The department hasn’t decided how
much to ask for in damages, but the number
would be hefty—and added to what the 29
cities and counties are seeking in their law-
suits, the gunmakers face potential expo-
ily have found deliverance from despair. view with Time last week, Castaldo denied shopping or going to movies or eating out, finally force major changes in the way sure running into the billions. Their
To them Rachel’s death was a Christian telling the story. Darrell, who agrees that seem frivolous now,” says Bethanee. Beth firearms are made and marketed. pockets are not really as deep as those of the
martyrdom—an act of God meant to spark Castaldo would be the only plausible says, “Things don’t mean much anymore. On Tuesday, the Clinton Administra- tobacco industry, which has faced a similar
a spiritual revolution in young people. source of such a story, says, “I’m surprised. They bring no joy or comfort. It’s only peo- tion said it was preparing to file a class siege, and many of their insurers have said
This conviction has brought Darrell’s If he said that, then either it didn’t happen ple now. And even my friends have action on behalf of the nation’s 3,191 public- they won’t pay to defend the lawsuits.
family, including his ex-wife, together in a or he changed his story.” changed.” Darrell spends hours at Rachel’s housing authorities. Twenty-nine cities and The attack on the gunmakers, is pat-
ministry they call the Columbine Redemp- Darrell, former pastor of a 300- grave when he is not on the road, indulging counties have already filed suits against the terned closely on the tobacco campaign
tion. The message is powerful: in London, member church in Lakewood, Colo., first in the tears he can’t afford to shed on the manufacturers since October of last year, and even involves some of the same
Ky., a town of 7,000, fully 5,500 people came to prominence with an appearance podium. “The biggest thing I do for him is seeking to recover the public costs of gun vi- lawyers. But the federal role is different
showed up to hear Darrell speak. That was before the House Judiciary Committee in just listen to him cry and talk about her,” olence, force the design of safer firearms, this time. When the government finally
a jaw dropper, but he regularly draws May after the Columbine killings. He de- says friend Wayne Worthy of Springfield, and restrict the flow of guns to illegitimate sued the tobacco companies last Septem-
crowds of more than 3,000. “God is using clared the answer to school violence “lies Mo., who helps with the new ministry. buyers. As the suits have made their way ber, it was more than a year after
this tragedy to wake up not only America not in gun laws” but in a “simple trust in Darrell is also pushing ahead with his through the courts, the industry and plain- the states had concluded a far-reaching
but also the world,” Darrell told a Christian God.” His message resonated strongly with vision of a large youth ministry based on his tiffs have held sporadic settlement talks, to settlement with the industry. This time
group in Little Rock in November. “God is Christian groups. Soon he was deluged with daughter’s life and journals. He has become little effect. But that could change dramati- the feds are jumping in when they can
using Rachel as a vehicle. If I believed for speaking engagements. And he invited his a prominent advocate of reinstating prayer cally with the arrival of the feds, who will make a difference, even after a year when
one second that God had forsaken my daughters Bethanee, 24, and Dana, 22, as in schools. He has stepped up his fund rais- throw their weight behind the plaintiffs’ Congress did nothing to further gun con-
daughter or that he had gone to sleep or well as his ex-wife (Rachel’s mother) Beth ing—he earns about $1,500 for the ministry demands. The plaintiffs want gunmakers to trol. Some manufacturers, like Glock, said
that he wasn’t aware, I would be one of the Nimmo, to become full-time members of each time he speaks—and in December distribute only to dealers who won’t sell at last week they would consider meeting
angriest men in America.” the Columbine Redemption. Beth and brought out the first issue of a magazine gun shows, to require that dealers sell only with the Clinton Administration, while
Instead, Darrell believes Rachel’s Dana speak to groups; Bethanee answers called Rachel’s Journal. He wants to build a one gun a month per buyer, to cut off those others—notably Sturm, Ruger & Co., the
death was meant to be. He believes this mail and runs the Littleton office. Darrell’s combined Columbine memorial and Chris- who sell a disproportionate number of guns largest gunmaker—indicated they plan to
because of the eerily prophetic journals fiancé Sandy will be joining him on the road tian youth center that would focus on teach- linked to crimes, and to make the industry fight it out.
Rachel kept, as well as a number of “vi- after their Jan. 30 wedding. ing and training young people from around develop “smart” guns that only their own- In any case, the lawsuits have caused a rift
sions” experienced by others that prove, In spite of their shatterproof belief that the country. And he wants to build a 200-ft.- ers can use. between some gunmakers and the National
say the Scotts, that the killings at Rachel did not die in vain, the last eight high cross somewhere in the area. The feds and the plaintiffs say they’re Rifle Association, which cares more about the
Columbine were “a spiritual event.” months have been difficult for the Scott The big question is whether the not after big money, not yet anyway. And principles involved than the economics.
The voluminous journals, which her family. Craig Scott, Rachel’s 16-year-old Columbine tragedy has spiritual legs. “We that’s one reason the gunmakers might yield: Gunmakers point out that they are the ones
parents discovered only after her death, and brother, who was kneeling next to Isaiah all realize that at some point the Colum- if there’s no a settlement, the feds will be being sued, not the n.r.a. Says Robert Delfay,
which contain poetry, letters to God and Shoels and Matt Kechter when they were bine story is not going to be as strong as it asking for compensation. The public-hous- head of the manufacturers’ trade group: “If
drawings, convey Rachel’s belief that she shot to death in the library, has had the was,” says Pastor Billy Epperhart of Lit- ing authorities spend about $1 billion a year the day comes when we have to do something
was not going to live to see adulthood, and hardest time. Though he has on occasion tleton, a close friend of the Scotts’. “There trying to keep their 3.3 million residents the n.r.a. doesn’t approve of, we’ll tell them
that God was going to use her for some pur- spoken to groups with Darrell, he refuses to has to be something that is bigger than safe from gun violence, according to the De- and so be it.” —By Viveca Novak/Washington
pose. On May 2, 1998, she wrote, “This will return to Columbine High and is being Columbine. The question is, What does it
be my last year, Lord. I have gotten what I schooled by a county home-tutoring pro- look like for Darrell’s life?” Right now it
can. Thank you.” On another occasion she gram. “Some days he can’t get out of bed,” just looks busy: he has speaking engage-
wrote, “God is going to use me to reach the says his mother Beth. ments booked through the end of the year
young people, I don’t know how, I don’t It was Craig who first identified Cassie 2000. —With reporting by Timothy Roche/Littleton
GEORGE KOCHANIEC—ROCKY
IN THE TWO YEARS SINCE COLUMBINE, AMERICA’S SCHOOLS
SCORECARD OF HATRED
MOUNTAIN NEWS/SYGMA
HAVE BEEN PLAGUED BY NEW ATTACKS. OTHER PLOTS WERE
QUASHED AS STUDENTS TOOK THREATS MORE SERIOUSLY
MAY 13, 1999 MAY 19, 1999 MAY 20, 1999 AUG. 24, 1999 OCT. 28, 1999 NOV. 19, 1999 DEC. 6, 1999 FEB. 29, 2000 MAY 18, 2000 MAY 26, 2000
RALPH W. POLOVICH—TIMES HERALD/AP
RICK CRUMBLEY—AP
THE PLAIN DEALER

Deming, N.M. Fort Gibson, Okla. Mount Morris
JONES—PALM BEACH POST

FOILED FOILED Victor Cordova Jr.,
12, fired one shot into
Seventh-grader Seth
Trickey was a religious,
Township, Mich.
A six-year-old boy,
FOILED
Anaheim, Calif. Northeast Florida the lobby of Deming straight-A student. whose identity has Millbrae, Calif.
When police Two teenagers were Middle School and hit But then, police say, not been released, A 17-year-old senior
searched the homes charged with con- Araceli Tena, 13, in he came to school, left the crack house at Mills High School,
of two eighth-graders spiracy to commit the back of the head. stood under a tree, where he lived and
FOILED
whose name has not
at South Junior High, second-degree mur- She died the next day. pulled out his father’s went to school at been released, was
9-mm semiautomatic Theo J. Buell
THE FLINT JOURNAL/LIAISON

they found two der after a teacher WARNING SIGNS arrested after another
bombs, bombmaking Conyers, Ga. saw drawings, one of Cleveland, Ohio Cordova reportedly handgun and fired at Elementary. He student reported Lake Worth, Fla.
materials, a military- Thomas Solomon Jr., which depicted a Adam Gruber, 14, boasted the day least 15 rounds into a called out to fellow being threatened with Nathaniel Brazill, 13,
15, aimed low with group of classmates. first-grader Kayla was sent home for
FOILED
surplus rifle, a Ruger bloody knife, a shot- above, and John before the shooting a gun. Police said
Blackhawk .45-cal. his stepfather’s .22 gun and an assault Borowski, Benjamin that he would “make Four were wounded. Rolland, left, “I they found an arsenal throwing water
Port Huron, Mich. handgun, 1,500 rifle and wounded six weapon. The teens Balducci and Andy history blasting this WARNING SIGNS don’t like you!” of 15 guns and rifles, balloons. Police say he
Their plan, police said, was to outdo Columbine rounds of ammunition fellow students at allegedly described Napier, all 15, were school,” but no adults A juvenile court heard “So?” she said. The knives and returned with a .25-
perpetrators Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold by and Nazi Heritage High School. themselves as Satan white students were told. Since that Trickey was boy swung around ammunition at the cal. semiautomatic
arming themselves, forcing the principal of paraphernalia. They WARNING SIGNS worshippers and planning a rampage losing his mother to receiving psychological and shot her with boy’s home, all handgun, went into
Holland Woods Middle School to call an were tipped off by a Solomon told claimed they were at their mostly black cancer, Cordova was counseling and was the loaded .32 semiautomatic handgun he had apparently belonging an English class and
assembly and then killing teachers, classmates student who heard classmates he would planning to leave a school. It was to end, reportedly suicidal. deeply influenced by taken from home. Kayla died soon afterward. to his father. In the shot and killed teacher
and themselves. Jedaiah (David) Zinzo and that the boys, whose “blow up this deadlier trail than the one of the boys’ the Columbine WARNING SIGNS eight months before Barry Grunow, 35.
ROSE PALMISANO—AP
Justin Schnepp, both 14, made a list of 154 names were not classroom” and had one at Columbine. friends said, in a shootings. Psychologists The boy was reportedly made to stay after his arrest, the boy had WARNING SIGNS
targets, stole a building plan from the school released, were no reason to live. He Charges were suicidal shoot-out said he was obsessed school nearly every day for violent behavior, allegedly threatened Brazill had apparently
custodian’s office and plotted to use one gun threatening to blow was being treated for dropped for lack of with police, with one by the military, in attacking other children and cursing. His hellish seven other friends shown others the gun
to steal more. Classmates caught wind of the up the school. depression and was evidence, and the survivor to “bask in particular General home life—mother a drug addict, father in with guns and bragged and talked about hit
plot and reported it to the assistant principal. teased by a popular boys were released the glory.” Officials George S. Patton, prison—had been the subject of complaints to he was going to “do a lists. In his bedroom,
Zinzo and Schnepp were sentenced to four sports player whom from house arrest. were tipped off to the and the shootings may police, but there was no response. On the day Columbine” at school. police say they found
years’ probation. Solomon believed plot by another have been Trickey’s of the shooting, another student reported the The victims said they a letter he had written
was the object of his student’s mother. way of proving he could boy was carrying a knife. It was confiscated, were too scared to saying, “I think I might
girlfriend’s affections. hold his own in battle. but he was not searched for other weapons. report the threats. commit suicide.”
OCT. 24, 2000 JAN. 10, 2001 JAN. 29, 2001 FEB. 5, 2001 FEB. 7, 2001 FEB. 11, 2001 FEB. 14, 2001 MARCH 5, 2001 MARCH 7, 2001 MARCH 7, 2001
BRYAN CHAN—LOS ANGELES TIMES
PAUL SAKUMA—AP
STRINNI/THE STAR-GAZETTE/AP
CARLOS CHAVEZ—THE DESERT SUN/AP

Glendale, Ariz. Santee, Calif. Williamsport, Pa.
Sean Botkin dressed
in camouflage, went
FOILED FOILED FOILED Charles Andrew
Williams, 15, allegedly
Elizabeth Catherine
Bush, 14, was
to his old school, Hoyt, Kans. Fort Collins, Colo. Palm Harbor, Fla. opened fire from a threatened and
entered a math class Police were alerted to Just 66 miles from Scott McClain, a bathroom at Santana teased mercilessly at
and with a 9-mm Richard B. Bradley Littleton, Chad 14-year-old eighth- High, killing two and her old school in
handgun held hostage Jr., 18, Jason L. Meiniger, 15, and grader, reportedly wounding 13. Jersey Shore and
32 former classmates
FOILED Moss, 17, and James Alexander wrote a detailed WARNING SIGNS transferred last spring
and a teacher, police
say. After an hour, Cupertino, Calif.
R. Lopez, 16, by an
anonymous hot-line
Vukodinovich and
Scott Parent, both
e-mail to at least one
friend describing his
FOILED Williams was bullied,
a pot smoker, trying
to Bishop Neumann,
a small Roman
the 14-year-old was The Columbine tip. A search of their 14, were allegedly plans to make a Elmira, N.Y. to fit in. He told at Catholic school.
persuaded to
surrender.
gunmen were “the
only thing that’s real,”
homes revealed
bombmaking material,
hatching an elaborate
plan to “redo
bomb and possibly
target a specific
Jeremy Getman, an
18-year-old senior,
least a dozen people,
including one adult,
There she allegedly
took her father’s Twentynine Palms, Calif.
FOILED
WARNING SIGNS Oxnard, Calif. according to De Anza school floor plans, a Columbine.” Police teacher at Palm passed a disturbing that there would be revolver into the Cori Aragon, left, with her mother, was one of
Botkin said in a Richard Lopez, 17, had a history of mental College sophomore rifle, ammunition and were tipped off by two Harbor Middle note to a friend, who a shoot-out. When cafeteria and shot 16 students at Monument High School in the
television interview illness, and police apparently believe he “had his Al Joseph DeGuzman, white supremacist female classmates of School. The friend’s alerted authorities. A he later said he Kimberly Marchese in Mojave Desert to discover that their names
last month that he mind made up to be killed by a police officer” 19. He allegedly drawings, police said. the boys, who said mother alerted police officer found was joking,they the shoulder. were allegedly on the hit list of two 17-year-old
was picked on, hated when he marched onto the grounds of his old planned to attack the They also reportedly they had overhead sheriff’s deputies, Getman in Southside believed him. WARNING SIGNS boys arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to
school, had a troubled school, Hueneme High, took a girl hostage and school with guns and found three black them plotting. who said they found High School’s Bush was reportedly commit murder and civil rights violations.
NANCEE E. LEWIS—AP
family life and held a gun to her head. Within five minutes of explosive devices. The trench coats similar Officers say they a partly assembled cafeteria, reportedly still being teased and Tipped off by a female student who overheard
couldn’t recall ever SWAT officers’ arriving, he was shot dead. day before, however, to those worn by the found a weapons bomb in McClain’s with a .22-cal. Ruger was depressed. As the boys’ plans, police said they found a rifle in
being truly happy. Lopez’s sister said her brother had wanted to he apparently Columbine gunmen. cache, ammunition bedroom that would semiautomatic and a she fired the gun, she one home, the list in the other. The boys’
“Using a gun would commit suicide, but his Catholic faith forbade it. photographed and sketches of the have had a “kill duffel bag containing allegedly said, “No names were not released. This was the most
get the attention more WARNING SIGNS himself with his school. radius” of 15 ft. 18 bombs and a one thought I would serious case to follow the Santee shootings.
than just walking into Family members said Lopez had been in and arsenal and took the sawed-off shotgun. go through with this.” But 14 other California children were either
school and saying, out of juvenile facilities and attempted suicide film for developing. An additional eight It is unclear whether arrested or under observation for making
AP (3)
‘I need help’ or three times. “He needed help, and I cried out The drugstore clerk bombs were allegedly she had told anyone threats. Around the U.S., dozens more copycat
something,” he said. for it,” his grandmother said. alerted police. found in his home. of her intentions. threats were reported. —By Amanda Bower
TIME, MARCH 19, 2001

GEORGE KOCHANIEC—ROCKY
IN THE TWO YEARS SINCE COLUMBINE, AMERICA’S SCHOOLS
SCORECARD OF HATRED
MOUNTAIN NEWS/SYGMA
HAVE BEEN PLAGUED BY NEW ATTACKS. OTHER PLOTS WERE
QUASHED AS STUDENTS TOOK THREATS MORE SERIOUSLY
MAY 13, 1999 MAY 19, 1999 MAY 20, 1999 AUG. 24, 1999 OCT. 28, 1999 NOV. 19, 1999 DEC. 6, 1999 FEB. 29, 2000 MAY 18, 2000 MAY 26, 2000
RALPH W. POLOVICH—TIMES HERALD/AP
RICK CRUMBLEY—AP
THE PLAIN DEALER

Deming, N.M. Fort Gibson, Okla. Mount Morris
JONES—PALM BEACH POST

FOILED FOILED Victor Cordova Jr.,
12, fired one shot into
Seventh-grader Seth
Trickey was a religious,
Township, Mich.
A six-year-old boy,
FOILED
Anaheim, Calif. Northeast Florida the lobby of Deming straight-A student. whose identity has Millbrae, Calif.
When police Two teenagers were Middle School and hit But then, police say, not been released, A 17-year-old senior
searched the homes charged with con- Araceli Tena, 13, in he came to school, left the crack house at Mills High School,
of two eighth-graders spiracy to commit the back of the head. stood under a tree, where he lived and
FOILED
whose name has not
at South Junior High, second-degree mur- She died the next day. pulled out his father’s went to school at been released, was
9-mm semiautomatic Theo J. Buell
THE FLINT JOURNAL/LIAISON

they found two der after a teacher WARNING SIGNS arrested after another
bombs, bombmaking Conyers, Ga. saw drawings, one of Cleveland, Ohio Cordova reportedly handgun and fired at Elementary. He student reported Lake Worth, Fla.
materials, a military- Thomas Solomon Jr., which depicted a Adam Gruber, 14, boasted the day least 15 rounds into a called out to fellow being threatened with Nathaniel Brazill, 13,
15, aimed low with group of classmates. first-grader Kayla was sent home for
FOILED
surplus rifle, a Ruger bloody knife, a shot- above, and John before the shooting a gun. Police said
Blackhawk .45-cal. his stepfather’s .22 gun and an assault Borowski, Benjamin that he would “make Four were wounded. Rolland, left, “I they found an arsenal throwing water
Port Huron, Mich. handgun, 1,500 rifle and wounded six weapon. The teens Balducci and Andy history blasting this WARNING SIGNS don’t like you!” of 15 guns and rifles, balloons. Police say he
Their plan, police said, was to outdo Columbine rounds of ammunition fellow students at allegedly described Napier, all 15, were school,” but no adults A juvenile court heard “So?” she said. The knives and returned with a .25-
perpetrators Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold by and Nazi Heritage High School. themselves as Satan white students were told. Since that Trickey was boy swung around ammunition at the cal. semiautomatic
arming themselves, forcing the principal of paraphernalia. They WARNING SIGNS worshippers and planning a rampage losing his mother to receiving psychological and shot her with boy’s home, all handgun, went into
Holland Woods Middle School to call an were tipped off by a Solomon told claimed they were at their mostly black cancer, Cordova was counseling and was the loaded .32 semiautomatic handgun he had apparently belonging an English class and
assembly and then killing teachers, classmates student who heard classmates he would planning to leave a school. It was to end, reportedly suicidal. deeply influenced by taken from home. Kayla died soon afterward. to his father. In the shot and killed teacher
and themselves. Jedaiah (David) Zinzo and that the boys, whose “blow up this deadlier trail than the one of the boys’ the Columbine WARNING SIGNS eight months before Barry Grunow, 35.
ROSE PALMISANO—AP
Justin Schnepp, both 14, made a list of 154 names were not classroom” and had one at Columbine. friends said, in a shootings. Psychologists The boy was reportedly made to stay after his arrest, the boy had WARNING SIGNS
targets, stole a building plan from the school released, were no reason to live. He Charges were suicidal shoot-out said he was obsessed school nearly every day for violent behavior, allegedly threatened Brazill had apparently
custodian’s office and plotted to use one gun threatening to blow was being treated for dropped for lack of with police, with one by the military, in attacking other children and cursing. His hellish seven other friends shown others the gun
to steal more. Classmates caught wind of the up the school. depression and was evidence, and the survivor to “bask in particular General home life—mother a drug addict, father in with guns and bragged and talked about hit
plot and reported it to the assistant principal. teased by a popular boys were released the glory.” Officials George S. Patton, prison—had been the subject of complaints to he was going to “do a lists. In his bedroom,
Zinzo and Schnepp were sentenced to four sports player whom from house arrest. were tipped off to the and the shootings may police, but there was no response. On the day Columbine” at school. police say they found
years’ probation. Solomon believed plot by another have been Trickey’s of the shooting, another student reported the The victims said they a letter he had written
was the object of his student’s mother. way of proving he could boy was carrying a knife. It was confiscated, were too scared to saying, “I think I might
girlfriend’s affections. hold his own in battle. but he was not searched for other weapons. report the threats. commit suicide.”
OCT. 24, 2000 JAN. 10, 2001 JAN. 29, 2001 FEB. 5, 2001 FEB. 7, 2001 FEB. 11, 2001 FEB. 14, 2001 MARCH 5, 2001 MARCH 7, 2001 MARCH 7, 2001
BRYAN CHAN—LOS ANGELES TIMES
PAUL SAKUMA—AP
STRINNI/THE STAR-GAZETTE/AP
CARLOS CHAVEZ—THE DESERT SUN/AP

Glendale, Ariz. Santee, Calif. Williamsport, Pa.
Sean Botkin dressed
in camouflage, went
FOILED FOILED FOILED Charles Andrew
Williams, 15, allegedly
Elizabeth Catherine
Bush, 14, was
to his old school, Hoyt, Kans. Fort Collins, Colo. Palm Harbor, Fla. opened fire from a threatened and
entered a math class Police were alerted to Just 66 miles from Scott McClain, a bathroom at Santana teased mercilessly at
and with a 9-mm Richard B. Bradley Littleton, Chad 14-year-old eighth- High, killing two and her old school in
handgun held hostage Jr., 18, Jason L. Meiniger, 15, and grader, reportedly wounding 13. Jersey Shore and
32 former classmates
FOILED Moss, 17, and James Alexander wrote a detailed WARNING SIGNS transferred last spring
and a teacher, police
say. After an hour, Cupertino, Calif.
R. Lopez, 16, by an
anonymous hot-line
Vukodinovich and
Scott Parent, both
e-mail to at least one
friend describing his
FOILED Williams was bullied,
a pot smoker, trying
to Bishop Neumann,
a small Roman
the 14-year-old was The Columbine tip. A search of their 14, were allegedly plans to make a Elmira, N.Y. to fit in. He told at Catholic school.
persuaded to
surrender.
gunmen were “the
only thing that’s real,”
homes revealed
bombmaking material,
hatching an elaborate
plan to “redo
bomb and possibly
target a specific
Jeremy Getman, an
18-year-old senior,
least a dozen people,
including one adult,
There she allegedly
took her father’s Twentynine Palms, Calif.
FOILED
WARNING SIGNS Oxnard, Calif. according to De Anza school floor plans, a Columbine.” Police teacher at Palm passed a disturbing that there would be revolver into the Cori Aragon, left, with her mother, was one of
Botkin said in a Richard Lopez, 17, had a history of mental College sophomore rifle, ammunition and were tipped off by two Harbor Middle note to a friend, who a shoot-out. When cafeteria and shot 16 students at Monument High School in the
television interview illness, and police apparently believe he “had his Al Joseph DeGuzman, white supremacist female classmates of School. The friend’s alerted authorities. A he later said he Kimberly Marchese in Mojave Desert to discover that their names
last month that he mind made up to be killed by a police officer” 19. He allegedly drawings, police said. the boys, who said mother alerted police officer found was joking,they the shoulder. were allegedly on the hit list of two 17-year-old
was picked on, hated when he marched onto the grounds of his old planned to attack the They also reportedly they had overhead sheriff’s deputies, Getman in Southside believed him. WARNING SIGNS boys arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to
school, had a troubled school, Hueneme High, took a girl hostage and school with guns and found three black them plotting. who said they found High School’s Bush was reportedly commit murder and civil rights violations.
NANCEE E. LEWIS—AP
family life and held a gun to her head. Within five minutes of explosive devices. The trench coats similar Officers say they a partly assembled cafeteria, reportedly still being teased and Tipped off by a female student who overheard
couldn’t recall ever SWAT officers’ arriving, he was shot dead. day before, however, to those worn by the found a weapons bomb in McClain’s with a .22-cal. Ruger was depressed. As the boys’ plans, police said they found a rifle in
being truly happy. Lopez’s sister said her brother had wanted to he apparently Columbine gunmen. cache, ammunition bedroom that would semiautomatic and a she fired the gun, she one home, the list in the other. The boys’
“Using a gun would commit suicide, but his Catholic faith forbade it. photographed and sketches of the have had a “kill duffel bag containing allegedly said, “No names were not released. This was the most
get the attention more WARNING SIGNS himself with his school. radius” of 15 ft. 18 bombs and a one thought I would serious case to follow the Santee shootings.
than just walking into Family members said Lopez had been in and arsenal and took the sawed-off shotgun. go through with this.” But 14 other California children were either
school and saying, out of juvenile facilities and attempted suicide film for developing. An additional eight It is unclear whether arrested or under observation for making
AP (3)
‘I need help’ or three times. “He needed help, and I cried out The drugstore clerk bombs were allegedly she had told anyone threats. Around the U.S., dozens more copycat
something,” he said. for it,” his grandmother said. alerted police. found in his home. of her intentions. threats were reported. —By Amanda Bower
TIME, MARCH 19, 2001

The Columbine Tapes: The Natural Born Killers Waited

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SPECIAL REPORT THE COLUMBINE TAPES

THE COLUMBINE TAPES

THE COLUMBINE TAPES

π THE WARNING SIGNS WILL be armed to the f___ing teeth and I

π THE WARNING SIGNS WILL be armed to the f___ing teeth and I

COULD HE HAVE DONE MORE?

Garbarino is professor of human development at Cornell University and is author of Lost

COULD HE HAVE DONE MORE?

Garbarino is professor of human development at Cornell University and is author of Lost

THE VICTIMS: NEVER AGAIN

RALPH W. POLOVICH—TIMES HERALD/AP

THE PLAIN DEALER

JONES—PALM BEACH POST

THE FLINT JOURNAL/LIAISON

CARLOS CHAVEZ—THE DESERT SUN/AP

TIME, MARCH 19, 2001

RALPH W. POLOVICH—TIMES HERALD/AP

THE PLAIN DEALER

JONES—PALM BEACH POST

THE FLINT JOURNAL/LIAISON

CARLOS CHAVEZ—THE DESERT SUN/AP

TIME, MARCH 19, 2001

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