The Columbine High School Massacre

Ever since I seen Michael Moore's documentary "Bowling for Columbine" about gun crime in America and in particularly the Columbine High School massacre, I've became obsessed about that whole event. I've read in depth and have seen most of the evidence and information that has became public so I think it's about time I share my views as a lot of people have an opinion that seems to not show the bigger picture.

For those who don't know this event; on April 20th 1999 in the Denver suburb of Littleton, Colorado, two students of Columbine High School killed 12 students and 1 teacher before committing suicide. There are a million and one other things that surrounds this and I'm going to highlight some of what I feel are the important things to know about the two sole planners and perpetrators of the shootings; Eric "Reb" Harris and Dylan "voDKa" Klebold.

Dylan Klebold was a bright young kid who did well in school. He met Brooks Brown in first day of first grade, instantly became best friends. Brooks Brown said that it was probably because they were the only "tall, gorky  uncoordinated kids". The theory that he was targeted by bullies because he didn't like sports are false, as he was in the schools Baseball team. Dylan's up bringing was unspectacular, perhaps a typical American kid.

Eric Harris was a well traveled kid. He never got to settle down anywhere until the age of 12 when the Harris' settled in Littleton. His father, Wayne Harris, was a pilot in the Army, meaning that the family would move area depending on his transfers. Both Eric's mother and father worked constantly, which meant Eric was given free run of the house and was pretty much left alone to develop his independence. Later, it would become frighteningly clear how the lack of support, love and attention that anyone gave to Eric would drive him away. It would also become obvious that there would have been countless opportunities to expose the huge amount of evidence that was stored in his house, that if discovered, would have surely have prevented what was then, the worst school massacre in US history. It's estimated that the assault on the school took Eric and Dylan a whole year to plan, meaning that for a whole year, no one knew what the two teenagers were going through.

Eric and Dylan met in 1993. A year later, Eric and Dylan became almost inseparable. This is a 5 years before the massacre. Together in 1996, they started high school, aged 15. One of Dylan's friends, Devon Adams, invited Dylan to her 16th birthday. She described him as fairly normal, if a little shy. As he grew older he developed a darker, sinister personality. This started to become evident, both on the outside and in. Dylan and Eric both kept personal journals, which the police released later after 4/20. These would reveal personal emotions. He wrote "Happiness, I never got it". Good interaction was something Dylan never had. He didn't have girlfriends, he socially liaise with others unless he was with someone he knew. There was one pupil at the school Dylan was in love with and confided in his diary. Eric Harris had a huge crush on Devon, however at the time Devon was dating one of his friends. He blamed her for trying to take away his friend away from Eric and Dylan. In my opinion, Dylan's journal suggested to me that he suffered from extremely low self esteem, depression that I must stress that most teenagers would go through, such as; not having a girl friend and not being accepted. Eric's journals seemed to be filled with hate for the world because the world invented him, and then rejected him. Dwanye Fuselier, an FBI Investigator who led the investigation in the after math, says that Dylan brought suicidal thoughts and tendencies, while Eric Harris had hate and homicidal tendencies, bringing together a deadly friendship.

For a couple of years before the shootings, several home made videos were recorded by Eric and Dylan. These showed various ways of their world and feelings. Almost all of them show feeling of hate and violence. Some of these included short movies long the lines of what they were thinking at that time; reacting to bullies. Perhaps more interestingly, in a few of these they would wear clothes similar to the ones they wore on 4/20. One particular video, taken just 5 months before the attack, demonstrated their every day life and how they wanted to address them. During the video, they get a friend to play a student who is being bullied. Cue Eric and Dylan emerging into Columbine High School, dressed in caps, sunglasses and trench coats. It's a dress rehearsal (quite literally) of the attack. Moments later, they track down and kill the bully. At the end of it, the very much seen bursts of rage from Eric and Dylan are blasted to the camera. Other videos showed shooting practice in forests, improving accuracy for the attack. Others showed the arsenal of weapons, ammo and various explosives that Eric Harris stored in his room and basement. Again, it would expose the clear neglect shown to Eric. The infamous "Basement tapes" which were recorded in Harris' basement has never been revealed to the public and indeed, they have only been shown once, to the victims families. Various rumours and reports suggest these tapes hold the real answers as to why they done it. For this reason, in an attempt to prevent any attempt to copy such an event, they will likely never be released. Despite this and all other reactions in the past 12 years such as much tightened security around schools, fantasies like those Eric and Dylan had will never be preventable and all over the world, are sympathisers and even supporters. Perhaps the truth, if it exists in the basement tapes, would end a lot of peoples fantasies, after all, understanding and condoning are two completely different things.

Columbine High School has a rich and prestige reputation of being very good at sports. This constant flow throughout the school set Eric and Dylan instantly apart from everyone else, thus resulting in them being targets. The thing is, this situation is evident in almost every high school in the world. There are ranks within social status. At Columbine, "Jocks" (the school's athletes) sat at the top of the table. Bullies mostly sat very high too, perhaps because people feared them. Eric and Dylan were seen as outcasts, resulting in them being at the very bottom. Brooks Brown described them as being the lowest, the most uncool kids in the entire school. Both knew this and in journals both were noted. Devon Adams said she was challenged by a Jock because she was seen talking to Dylan. The bullying of Eric and Dylan happened every day, like most school bully victims it was expected and to an extend, tolerated. A fantastic quote from Brooks Brown, and I fully agree with him, states; "Shooting the kids was apparently easier than fitting in at school. That's the biggest lesson to learn about Columbine". The main difference being that that is what bully victims could be thinking, but do they go far as to make it a reality like Eric and Dylan? Almost all don't. Were Dylan and Eric pushed that little bit too far?

The longer the friendship went on, the stronger they grew. Dylan in particular seemed to give up any social aspect he had, some have the opinion that Eric was the main reason of this. In my opinion, this is untrue, judging by the journal entries Dylan wrote previously. One particular event took place when Dylan was out in a restaurant with his mother. He wore his trench coat and dark glasses. His mother than became very wary that people were very uncomfortable with this, as if they were in fear of Dylan. Dylan wanted exactly that. He was so used to being the one fearing, now he was feared. After being asked to take them off by his mother, he just smiled. He finally felt powerful.

Despite both having journals and supposedly having their inner feelings kept to themselves, Eric Harris had a website called "You know what I hate?". This detailed quite a lot of what he was writing in his journal.

Touched on earlier, there were several ways that the plans could have been exposed. If you take the practical evidence to one side, at least two incidents that would involve the police, would take place. One day, Brooks Brown and Eric Harris had arranged to meet at school. Brooks was late. In retaliation, Eric broke Brooks' car windshield. Police were called in, but the Brown family did not press charges. People then began to suspect Eric to have put glue on door and car locks and setting fire to trees. When confronted, he denied it. However in his journal, he took delight in doing it. "I hate liars, I'm one myself, oh well". Roughly two and a half years before 4/20, Eric, Dylan and two others hacked into the schools computer system to steal locker codes. This was an act of revenge to one particular person, a threatening note was placed in the locker. All four were suspended for three days. Rather more serious, just three months later Eric and Dylan were caught stealing computer equipment from a van. They were both given community service orders because they were first time non violent offenders. Eric Harris wrote an apology letter which was extensive and very sincere. Again, in his journal, a stark contrast was written.

If this wasn't a giveaway, just a year before the attack Eric wrote on his website that he made various bombs and explosive devices. He even mentioned what would happen, and later wrote a death threat to Brooks Brown, who he had earlier had a massive fall out with. Judy Brown, Brook's mother, again called the police. The officer said he had enough evidence to send Eric to jail and comforted the Browns. Over the next few days, Judy Brown discovered that Eric was into guns and that he publicly glorified them. Judy again contacted the officer, fearing that he could shoot her son. The detective never answered.

Eric and Dylan got hold of four guns; two sawn off shotguns, a Tech 9 and a Carbine Rifle, just five months before 4/20. As everything fell into place, Eric grew more and more confident and stronger.

One theory is that they wanted to kill everyone in the school. A couple of things turns this untrue. In his journal, Eric writes; "Once I start the killing, keep in mind that there are 100 people max I don't want to die". During the killings in the library, Dylan also lets friend John Savage free. Just before the shootings started, Eric bumps into Brooks Brown outside in the school car park, saying "Brooks I like you, go home".

It's also revealed that Eric Harris was determined for the attack to be world famous forever. Dwayne Fuseiler mentions that in the Basement tapes, Eric laughed at other school shootings in the past because they did not claim as much victims as they had planned. It's also in Harris' diary that he he wanted the event to be more infamous that the LA Riots, the Oklahoma City bombings and Vietnam.

It's no secret that Eric was taking a drug called Luvox. He started this course a year before 4/20 in an attempt to control his anger. Indeed in his autopsy, Luvox was found and some suggest that that could have pushed Eric over the edge. Some say he stopped taking the drug shortly before the shootings, triggering a "come down" period (up to 14 days after stopping), which also triggers even more negative side effects. Of course I am pretty much everyone doesn't know his prescription and the dosage on his tablets, so everyone including me is merely speculation.

There is a fantastic 90 minute presentation called "The Columbine Cause" by Evan Long. In this presentation, Evan scans over the 11,000 plus page official final police reports and eyewitness statements. Many of these are conflicting reports to what was been officially said. Some include more than two shooters, some mention they seen Eric and Dylan in places around the school they never were and some even say that the two shooters were not Eric and Dylan. Brandi Wiseman's statement said that she could hear the gunmen reloading shotguns and shouting at each other. This was at approx 12.30, more than 20 minutes after they had committed suicide. Ashley Egland in her statement identified Chris Morris along with Eric Harris. He was arrested on the afternoon of the shootings. Evan then goes on to list many other eyewitness reports.

Well, it's my blog so I'll give my final opinion. There's no doubt that Eric and Dylan were bullied. There's also no doubt that both had underlying problems dealing with anger and depressive thoughts. This isn't rare, so why haven't more events like 4/20 happened? I guess we'll never know the true reasons unless the Basement tapes are revealed.

My verdict: I think people are mistaking mental illness with anger and obsession of retaliation due to years of severe bullying. I think they took so much of it, they finally snapped. After all, "Every man has his breaking point".

Whilst I don't condone 15 innocent people being killed with many more being affected forever, understanding why they done it has to raise the most questions. It was a rage towards the world caused by a lot of people.


Sources:
Columbine: The Final Report
The Columbine Killers
AColumbineSite (C.Shepard.)
"No Easy Answers" (Brooks Brown)
The Columbine Cause (Evan Long)

PS: Of course this is such a complex event so I may add bits and pieces to it, however I'll leave it published for now. Thanks for reading!