One Silent Tear.
I have a tear that dwells within me,
in a place where there's no remedy.
for this never ending malady,
the Columbine High School tragedy.
Wiping my eyes I attempt to focus,
on other things each new day,
this tear residing within haunts me,
forever and ever will it stay.
I think of so many slain children,
and it swells up deep inside me,
it drenches a place in my heart,
a piece of it others seldom see.
Now I'm learning to live with,
the lone tear that will forever stay,
by loving all of the children,
that survived Columbine's tragic day.
Yes, I'll always remember the 20th,
of a damp and cold April day,
that created the silent tear,
that just won't go away.
revised 04-15-2003 Bob
McDearmid
April, 20, 1999, as the day passed
into night the hearts of a nation we're riveted to a small town in Colorado. The question
we all asked was how could something like this happen. Is it a question where there is no
real answer or could it be we don't want to know the truth? How can we prevent
this kind of tragedy from happening again? Even if we were to know the answer, I'm afraid
most of us would only say "yea, that's right" and then continue with our lives
as if nothing ever happened. As a nation our compassion only pours out for a few days and
then we put it on a shelf in an old shoebox and seal it up never to be dealt with again
until the next tragedy comes along. Let's do something different this time! As a nation
let's set an example for our children to follow. We see killing in the news everyday; we
see violence on TV shown as a typical way of life; we have parents letting their children,
home alone, make decisions within their own selves based on what they see and hear. What
do they see...VIOLENCE....what do they hear?....ANGER. And what (as parents, teachers, and
members of the human race) can we do to change this behavior?...we need to show love and
compassion for ALL our children and teach them by example to do the same. If we can learn,
then the loss of life and the pouring of tears will not be in vain. As a nation for us to
continue down the same path we are currently headed will only lead us into the same tragic
results.
Let's remember the brave children who risked their
lives to help others and whose compassion was an inspiration to those of us who could only
watch and pray. Who were they? They were the survivors.
_______________________________________________________
Do not let the death's of these children be
in vain.
06:33 PM ET 04/22/99
Thumbnails of Columbine High Victims
Thumbnails of Columbine High Victims
By The Associated Press=
A thumbnail look at those slain by two students at Columbine
High School:
_ Cassie Bernall, 17. Two years ago became a born-again
Christian. Was active in church youth programs and Bible study
groups. Hung out with a nihilistic group in middle school. Recently
visited Britain. Favorite movie was Mel Gibson's ``Braveheart.''
_ Steven Curnow, 14. A freshman, dreamed of being a Navy top gun and
piloting an F-16. Watched the ``Star Wars'' movies so often he could recite dialogue.
Played soccer as a boy; learned to referee to earn pocket money.
_ Corey DePooter, 17. Loved to golf, hunt and fish. Former
wrestler. Recently took maintenance job at a golf club to save up
for a boat with a friend. Good student. Had wisdom teeth removed
this year and was frustrated that it forced him to miss school.
_ Kelly Fleming, 16. Aspiring songwriter and author. Wrote
scores of poems and short stories based on her life experiences.
Was learning to play guitar. Moved from Phoenix 18 months ago. Was eager to get her
driver's license and part-time job.
_ Matthew Kechter, 16. A junior, had hoped to start for the
football team. Lifted weights. Played on offensive and defensive
lines. Maintained A average.
_ Daniel Mauser, 15. A sophomore, excelled in math and science,
and earned straight A's on last report card. Ran cross country and
joined debate team. Recently returned from two-week trip to Paris
with French club.
_ Daniel Rohrbough, 15. Helped in his father's electronics
business and worked on family farms in Kansas during the summer.
Enjoyed computer games, stereos and home theater systems. Shot
while holding an exit door open for fleeing students.
_ William ``Dave'' Sanders, 47. Computer and business teacher
for 24 years. Coached girls' basketball and softball; basketball
team posted winning record in his first year, 1997-98 after
finishing next to last the year before. Married with at least two
daughters and five grandchildren. Shot twice in chest while
directing students down hallway to safety. Survived at least three
hours until students were rescued.
_ Rachel Scott, 17. Played lead in a student-written school
play, ``Smoke in the Room.'' Active in Celebration Christian
Fellowship church. Liked photography. During rampage, younger
brother Craig, 16, played dead in library and helped lead others to
safety.
_ Isaiah Shoels, 18. Due to graduate in May. Suffered health
problems as a child and had heart surgery twice. Wanted to attend
an arts college and become a music executive. Small in stature, but
lifted weights and played football and wrestled. Bench-pressed
twice his weight. Shot in the head because he was black and an
athlete, witnesses said.
_ John Tomlin, 16. Enjoyed driving off-road in his beat-up Chevy
pickup. Worked after-school in gardening store and belonged to a church youth group. Went
on missionary trip to Mexico with family last year and built a house for poor people.
Planned to enlist in the Army in two years.
_ Lauren Townsend, 18. Senior was captain of girls' varsity
volleyball team, coached by her mother. Other players said she was
``consumed'' by the sport. Member of the National Honor Society and candidate for
valedictorian. Wanted to major in biology in college.
_ Kyle Velasquez, age unknown, male.
____________________________________________
Reconstructing the Columbine Horror
08:13 PM ET 04/22/99
Reconstructing the Columbine Horror
EDITORS' NOTE _ The following account reconstructs the Tuesday rampage
at Columbine High School, where 15 people died. It is based on interviews with and
material from authorities and students.
___
By TED ANTHONY, AP National Writer
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) _ Her favorite lunchtime meal was ready _ ``my
only meal,'' jokes Sarah DeBoer. So, nachos in hand, she headed toward the commons area of
the Columbine High School cafeteria.
It was a sunny Tuesday morning, maybe
60 degrees, only 17 school days before graduation, and a spring mentality was afoot _ the
kind that says summer is on the horizon.
Outside, two disaffected young men knew something their classmates
didn't. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris had endgame in mind.
Ms. DeBoer, who knew the pair in passing, had talked to them Friday.
True, they liked to bluster about guns and vengeance and Adolf Hitler. But they seemed _
for them, at least _ fine.
Upstairs in the school library, four dozen students were studying their
way through the lunch period. Nearby, Dave Sanders, a popular instructor and coach, was
teaching a class. Down the hall, Stephanie Williams, 16, a junior, was in the choir room
singing.
Then, at about 11:15 a.m., a sound from outside: pop-pop-pop-BANG.
In the cafeteria, they thought it was a lunchtime prank. Whatever it
was, it was getting closer. Ms. DeBoer, a 16-year-old sophomore, hit
the floor with her
lunch companions. As realization washed over her, she uttered one thing. Whether it was
aloud or just to herself, she doesn't quite remember. ``I think that
I'm going to die.''
___=
In moments of chaos and hours of confusion, memories can cloud. But,
through myriad interviews and briefings, an intelligible if still imprecise
portrait emerges of what unfolded behind a suburban school's pale brown walls.
Just after lunch period begins, two young men in black trench coats
open fire in the parking lot. Senior Wade Frank, 18, outside in the parking lot next
to a picnic area, hears popping sounds and sees a girl lying against a curb, shot in
the leg. Still shooting, the two walk to the cafeteria, where food server Karen Nielsen
hears someone yell, ``Get down!''
Klebold, 17, and Harris, 18, are heavily armed _ an assault rifle,
sawed-off shotguns, handguns. In the cafeteria, one removes his trench coat to reveal
home-made grenades. He tosses a pipe bomb. Gunshots echo. Students fall. One gets up to
run and others follow.
Word spreads: The ``Trenchcoat Mafia'' has gone nuts. Many of the 900
students in the building duck into closets and bathrooms, under tables and chairs. A
couple call 911 with cellular phones. Dozens flee the building and hide in brush around
the school.
Senior Nick Foss, 18, and a friend push two teachers, a cook and
another woman into a bathroom. ``I heard people praying for their husbands and their
children,'' says Foss. The attackers bang on doors, yelling: ``We know you're in there.''
Casey Brackley, 15, is in the gym when an administrator herds kids into
the equipment room. ``I hit my knees and prayed,'' Ms. Brackley says.
They stay for 15 minutes before the administrator directs them outside.
Neil Gardner, the Jefferson County sheriff's deputy assigned to the
school full-time, hears shots and spots one of the gunmen in a first-floor hallway. He
radios for backup and returns fire as bullets ricochet off lockers. Within minutes, seven
officers arrive and begin pulling students, including a few shooting victims, from the
building.
In the choir room, above the commons, Ms. Williams and her classmates
hear the sounds. Someone comes to the door and, with a thumb-forefinger gesture, gives
them a warning: gun.
Her teacher tells everyone to sit. But in moments, the school's
two-level auditorium next door seems a safer place, so some go; then, after about 10
minutes, they run into the main hall.
``The group I was in headed straight for the door. He was shooting at
us,'' Ms. Williams says. ``All we knew was to run.'' As they flee, a
door behind them explodes in gunfire.
Ms. DeBoer, separated from her friend who had run into the weight room,
lies on the cafeteria floor until she hears a car explode outside. Then she runs into the
auditorium and lies down between seats.
There she stays for some time. Fellow students _ 15, maybe 20 _ cry
softly. Teachers warn them to be silent. In the distance, they hear sharp reports and dull
explosions. Finally, a janitor enters and tells them: Go! They run, and gunfire follows.
``I turned and I saw Dylan was the one who turned and shot at me,''
Sarah says. ``He didn't know it was me; we were just running out of the auditorium.''
The gunmen head upstairs toward the library.
___=
``All jocks stand up! We're going to kill every one of you,'' one
gunman yells in the library.
Student Aaron Cohn, a ballplayer, is spared because a girl leaps onto
his back while he lies on the floor, covering the baseball slogan on his shirt.
``They were laughing after they shot,'' Cohn says. ``It was like they
were having the time of their life.''
Some students are slain at their desks, one with pencil still in hand.
The gunmen play ``peek-a-boo'' with others, finding them cowering under desks and opening
fire. Isaiah Shoels, who is black and has tangled with the gunmen before, is one of those
to fall.
Says one assailant: ``Oh, my God. Look at this black kid's brain.
Awesome, man!''
Some kids play dead. By the time it is over, 12 aren't playing.
Klebold and Harris leave behind shattered windows, bloody floors and a
quiet unlike any the library has ever heard. Elsewhere upstairs, Sanders, the teacher, has
been shot twice in the chest but manages to get students down a hallway away from danger.
He stumbles into a science room, bleeding and coughing blood.
Outside, the first SWAT team is on the scene 20 minutes after the first
911 calls, joining the sheriff's deputies. It finds several explosive devices around the
school and treads cautiously.
``We had initial people there right away, but we couldn't get in,''
Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone says. ``We were way outgunned.''
About 45 minutes after the shooting begins, at noon, ambulances take
the first wounded students _ the ones who managed to run outside _ to hospitals. Bomb
teams, fire trucks, more SWAT units and paramedics arrive.
Nick Foss and other students manage to crawl into a space between the
ceiling and acoustic tiles. Foss falls through a tile, crashing onto the floor of the
teacher's lounge. He runs.
Kammi Vest, 18, hides in the choir-room closet with up to 60 other
students. Others try to crawl through heating vents to safety.
In the science room, Sanders is dying. Students cover the 47-year-old
teacher with their shirts and a blanket and keep him talking. But his pulse slows and he
grows cold.
Shots are heard until almost 12:30. About that time, in the library,
Klebold and Harris turn their guns on themselves, though no one will be sure of this for
hours.
As 12:30 passes, after no shots echo for several minutes, SWAT teams
begin sweeping the building room by room. It is, quite literally, a minefield: Dropped
backpacks are everywhere, each a potential bomb. In the coming days bombs will turn up in
various shapes and sizes. They include one large bomb hidden in the school's kitchen and
fashioned from a 20-pound propane tank. At about 2:30, SWAT teams begin
freeing those in hiding. In small groups, hands behind their heads, they run from the
school to a holding area. They are frisked, questioned, offered medical care and bused to
Leawood Elementary School to be reunited with parents.
By now, the world is seeing it all on TV. Escaped students cling to
each other. Tears flow freely for some; for others, it will take time. Even the tough
guys, the ones with the backward baseball caps and the baggy camo pants, cry.
At 4:30, with the gunmen's bodies found, authorities declare the school
under control. In goes Dr. Chris Colwell, summoned for a medical synopsis. In the
sun-dappled, the silent library is the worst sight he has ever seen.
``You walk in there with that hope that there might be somebody who's
still alive and still salvageable,'' Colwell says. ``It didn't take long to see that
wasn't the case.''
He pronounces them all dead _ 10 students and two alienated schoolmates
who let their anger consume them.
The bodies will stay there for an entire day, until the known bombs are
cleared.
___=
By the following afternoon, nearby Clement Park has become a place of
mourning. Students and teachers and gawkers,they come to commiserate, to speak of faith
and perseverance, to see the spectacle and talk to the press.
Among the pilgrims: Ms. DeBoer, wearing her Columbine football jersey,
and Ms. Williams, accompanied by a friend to comfort her. They stand together, yards from
the scene of their lives' greatest terror, and they try to process the scenes running
through their mind.
``Yesterday I was so scared,'' Ms. DeBoer says, her voice falling.
``They ruined the school, but I think we should definitely go back,''
she says. ``If you don't go back, they'll win.''
4 Days Later
LITTLETON, Colo., April 25 — Vice President Al Gore
and Colorado Gov. Bill Owens joined more than 50,000 mourners Sunday at a moving, open-air
memorial service for the victims of the bloody school rampage in Littleton, Colo. People
began arriving four hours before the service, filling a movie theater parking lot to
overflowing, despite grey skies and near-freezing weather. Overhead, a plane pulled a
banner: “Our love and prayers are with you.”
BEFOREHAND, ORGANIZERS thought 35,000 people might attend the 3
p.m. ET service, but the crowd swelled far beyond that. Mourners included retired Gen.
Colin Powell and Christian singers Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith. The event is
being televised live on a special MSNBC program hosted by Stone Phillips and David
Gregory. A makeshift memorial near the school also continued to grow Sunday, with hundreds
of bouquets, stuffed animals, signs and cards. One sign contained finger-painted images of
children’s hands. Said another, “Silence contributes to moral decay.”
Meanwhile, police said the gunmen's’ diary, phone records
and Internet mail all provided new leads into possible co-conspirators. None has been
identified yet, although investigators say they suspect the two youths could not have
acted alone.
FUNERAL SERVICES
One of the killers, 17-year-old Dylan Klebold, was buried Saturday in a private service
that was disclosed by his family afterward. The Klebold family said in a statement their
“sadness and grief over (Dylan’s) death and this tragedy is indescribable”
and apologized to the families who lost loved ones in the attack by their son and Eric
Harris, 18. About 3,000 people turned out on Saturday to remember one of the
victims, 17-year-old Rachel Scott, a pretty, popular junior at Columbine celebrated as
fun-loving and deeply faithful.
One week earlier she was the belle of the ball at
Columbine’s senior prom. Her date, Nick Baumgarten, said she looked like the film
actress she aspired to become. “I swear she was a movie star, I swear it,”
Baumgarten said.
Scott’s funeral, attended by hundreds of weeping Columbine
High School students, was the first in a painful week of services scheduled for the 12
students and a teacher who were shot to death by Harris and Klebold.
Services for teacher and coach Dave Sanders, who was rushing
students to safety when the shooters opened fire on him, were planned for Monday.
Eleven of the 23 people injured in the attack remained
hospitalized, eight in critical or serious condition.
AN ELABORATE PLOT
Investigators have revealed more details of the bloodbath in
which 15 people, including the two teenage gunmen responsible, died last week at Columbine
High School. They said the diary of one of the gunmen contained chilling references to
Nazi Germany — the attack was launched on Adolf Hitler’s birthday — and
meticulous plans beginning in April 1998.
Sunday marked the first day of rest for police investigators
who have been sifting through the extensive crime scene at Columbine. They have already
cataloged some 2,000 pieces of evidence as bomb squads comb ahead of them through the
school. Detectives will conduct more interviews in an effort to solve nagging
questions like where the teens got their weapons and if their friends or family members
knew about the elaborate scheme in advance.
NBC News reported that two weapons used in the attack, a
handgun and a carbine rifle, had been purchased 18 months ago at a gun show by an
18-year-old female friend of Klebold. Police declined comment on the report.
The diary, which police say was handwritten by one of the two
gunmen, described a minute-by-minute plan to strike the cafeteria when it was packed with
students and blow up the school before turning guns on themselves.
“They wanted to do as much damage as they could possibly
do and destroy the school and destroy as many children as they could, to go out in flames.
They expected to die,” said Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone.
MAPS AND WEAPONS
Stone declined to say if the diary came from the home of Harris
or Klebold. But it suggested that they planned the brutal rampage together and included a
detailed map of the school showing places where the light was bad and where they could
hide.
Quick action by SWAT officers may have prevented an even higher toll, Stone said. “It
(the diary) also talked that they wanted to burn the school down,” he said.
Stone said weapon parts and other materials were found in plain
sight in one of the suspect’s bedrooms. He did not say which suspect he was referring
to.
“A barrel that they cut off one of the sawed-off shotguns
was clearly visible laying on the dresser in one of the rooms. A lot of this was clearly
visible. The parents should have been aware of it,” Stone said.
REFERENCES TO NAZIS
Stone who briefed reporters, also confirmed that German and
Nazi themes were present in some of the writings found in the gunmen’s’ personal
belongings. He did not disclose what exactly was found in each teen-ager’s home.
He said the diary described the assailants thinking as:
“We want to be different, we want to be strange and we don’t want jocks or other
people putting (us) down. ... We’re going to punish you.”
Meanwhile, investigators have discounted a purported e-mail
suicide note that appeared to have been written by Harris the day before he and Klebold
stormed the high school armed with their sawed-off shotguns and homemade bombs. Police now
believe it was hoax.
ACCOMPLICES?
Police were reluctant to discuss potential suspects for fear
that they would flee. “We have to be extremely careful with the information that we
release. We don’t want to tip our hand to any potential suspect or suspects,”
Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Davis said. But investigators said they think there
is a strong possibility the gunmen had accomplices because of the amounts of explosives
and firepower brought to the school. But sheriff’s Lt. Dave Taylor said they have not
identified any specific suspects.
Sheriff Stone warned, “If there was a third, fourth or
fifth person involved, we’re going to find them.”
One of the founders of the “Trench Coat Mafia” —
the group linked to the two student gunmen — told NBC News that three members of the
group had been questioned by police.
Joseph Stair said none of the other members of the Trench Coat
Mafia knew of a specific plan to attack the school but did expect some revenge on athletes
at the school, after four years of battles.
“We hated each other. We really did,” he told
NBC’s Jim Avila. “The athletes would threaten us, leave notes in lockers. As
they were driving by, they’d throw glass bottles and rocks and things at us. And so
there’s large hatred built up between the two groups.”
Stair said the gunmen — Harris and Klebold — did not
ask for any help in their deadly assault on the school and knew enough about planning an
attack and making bombs to pull it off alone.
“They knew how to make just about every type of explosive
you could make using household products,” he said.
TAUNTS FROM STUDENTS
One member of the same clique of trench coat-clad outsiders
described being taunted by other students. In an interview with The Denver
Post, a member of the Trenchcoat Mafia who knew the gunmen described life for members of
his group as “hell ... pure hell.” He said that athletes at the school called
him by an anti-gay epithet, bashed him into lockers and threw rocks at him as he rode his
bike home.
“I can’t describe how hard it was to get up in the
morning and face that,” the 18-year-old, demanding anonymity, told the paper. But he
said he did not know of his friends’ violent plans.
“I’m not saying what they did was OK,” he said.
“But I know what it’s like to be cornered, pushed day after day.”
911 TAPES RELEASED
As authorities continued to investigate America’s worst
high school shooting, the panic of Tuesday’s attack came to life with the release of
911 emergency tapes Friday.
“Oh, God! Oh, God! … He’s right outside
again!” one unidentified teacher screamed as gunshots exploded in the background.
The panicked teacher, who was in the library area where the two
gunmen killed most of their 13 victims before taking their own lives, can be heard
ordering students to stay under their desks as she pleads for police assistance.
“I am on the floor and I’ve got every student on the floor,” the
teacher tells the dispatcher, speaking so rapidly into her cellular phone that her words
can barely be understood.
“Oh, God! Oh, God! Kids, just stay down!” she
screamed, frantically adding that a student in the room had been hit by gunfire.
The operator tried to keep the teacher calm by telling her that
help was on the way. Police did not identify the teacher but said she survived the
attack. The fate of the wounded student was not known.
The call from the teacher came minutes after the first 911 call
from an unidentified student who calmly informed a dispatcher that there apparently had
been a shooting in the parking lot.
“There’s like smoke going off in the parking lot and
loud noises. ... People are running out of the school like mad right now,” the
student said.
FEDERAL HELP
President Bill Clinton said Saturday he will ask Congress for
money and stricter gun laws to help stem school violence.
In his weekly radio address, Clinton said he wants to keep guns
away from juveniles and will seek $12 million dollars for emergency teams “to help
communities respond when tragedy strikes.” The attack in Littleton, Colo., was the
seventh at schools around the country in two years.
Meanwhile, the Jefferson County school superintendent announced
that Columbine students will finish the school year by attending Chatfield High School.
Beginning Thursday, students from Chatfield will attend classes in the morning, and
Columbine students and teachers will use the school in the afternoon.
In the wake of the massacre, schools across the nation are
reporting copycat threats. Five students at a Texas junior high school have been charged
with plotting to murder teachers and fellow students, authorities said Saturday. The
suspects, all aged 14, were arrested Friday.
A special address has been designated for cards and letters to
Columbine High School students, family and staff. The address is: Messages for Columbine,
Communications Services, Jefferson County Public Schools, P.O. Box 4001, Golden, CO
80401-0001.
Why Did they Do It?
Diary Details Colo. Massacre Plan
By JOHN HENDREN=
AP National Writer=
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) _ A detailed diary by one of the Columbine High
School gunmen showed they were ``going for the big kill'' in a suicide attack that had
been planned for a year before they struck on Adolf Hitler's birthday, the sheriff said
Saturday.
``The bottom line of this thing is they wanted to do as much damage as
they could possibly do, and destroy this school, and destroy as many children as they
could and go out in flames,'' Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone told reporters.
It was the strongest official statement about the motive for Tuesday's
murder-suicide rampage that killed 12 students, one teacher and two teen gunmen.
The handwritten diary, discovered in one of the gunmen's homes, uses
German phrases and goes back a year. Stone said the assailants reasoning was: ``We want to
be different, we want to be strange and we don't want jocks or other people putting (us)
down. ... We're going to punish you.''
Stone said he didn't know which of the gunmen kept the diary.
The sheriff also placed some blame on the parents of Dylan
Klebold and Eric Harris. He noted that along with the diary, investigators found a shotgun
barrel on a dresser and bomb-making materials.
``A lot of this stuff was clearly visible and the parents should have
known,'' said Stone. ``I think parents should be accountable for their kid's actions.''
The parents have not commented beyond separate written statements
released by their attorneys. The statements expressed sorrow and sympathy for the victims'
families.
The diary shows that Klebold, 17, and Harris, 18, had been planning the
attack for a year. The teens also had a school map that noted where the school was ill-lit
and pointed out possible hiding places. The diary also revealed that they monitored the
lunch room to find out when the greatest number of people would be there.
``They were going for a big kill,'' said Stone. ``This had been on
their minds and they've been planning this particular thing and they've been building
bombs ... for a considerable period of time. They've been acquiring weaponry for a
considerable period of time.''
Asked why they picked April 20, the sheriff said, ``It was Hitler's
birthday.''
He added: ``It was a Nazi kind of thing.''
Stone brief reporters as a weekend of funerals began. At the Trinity Christian Center, a
mile south of Columbine High, students walked to the pulpit one by one to mourn Rachel
Scott, 17.
Sobbing and hollow-eyed, they remembered a girl who loved life, adored
acting and was nice to people she didn't know. ``A truer friend you couldn't find,'' Nick
Baumgart said.
Earlier friends and family wrote comments in black felt pen on the Miss
Scott's casket. Friends said she was killed outside the school, one of the first to be
shot.
Heidi Johnson, a friend of Miss Scott's since fourth grade, wiped tears
as she kneeled and wrote on the casket, ``Rachel, I'm so proud of you! I will miss you
dearly. You were truly one of my true best friends and I love you from the bottom of my
heart.''
Other messages said, ``See you in Heaven,'' ``You are my hero,''
and ``You always brought a smile to my face.''
Her father wrote simply: ``I love you. Dad. Forever.''
Police have interviewed hundreds of witnesses and collected 2,000
pieces of evidence, down to the smallest scraps of metal at the school, in the search not
only for a motive but to determine whether Harris and Klebold had accomplices, before or
during the shootings.
Students and police had described one gunman wearing a white T-shirt,
while witnesses also spoke of two gunmen in dark dusters. But the body of one of the
gunmen did not have a trench coat on.
``It's very possible, we're thinking now, that maybe the trench coat
was shed at some point,'' said sheriff's spokesman Steve Davis. ``Now ... maybe we're back
to two suspects instead of the white-shirt third suspect.''
But later Davis said that ``the chances are even increasing'' of
``further involvement'' by others. He refused to give details, saying, ``We have to be
very, very careful at this point of what we release.''
No arrests have been made and no other suspects beyond the dead gunmen
have been identified.
One member of the same clique of trench coat-clad outsiders _ called
the Trenchcoat Mafia _ in which the gunmen belonged _ described being taunted by other
students.
The youth told The Denver Post that life for members of his group as
``hell ... pure hell.'' He said that athletes at the school called him ``faggot,'' bashed
him into lockers and threw rocks at him as he rode his bike home.
``I can't describe how hard it was to get up in the morning and face
that,'' the 18-year-old, demanding anonymity, told the paper.
But he said he did not know of his friends' violent plans.
``I'm not saying what they did was OK,'' he said. ``But I know
what it's like to be cornered, pushed day after day.''
Meanwhile, police discounted a note purported to be from one of the
assailants warning of more violence next week. Earlier, police had expressed fears about
the threat and said they didn't think the note was a hoax. Hours later, they said they
believed it didn't come from either of the gunmen.
Who's Responsible?
Questions Over Gunmen's' Parents
By SHARON COHEN=
Associated Press Writer=
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) _ Their friends portray them as the people next
door: parents who attended Little League games, took their sons swimming and fishing,
planned family trips and enjoyed the quiet of suburbia _ until now.
The parents of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, whose murderous rampage
Tuesday at Columbine High School left 15 dead, have dropped from sight, leaving friends to
answer a haunting question that looms in this tragedy:
Did the parents turn a blind eye to warning signs their sons were
deeply troubled?
Friends say what is extraordinary about the two families is how very
ordinary they are: quiet people who celebrated Easters with neighbors, mowed their lawns,
played hoops with their sons, sat on bleachers on long summer nights watching Little
League.
``Eric's parents are what we would call dream parents,'' said Terry
Condo, who coached Eric in Little League in Plattsburgh, N.Y., where his father, Wayne, an
Air Force transport pilot, was stationed in the mid-1990s. ``They were supportive, not
critical. They didn't put undue pressure on their son.''
``They raised their boys just like the rest of us,'' said Vicki Dehoff,
a former neighbor of the Klebolds, who has known the family for 15 years. ``The parents
are not monsters.''
But others have wondered how the parents missed so many red flags: The
boys' admiration for Hitler. Their obsession with violent video games. Harris' venomous
messages on the Internet, prompting one classmate's father to contact police last year
after Eric allegedly urged others to kill his son.
And, of course, the boys' stockpiling of an arsenal, including
semi-automatic guns, grenades and materials to make some 30 bombs. ``I
think I would be a little concerned about my son's room if I went in there and I found a
sawed-off shotgun barrel ... sitting out there,'' on the dresser, Jefferson County Sheriff
John Stone said Saturday, referring to what police found in one boy's home. Bomb-making
materials, he added, also were in sight.
``A lot of this stuff was clearly visible. The parents should have
known,'' Stone added. ``I think parents should be accountable for their kid's actions.''
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, on ``Fox News Sunday,'' said if evidence of
an impending massacre had been sitting in the open in a gunman's home, ``perhaps charges
will be filed and certainly should be filed'' against the parents.
Asked if parents should be liable if their children have guns, Attorney
General Janet Reno said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' that it's important to ``identify who
is responsible for them having guns _ what they knew or should have known and take
appropriate steps.''
What the parents did know and when they knew it remains a mystery.
They have said nothing beyond written statements, including one
Saturday from the Klebolds, saying they held a service for their 17-year-old son ``who we
loved as much as we knew how to love a child.''
Dylan's father, Thomas, had volunteered to help authorities during
Tuesday's siege after hearing his son was a suspect.
``We thought we should go to the school and try and effect his
surrender, to play a role in trying to defuse what was going on,'' said Gary Lozow, a
Klebold attorney, who contacted authorities on the father's behalf.
But it was too late.
Friends of the Klebolds describe them as caring, attentive parents.
``This is a conscientious, normal family that's done everything
right,'' said Michael Briand, an associate of Mrs. Klebold. ``This came as a bolt out of
the blue because Dylan had apparently been making some progress. Apparently he was
loosening his immersion in this Gothic culture.''
Both Klebolds are professionals: Thomas, 52, a former geophysicist,
runs a mortgage management business from his sleek $400,000 cedar-and-glass home at the
foot of the Rockies. He has been described as a liberal who favors gun control. Susan, 50,
works for the Colorado community college system, helping train disabled students for the
work world.
Mrs. Klebold was raised Jewish and her grandfather, Leo, was a
prominent real estate developer and philanthropist in Columbus, Ohio, where a Jewish
community center is named for him.
Before her son's funeral, Mrs. Klebold had her hair done and told her
hairdresser that prejudice was never taught in their home and it pained her to see her son
depicted as a monster.
There was no hint of family trouble years ago in the Klebold household,
said Mrs. Dehoff, the former neighbor. ``I just remember laughing
a lot when I was over at her house,'' she said, recalling how she and her children
regularly joined Mrs. Klebold and her two sons at a neighborhood swimming pool. ``She has
a big heart.''
Mrs. Dehoff, whose daughter, Krysti, was near the school library where
many of the dead were found, also is not surprised Dylan and Eric could conceal a yearlong
plot to commit mass murder.
``There are so many kids whose goal in life is to hide their plans,''
she said. ``Most of us are the last ones to see our kids in trouble. You're just blinded
by ... love.''
Both boys apparently not only deceived their parents, but the probation
officer who placed the two in an intensive probation program last year after they broke
into a car and stole electronic equipment.
The Klebolds have lived in Colorado for many years. The Harrises moved
to Littleton in 1996. Wayne Harris works for a flight-safety business. His wife,
Katherine, 49, works for a catering company.
Before Harris retired from the military, the family was often on the
move, living in Ohio, Michigan and New York since the late 1980s.
A neighbor in Oscoda, Mich., the Rev. William Stone, remembers Harris
put up a basketball backboard in their driveway and played hoops with his two boys,
including Kevin, who is two years older than 18-year-old Eric.
``Some families you can almost predict something tragic would happen,''
he said. ``Not this family. They cared for each other. They seemed to enjoy their
children.''
In Littleton, both families have received words and tokens of support,
including flowers at their doorsteps. A sign planted in the Klebold yard reads:
``Tom and Sue, We (a heart symbol for love) you. We're here for you.
Call us,'' followed by several names.
John Horan, a funeral director who has buried some of the slain teens,
said people should think twice before pointing fingers.
``I started out feeling angry toward the parents until I realized I
know one of the parents,'' said Horan, who knows Mrs. Klebold. ``It was kind of a wake-up
call about being careful not to judge someone too quickly.''
And coach Condo said the parents of the two boys should not be
forgotten in the grieving.
``What's the rest of their lives going to be like?'' he asked.
``Obviously, this is not something that's going to go away.''
____________________________________________________________
Feb. 15, 2000
More Deaths of students:
By R. UNRUH=
Associated Press Writer=
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) _ Two Columbine High sweethearts were
found dead early Monday after a shooting at a sandwich shop within
sight of their school, compounding the heartbreak in the community
that suffered the worst school shooting in U.S. history.
The bodies of Nicholas Kunselman, 15, and Stephanie Hart, 16,
were discovered inside the Subway shop where Kunselman worked.
Investigators did not disclose a motive but ruled out
murder-suicide.
Jefferson County sheriff's spokesman Steve Davis said the cause
of death had not been determined, and he said he did not know
whether a weapon had been found.
Investigators were reviewing a surveillance videotape from the
restaurant, but, without elaborating, Davis said late Monday it was
unlikely to provide clues. He also said there was no reason to
believe the deaths were linked to the Columbine massacre.
``I hope it was just a robbery,'' said one of Kunselman's
co-workers, J.J. Hodack, 22. ``I've had more than enough of this.
This stuff needs to stop.''
The shooting was the latest in a string of tragedies that have
hit the Denver suburb since teen-age gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan
Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine on April 20
and then committed suicide.
Classes remained in session Monday, but at least 100 students
stayed away. Students said some of those who did attend could be
seen crying in the hallways. At least 25 counselors were kept busy
most of the day, said Betty Fitzpatrick, health services director
for the school district.
``It reminds me of everything. It's just like flashbacks,'' said
Nathan Vanderau, an 18-year-old senior who knew some of the victims
of last year's shooting as well as Monday's victims and is in
counseling.
Among the other incidents that have added to the unease in the
community:
_ In October, the mother of a student partially paralyzed in the
massacre shot herself to death.
_ On Feb. 1, the body of an 11-year-old boy was found in a trash
bin within blocks of the school. No arrests have been made.
_ Last week, a Florida man pleaded guilty in Denver to sending a
Columbine student an Internet message threatening to finish the
massacre. The threat prompted officials to close the school for the
Christmas holidays two days early. He faces up to five years in
prison.
Friends said Hart enjoyed sports but was quiet and didn't go out
much except to stop by the sub shop to see Kunselman. He had worked
at the sub shop for only a month but had won the manager's
confidence and often was assigned to close the restaurant at 10
p.m., Hodack said.
``Obviously, our boss trusted him. He's a good worker,'' he
said.
A Subway employee driving past the store noticed a light inside
the store about 1 a.m. Since the business was supposed to be
closed, the woman stopped, went inside and discovered the bodies.
As investigators worked inside the shop about two blocks from
the high school, Columbine students and relatives of the victims
gathered in the parking lot, placing bouquets just outside police
lines. They also wrote chalk memorial messages.
``Every week, there's something that happens here,'' said Daniel
Baker, who brought three friends to deliver flowers. ``This is
supposed to be a normal community.''
Courtney Scott, an 18-year-old cousin of Hart, placed a
heart-shaped bouquet of flowers with a banner reading, ``I love
you,'' outside the shop. She said Hart was not at Columbine the day
of last year's shooting.
A school spokesman confirmed both victims attended Columbine
last year but did not know if either was there when the massacre
occurred.
News of another shooting in Littleton resonated in the
Statehouse in Denver, where the House debated gun restrictions that
were drafted in part because of the Columbine massacre.
``It's horrifying to me,'' said House Minority Leader Ken
Gordon, a Denver Democrat who sponsored some of the measures. ``We
are not getting it done. We are not protecting the people of the
state.''
After Thoughts!
My heart goes out to every child, every parent, and
everyone involved in the Columbine High School tragedy. What Dylan Klebold and Eric
Harris did was not acceptable to me any way, shape, or form. Yet I cannot find in my heart
to place all the blame on them, their friends, or their parents. In fact my attitude is
not about finding someone to blame at all but I'll get to that later.
As the writer of the poem and a few paragraphs of
this extensive article I have formed my own personal opinion, after examining the
facts, of what drove these two boys over the edge. I believe Dylan and Eric were not only
the bad guys...they were victims too. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were victims of peers
who would not accept them for who they were. They were tormented mentally and
physically to the point where revenge became the focus of their life for over a year...a
revenge to get even with everybody for what a select few had done to them. They are
victims because they live in a country where hazing, bigotry, the ones who have vs the the
ones have not, the crypts vs the bloods,... is common not only in Harlem, N.Y. but in
Littleton, Colorado as well. We live in a country that puts power and wealth above love
and compassion. We live in a country where firearms and drugs are as accessible and common
as toys in a toy store. We live in a country where our teachers spend more time with our
children than our parents.
We live in a nation where people spend too much time
looking for someone to blame and not enough time looking for a way to prevent. We need to
direct our anger away from people and refocus that energy on resolutions. If there
is any good to come of this tragedy it will be because enough of us woke up and decided we
were not going to live in a world where violence leads to resolution. Violence only leads
to more violence or more deaths. Either way you lose.
I also feel that searching for someone to blame is to search for resolution to whatever
caused the problem. Once we nail down the persons at fault we find closure to the issue;
what we've really done is ignor the real problems which will, at some point in time,
reoccur.
If we continue to torment our fellow human beings
with bigotry and hate there will be more epitaphs like Littleton, Colorado on the horizon.
To me the price of freedom has become a gun pointed to our heads and a game of Russian
roulette on the horizon.... and I don't want to play.
_____________________________________________________________
Update Feb, 15, 2000
I wrote the above comments almost a year ago and the
violence still continues. Since April 20, 1999 my own 15 year old son has moved in with me
from his moms. His life was threatened by another student in Oct., 1999; the student was
known to do drugs and carry a weapon.
It happened to me and it can happen to you. Please
do what you can to help stop the violence.
____________________________________
Now go wipe the tears from your eyes
and think about what YOU'RE going to do!
____________________
The Associated Press, MSNBC, and NBC
contributed to this article.
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