Columbine High School Shooting – Part 1

The end of the school year (Feb ish – May ish) has become known for being very deadly for schools.  

In February of 1996, a student in Bethel, Alaska went on a rampage.  In October of 1997 there was a shooting in Pearl, Mississippi.  December was West Paducah, Kentucky and Stamps, Arkansas.  In1998, there were 5 attacks, and all of these had been white, teenage boys in some small town.  It became known as “shooting season” and this would continue for years.  The Virginia Tech shooting occurred on April 16th of 2007.  April 19th was a specifically horrible day in American history.  Both the end of the Waco standoff (1993) and the Oklahoma City Bombing (1995) happened on April 19th.

Then….

On April 20th, 1999, Dylan Klebold left his house by 5:15-5:30 am to meet his friend Eric Harris.  His parents were still upstairs and assumed that he was off to his first class.  The high school seniors had skipped the bowling class they typically attended on Tuesdays at 6 am and instead went about setting things in motion for the plan they’d worked on for at least a year.  The pair wrote out their schedule for the day in Eric’s school planner.  Then, they each drove their own cars to the grocery store.  The boys bought the last 6 propane tanks they needed and returned to Eric’s house at 7 am.  From there Dylan and Eric separated to perform their individual tasks.  Dylan’s task was to get the gasoline, and Eric’s was to fill the propane tanks.

Dylan and Eric gathered the supplies they had hoarded in Eric’s closet.  They had a schedule to keep.  30 minutes for assembling the big bombs and setting up their cars and an hour for gearing-up, practice, and “chill.”  They ate a healthy breakfast that consisted, at least for Dylan, of potato skins.  At some point during the morning, Eric and Dylan used the 8mm camcorder they had checked out from school to record the final installment in what would become known as “The Basement Tapes.”  This was their goodbye.

Dylan addressed his mom specifically and then told her he had to go.  He apologized to his parents for “any crap this might instigate,” but that he was very unhappy, and it was time to go.  Eric took over and said his goodbyes as well.  He also apologized, but said that he “can’t help it.”  They agree that this was something they had to do.  They went over schedule in their “chill” time when they finally left the house at 11:00 am.  Dylan had outfitted himself in cargo pants and a black t-shirt that said “WRATH” in red letters as well as black combat boots.  He topped off his outfit with his trademark backwards baseball cap with the Red Sox logo.  Eric also wore black combat boots, but his t-shirt said “natural selection.” The boys had a pair of fingerless gloves.  Dylan wore the left glove and Eric wore the right.

Two pipe bombs were left behind at Eric’s house and 6 were left at Dylan’s.

They set the scene knowing they wouldn’t return.  Eric put a microcassette on the counter on which he had recorded his final thoughts the night before.  On the cassette, he said, “People will die because of me.  It will be a day that will be remembered forever.”  He also left the set of “Basement Tapes.”  They drove their cars to a nearby park where they planned to drop off a decoy bomb that would, in theory, deter the police from coming to the high school where the real chaos would be.  The timers on the decoys were set for 11:14 am.  Then, they drove to their high school where their friends had noticed their absence from classes.

They had a plan to place 2 big bombs in the cafeteria during the beginning of “A” lunch that started at 11:10 am, after fourth period.  They had done their homework and knew that they had 7 minutes to put the bombs in place and then get out and back to their cars.  However, because they “chilled” too long, Eric didn’t pull into the junior parking lot at school until 11:10 am.  Dylan wasn’t far behind him parking in his regular spot in the senior parking lot, about 100 yards away.  They had chosen these spots strategically for their vantage points.  Their schedule had provided them about 7 minutes to carry the duffel bags with the big bombs into the cafeteria, stash them, get back to their cars, and load themselves up with weapons and ammunition.

They should have been back in their cars by 11:12 am, but according to the surveillance tape, they were still not in the commons of the cafeteria at 11:14 am.  Just after 11:14, the boys managed to stash the bombs and walk back out without any of the over 500 people noticing them.  The surveillance cameras had actually been installed only 4 months before the attack. Principal Frank DeAngelis wanted the students to make sure that this shared space was left clean when they left.  He was upset by the “entitlement and sloppiness” according to the book by Dave Cullen, so he had 4 cameras installed.

Everyday, a custodian came in at about 11:05 am, rewind the previous tape and put in a new one.  This Tuesday he was running behind and didn’t get the new tape cued up until about 11:22 am.  The bombs were already in place.  Eric and Dylan had set the bomb timers for about 11:17 am.  This was the time that Eric had determined would provide “maximum human density.”  He had taken meticulous notes about the minutes that the doors opened, the numbers of people in the room at a given time, and even what time the lunch ladies brought out the food.  He determined that at 11:17, there were about 500 people in the cafeteria.

After dropping off the bombs and getting back to their cars, the boys loaded themselves with their weapons and ammunition.  Then covered it all with their black trench coats to cover up their arsenal and to just look super rad.  The boys had backpacks full of pipe bombs and “crickets” – which were little bombs made from carbon dioxide cartridges and gunpowder.  At 11:18 am, nothing happened.  They waited because their bombs had used old school alarm clocks with the metal bells on top so the alarm was set by turning a 3rd hand.  It wasn’t precise.  At 11:19 am, still nothing.  Somehow, Eric and Dylan communicated with each other enough to come together to discuss next steps.  Around this time, they are seen on surveillance at the west exit to the school.  They opened their duffel bags at the top of the stairs and Judgement Day began.

They started by tossing pipe bombs.  Then they took aim at students who were outside for lunch or a smoke.  Rachel Scott and Richard Castaldo were the first students to get shot.  Rachel was hit in the chest and the head.  She dies instantly.  Her friend, Richard was hit in the arm and he played dead so he wouldn’t get shot again.  Danny Rohrbough, Lance Kirklin, and Sean Graves were coming back from the smoker’s area when they saw the beginning of the chaos.  Unfortunately, the boys assumed they were paintball guns and that this was some kind of senior prank.  They wanted to get closer so they rushed in.

Eric shot.  He hit Danny in the knee and it went straight through.  Danny stumbled a little and Eric shot again.  The second bullet went straight through his chest and damaged his heart – he died instantly.  Eric still got off another shot to Danny’s abdomen that lacerated his liver and stomach and then lodged inside Danny. Lance tried to catch Danny, but he was shot, too.  He got hit in the chest, leg, knee, and foot so he wasn’t able to catch Danny.  Danny’s face hit the concrete, and Lance went down as well.  Lance blacked out.

Sean realized he was hit, too.  He ran back to the door, but his legs gave out – he couldn’t feel them anymore.  When Lance regained consciousness, he thought the person standing over him could help him.  Eric was cold and shot him in the face.  Lance blacked out again, but he was still breathing.  Someone who saw what was going on tried to pull Sean out of the way, but was stopped by an adult who told him it wasn’t safe to move someone that badly injured.  The person who had attempted to help Sean left him propped in the doorway.  The door hit him and people would step over and on him to get out.  A janitor came by and told Sean that he would come and stay with him, but first he was going to get other kids out.  The janitor told Sean to play dead and Sean did.  Dylan stepped over him on the way in the building.

Kids in the lunchroom bolted or hid under tables.

Teacher and coach, Dave Sanders heard the commotion while he was in the teacher’s lounge. 

Dave had been a teacher at Columbine for years and had dedicated his life to the students and athletes.  He had even had a marriage end over his absence and workaholic tendencies.  Dave remarried and at 47-year-old, he recently decided that he was actually going to start making some changes.  He got brand new wire-rimmed glasses – a step up from the huge plastic frames of the past.  He was drinking DIET Coke and rum instead of Coke and rum for his bedtime drink and, most significantly, he had decided he was going to take more time off for his family and not run camps in the summer like he had been for years. Dave wanted to spend more time with his wife, his daughters, and his grandkids.  But on this day, Dave did what he always did; he put the students first.

Dave came out to see what was going on and when he realized there was danger, he instructed kids to get down.  He quickly changed his mind and told them all to run.  Coach Sanders led almost 500 people through the commons and up the stairs.  Once he was at the top he directed traffic and stayed behind until every kid had gone.  As they were on their way up the stairs, Dylan entered the commons.  He waved his rifle in an arc, but didn’t take any shots.  The kids and staff that were still stuck on the stairs could have very easily been added to their body count, but Dylan just left and stepped over Sean again on his way out.

Meanwhile, Eric takes a shot at another student.  Anne Marie Hochhalter was hit with a 9mm round, but she kept running.  Eric shot again.  Anne Marie went down.  A friend saw Anne Marie go down and pulled her out of sight and then took off running.  At 11:23 am (4 minutes in) the custodian radioed the community resource officer, Deputy Neil Gardner.  The custodian had started the new surveillance tape and noticed kids were up by the windows.  At this same time, the first 911 call comes through about a girl injured in the parking lot, “I think she’s paralyzed.”

Deputy Gardner comes around the same time (still 11:23 am) the dispatcher comes over the radio saying, “Female Down.”

When Dylan left the cafeteria, Dave Sanders kept the kids moving out and into the upstairs hallway near where the part-time art teacher, Patti Nielson was performing her hall monitor duties.  Nielson heard loud noises and assumed that the pops she heard were a loud and inappropriate prop for a video.  She went in search of the students causing the disruption.  Hot on her heels was a junior named Brian wanting to see the altercation.  When Nielson and Brian got to the exit, Eric caught sight of them and shot at the doors.  Nielson thought the gun he was holding was a BB gun up until the second she saw the hole it made in the window.  Nielson and Brian turned to run.  Both were hit by shrapnel.  Brian went down, but was immediately back on his hands and knees trying to crawl to safety.  The pair squeezed through the interior exit door and then ran.

Nielson ran to the nearest phone, which happened to be in the library.  She entered the room and announced that there was a kid with a gun.  However, teacher Rich Long had gotten their first and most of the adults were gone.  Nielson told the kids to get down, sure that Eric was right behind her.  Eric, however, was caught up in an exchange with Deputy Gardner.  Eric shot 10 rounds at Gardner, but missed every single shot.  Dylan stood by and did nothing.  Gardner used his police car as protection, but after the 10 shots, Eric’s rifle jammed and he struggled to clear it.  Gardner got off 4 shots and Eric spun as if he’d been his, but fired back and then went inside the school.  Gardner followed protocol and didn’t follow Eric and Dylan into the school.

During these early minutes of the attack, Frank DeAngelis, Mr. D had been alerted to the incident.  He was in an interview and was pulled out by his secretary.  When he got to the hallway and saw the boys shooting, he also noticed a gym class full of girls happily coming out of the gym to play softball.  Among these girls was Danny Rohrbough’s step sister.  Mr. D saw the girls walking right into the danger.  Eric fired and hit the trophy case behind Mr. D.  Mr. D ran into the chaos yelling at the girls to go back.  When they got to the gym, the door had locked behind them.  Mr. D, of course, had the key.  He had all the keys.  He had all the keys on the ONE keychain.  Fortunately, he happened to pick the right one on the first try.  Mr. D led the girls to the equipment storage closet.  He told the girls not to open the door for anyone or anything and he locked the door. 

Mr. D peeked outside and saw the Jeffco sheriffs. Mr. D said he had to get the girls and ran back to get them.  Once out, Mr. D told the sheriff he was going back in for more students, but the sheriff grabbed him.  He wasn’t going to let Mr. D go back in.  It was 11:24 am and the attack had been going on for 5 minutes outside the school.  During that 5 minute span, Eric had gotten off 47 shots with his 9mm while Dylan had taken 3 shots with his TEC-9 and 2 with his shotgun.  Eric and Dylan headed to the library.  At 11:26, Eric reappeared in the doorway and Deputy Garner and another officer shot.  Eric hid behind the door frame, stuck his gun through the shattered windows and shot back.  Gardner shot 3 more times before Eric disappeared again.  Dave Sanders had heard the shots Eric fired at Nielson and Brian and came running toward the danger.  He passed the library right as Nielson went in and he saw the killers.

Dave turned to run and get kids out of danger.  Then he was hit.  A bullet entered his back, ripped through his rib cage, and exited through his chest opening his subclavian vein (major vein back to the heart).  The second bullet entered his neck and exited through his mouth.  That bullet lacerated his tongue and broke his teeth.  It also hit his carotid arteries (major path to the brain). He was bleeding – a lot.  Dave ran into lockers and then fell to the floor.  Rich Long said he was on the floor trying to get kids to safety, but Eric and Dylan were still shooting and throwing pipe bombs down the hall.  Rich yelled at Dave that they had to get out and he had to get up. Coach Sanders was able to get himself up and make it around the corner, but Rich Long and another teacher put Dave’s arms over their shoulders to help get him to the science wing.

Dave told Long, “Rich, they shot me in the teeth.”

The men made it to Science Room 3 and Sanders was coughing up blood.  Marjorie Lindholm was a student in that science room.  She said that when he came in, blood was just pouring and it looked like he was missing a part of his jaw.  Dave fell to the floor face-first.  More of his teeth fell onto the floor.  The people in the room got him into a chair, but Dave told Rich, “I’m not doing so well.”  Rich knew he needed a phone, so he ran back out into the hallway.  When he got back he said that he needed to get Dave more help and went back out.  Rich went to another science lab, but Eric and Dylan were out there so he had to hide.  Another teacher with Dave was Kent Friesen.  Kent went to another lab and asked if anyone knew first aid.

Aaron Hancey was a junior and an Eagle Scout.  In the Eagle Scouts they get first aid and CPR training, but Dave’s injuries were far beyond his abilities.  Aaron did everything he could though.  He checked Dave’s breathing, airway, skin, and wounds.  Dave was still breathing steadily, but his shoulder was definitely broken and he had huge wounds that were bleeding heavily.  Aaron ripped off his t-shirt and used it to try and slow the blood flow.  More boys in the class offered up their shirts for bandages and tourniquets as well as for a pillow.  Dave said, “I’ve got to go, I’ve got to go,” and tried to get up to leave.  

The rest of the people in the room were trying to stave off more danger by flipping over tables in front of doors and putting out literal fires in nearby rooms.  At this point the fire alarm started going off loudly making it impossible to communicate without yelling.  Aaron called his dad to get him to call 911 so that he could get instructions on how to help Mr. Sanders.  Other people in the room attempted to call police and anyone else they could think of to help.  Kevi Starkey, a sophomore and another Eagle Scout did what he could to help Aaron help Dave.  The boys traded off the job of applying pressure to Dave’s wounds. Dave kept insisting he had to get out of there and get help.  

While Dave Sanders was fighting for his life, Eric and Dylan entered the library for the first time.  There were 56 people in the library when the killers walked in.  Most of them were hiding under tables, including, 16-year-old sophomore Craig Scott (Rachel Scott’s brother) who was hidden with Matthew Kechter and Isaiah Shoels when the killers came in.  Craig said they came in and said, “Get anyone with white hats!”  Craig snatched the white hat off his head and hid it under his shirt.  Eric and Dylan eventually stopped at his table when making their rounds.  Both boys fired, hitting Matthew and Isaiah.  They fell against each other bleeding.

Valeen Schnurr was hiding under a table with Lauren Townsend.  Dylan stuck his shotgun under the table and fired.  In the burst of shots, he hit Valeen and Lauren Townsend as well as another girl.  Val began praying out loud, “Oh God don’t let me die.”  Dylan had walked away, but spun around on hearing her pleas.  He asked her if she believed in God and she considered it for a second wondering how she should answer, but decided to affirm that she did. Dylan started to reload, but got distracted and left Val who went back under the table quickly.

Under other tables were friends Patrick Ireland, Makai, and Dan.  Patrick had gone to the library to work on his stats homework and his friends joined him.  When Eric and Dylan found the boys, they fired on them.  Makai got hit in the knee. When Patrick went to help him apply pressure, his head was visible over the top of the table.  Dylan shot.  He hit Patrick in the head.  One pellet entered his left side hairline area and went 6 inches into Patrick’s brain and came to a stop in the back of Patrick’s brain.  The bullet damaged his optical center and language area.  He was also hit in the right foot, but he couldn’t feel the right side of his body.  The shot was to the left side of his brain which controls the right side and that pellet had severed the connection between the two sides.  Now Patrick’s right side was useless.

Patrick regained consciousness but struggled to speak or even understand words spoken to him.  He was unable to determine if the words he thought he was saying were actually the words that came out OR make sense of what others said to him.  Sophomore Emily Wyant and Cassie Bernall were hiding under another table and blocked by some chairs.  They were two feet apart and facing each other when Eric and Dylan were walking around the library. Emily saw Eric and Dylan clearly but didn’t know who they were.  Cassie whispered, “Dear God, dear God, why is this happening?  I just want to go home.”  Cassie prayed as Eric and Dylan continued to roam the library.

Eric stopped at their table and Emily watched as Eric hit the top of the table hard and squatted.  Emily retold that Eric said, “Peekaboo,” poked his sawed-off shotgun under the table.  She watched as Eric shot Cassie in the head.  Bree Pasquale was nearby and heard the exchange as well.  She watched from a different spot a few feet away and saw Eric take the shot one handed.  Unfortunately for Eric, he and Dylan had sawed-off their shotguns beyond the legal limit and the recoil was brutal.  After he shot the gun butt cracked him in the face, breaking his nose.  Eric turned and yelled at Bree, “I hit myself in the face!”  Before Eric could shoot Bree, he got distracted by something and walked away.

Bree looked over at Emily and Cassie’s table.  Cassie was in a pool of blood and Emily was terrified and biting her hands.  Bree was pretty sure the killers had left the library so she called to Emily to come over, but Emily couldn’t hear anything with the ringing in her ears from the shot that killed Cassie.  Bree began waving at her and Emily crawled over.  They sat for so long they lost track of time.  Eric and Dylan did leave the library.  They had killed 10 people there and injured 12 others.

Craig Scott called out to the other kids in the library that the killers were gone, and they headed for the side exit.  His friends were dead, but another student, Kacey Ruegsegger asked Craig to help her.  She had been shot in the shoulder, so Craig put her uninjured arm around his neck and helped her out.  Patrick Ireland faded in and out of consciousness and was sort of alert when Eric and Dylan left the room.  His friends, Makai and Dan tried desperately to get Patrick to get up and run out with them, but their words were nonsense in Patrick’s head.  They even tried to drag him, but they were both shot in the legs and Patrick was dead weight with his right side paralyzed.  Makai and Dan had to leave him.

After about 7 and half minutes in the library, the boys walked out at 11:36 am (17 minutes in) to roam the school.  They passed the science room where Dave Sanders was bleeding to death and the Eagle Scouts were just beginning their losing battle.  There were still hundreds of students still in the school, but Eric and Dylan shot into empty classes.  Witnesses said they even made eye contact with the boys, but no further shots were fired at people.’  According to the book by Dave Cullen, the boys went quiet and this was surprisingly “normal” for a psychopath.  He states that while a psychopath enjoys killing, they get bored with it.  Eric was happy he’d done this, but he was over it now and Dylan was just along for the ride.  He had been ready to die for a long time.

At 11:44, Eric and Dylan went back to the commons to try and get their big bombs to go off.  Eric stopped on the landing and used the railings to steady his gun and hopefully hit his target.  He shot at one of the bombs, but he blew it.  Eric decided to go right to the bomb and Dylan messed with it to try and get it to go off.  Still no explosion.  They gave up and took a sip of drinks that were left on tables and toasted to this day.

Surveillance cameras recorded the whole time.

2 and half minutes after they entered the cafeteria, the boys left again.  Dylan tried one final time to ignite the big bombs.  He threw a Molotov cocktail at it, but missed.  Instead of setting off the bomb, the Molotov cocktail just started a fire that burned the duffel bag, but didn’t create the explosion the boys hoped for.  The sprinkler system went off instead.  The local news stations had begun reporting on the attack at Columbine High School at 11:46 am and by 11:54 am CNN began their reporting.  Soap operas were being interrupted on channels like CBS, NBC, and ABC.

911 was being jammed with calls from students inside the school and parents looking for their kids.  It was 1999, cell phones were a thing, but not as accessible as now.  However, this was a fairly affluent area and many kids had them.  They were calling anyone they could, including TV stations.  Witnesses were providing their accounts, but they didn’t all line up.  Based on the reports coming in, there were many shooters.  Some were in trench coats, some were in t-shirts, some had on ball caps, and others had face masks.  Even though there were variations in their clothing, all the witnesses reported the shooters were all white, all male, and all high school students.  Callers said that the shooters didn’t care who they hit, they were just shooting.

One kid who had escaped to hide behind Gardner’s police car said that “Ned Harris” had shot him.  Since no one could locate any paper, it was written on the hood of the police cruiser.  Gardner and another deputy were trying to figure out how to get the kids out of danger.  They created a police car barricade by lining up the cars and having everyone crawl behind them.  Following their current protocol, the police set up a perimeter and paramedics set up a triage area far enough from the school to be safe as long as they could get there.

Dylan and Eric went back to the library at noon.  They hoped they would at least get to see their final surprise.  They had rigged up their cars to explode and take out the first responders, but that was another screw up and didn’t happen.  The two took more shots at the paramedics trying to rescue Sean, Lance, and Anne Marie and the deputies shot back.  Deputies were covering the paramedics who were checking the bodies outside.  They noticed that there were still signs of life in some of them.  They had been bleeding on the sidewalk for about 40-50 minutes.

Paramedics also checked on Danny Rohrbough.  They pronounced him dead on the scene and left him.  Eric and Dylan were done.  They went to the back of the library and sat leaning against bookshelves.  One set a rag on fire that was the fuse to another Molotov cocktail and set it on the table above Patrick Ireland’s seemingly lifeless body.  Eric put his shotgun barrel in his mouth, and Dylan used his TEC-9 against his left temple.  Eric fired first, then Dylan.  The Molotov cocktail exploded, and a little fire started that set off the alarm system at 12:08 pm.

Meanwhile at about the same time (12:06 pm) SWAT was entering the other side of the school.  News stations begged parents and other civilians to stay away from the school.  Kids exiting the school ran anywhere they could.  Some ended up in the subdivisions behind the school and hid in houses they were waved into.  There were 2 official rendezvous points for families to meet up with their kids: Leawood Park Elementary and the public library.  Most headed to Leawood.

Parents were in the auditorium and kids were walking across the stage waiting to be claimed (like a weird, macabre auction).  Sign-in sheets were hanging up so kids could write their names and parents could check.  The Leawood location was faxing over copies of the sign in sheet to the public library to try and connect parents with students.  One student was asked by a parent if she was terrified, but the student said no because Mr. D (the principal) was with her.  They were sure he would protect them.  Around noon, Dylan and Eric’s friend Nate Dykeman called Dylan’s house.  He had seen the attack on TV and was sure that Dylan was involved.  He was the one to tell Tom Klebold that there was a shooting, and that Dylan was probably one of the shooters.

Tom first called Sue to come home and their older son, Byron.  Then, Tom Klebold called the police and told them that he was pretty sure his son was one of the shooters.  Finally, he called a lawyer.  

SWAT was entering the school just after noon using a fire truck to get them close in case Eric and Dylan decided to shoot again.  One SWAT team of 6 was going to lay down “suppressive fire” so the other team could enter.  Then that team would go in.  The team thought they were near the cafeteria, but had been misinformed.  Due to a remodel, the cafeteria was actually on the whole other side of the building.  So the team outside, using the fire truck to block them, worked their way SLOWLY around the building to the actual cafeteria.  When the first team entered they began clearing room after room, one at a time.  At this point they assumed the killers were still a threat and wouldn’t know the truth for almost 3 more hours.

At 12:35 pm the misplaced SWAT team made it around the school and rescued Richard Castaldo.  He had been shot just over an hour and 15 minutes ago.  Then the team went back for Rachel.  They brought her back to the firetruck, but once they determined she was dead, they left her behind.  This team also checked Danny Rohrbough because they weren’t aware he’d already been checked.  They also said he was dead and left him.  Danny’s body would lay out there for 28 hours.

By now, helicopters were over Columbine from police and news stations.  The sheriff demanded that the news not play live coverage.  There were TVs all over the school and the killers could be watching.  The helicopters had also seen the paramedics check Danny Rohrbough and leave him.  Fortunately, they had the decency not to share that.  One chopper saw a whiteboard that had been pushed up to the window of a classroom.  That was Science Room 3.  In huge block letters were the words, “1 BLEEDING TO DEATH.”

Teacher Doug Johnson had written that message around noon.  Dave Sanders was bleeding to death.  When students and Eagle Scouts, Aaron and Kevin would switch out applying pressure to Coach Sanders’ wounds, he would immediately feel colder to the touch.  His skin was losing color and the boys were desperately trying to keep him awake and keep his airway clear.  The boys tried to keep him warm with wool emergency blankets from a closet of first-aid materials.  Everyone tried to keep Dave awake by asking him questions and showing him the pictures of his family he had in his wallet.  Dave knew the truth.  He knew he wasn’t going to make it.  He asked the boys to tell his girls he loved them.

SWAT finally entered the cafeteria at 1:15 pm.  The cafeteria was covered in uneaten food, abandoned backpacks, and about 3-4 inches of water from the sprinkler system.  The fire Dylan started with the Molotov cocktail melted some chairs and burned some ceiling tiles.  Students were still crouched under the lunch tables and more were in a storage closet.  There were even people in the ceiling tiles.  In fact, one teacher had gotten up there planning to crawl to safety in the ductwork, but had fallen through the unstable tiles and gotten hurt.  There were even 2 men who had hidden in the freezer.

Cops had another plea for the media.  They told them to stop answering calls from the students inside live on air.  They implored the media to tell the students to turn off the TV and stop calling the media.  The anchors sort of complied.  According to the book, one reporter said, “If you’re watching, kids, turn the TV off, or down at least.”

At the same time SWAT was entering the cafeteria, lead investigator Kate Bataan had detectives at the Harris house.  She had heard Dylan and Eric’s names enough by now to determine that they were involved.  The Harrises were not willing to cooperate and even tried to keep the detectives from coming into their house.  Detectives went to Eric’s room and found the barrel to the sawed-off shotgun on a bookshelf, ammunition on the bed, the fingertips they cut off the gloves on the floor, fireworks, and bomb ingredients everywhere: desk, dresser, windowsill, wall…  They also found at least one page to the Anarchist Cookbook that Eric had used to create the bombs.  Packaging for a gas can was also found.  A specialist in evidence collection spent HOURS collecting evidence.  He didn’t leave the Harris house until after 1 am.

Unlike the Harrises, the Klebolds were more cooperative and swore that Dylan was a happy boy who didn’t even like guns.  Tom said the team wouldn’t find guns and bombs in the house because they were very against guns.  However, the detectives found the pipe bombs Dylan had left behind.

Supervisory Special Agent for the FBI, Dwayne Fuselier  was the first FBI agent on the scene at Columbine, but not because he was assigned to the case.  His son Brian was a student at Columbine and was in the building that day.  Police thought this was a hostage situation at first and Fuselier happened to be extremely qualified in this area.  In fact he was one of the last people to talk to David Koresh during the negotiations for Waco.  He knew that hostages are a way to fill a need and get demands met.  Suspects who take hostages think rationally.  When it’s not a hostage situation, there are no demands and the people in the way of the shooters mean nothing to them.  

Fuselier didn’t think this was a hostage situation.  Not to mention that the media was already talking about Eric and Dylan as one person implying that there was one motive and one way to solve this, but in fact there were 2 boys with 2 completely different reasons for being there.  Fuselier knew that mass murders don’t typically have partners, but when they do, they 2 are always completely different from each other.  Within 2 hours the media had latched on to the Trench Coat Mafia theory that became synonymous with Columbine.  It was a gang of goths, gays and weirdos and the boys were loners.

When no one showed up to help by 2:00 pm, the people in Science Room 3 decided they were going to take action.  They told the 911 operator that they were going to throw a chair through the window.  They were going to get Dave Sanders out on their own.  She instructed them not to do that for fear that the killers would hear.  She didn’t know the killers were no longer a threat.  Around 2:30 pm, a police officer in a helicopter saw something in the window of the library.  It was a person covered in blood and he was painstakingly picking pieces of glass out of the frame.  He was going to jump out.

The officer immediately radioed the SWAT team.  They got a Loomis armored truck and drove it up to the building.  It was Patrick Ireland.  He was dizzy and confused, but he was sure that he had to get out of there.  His vision was blurry with one big spot being completely empty.  There was blood pouring down his face from the gunshot wound to his head.  Patrick could hear yelling, but had no idea where it was coming from.  The voices were just noise and he couldn’t understand what they were saying.  When Patrick had regained consciousness again after the killers left the library, he decided he needed to get out, but he couldn’t make his right side work with him.  He couldn’t walk, he couldn’t even crawl so he decided to use the left hand to try and pull himself across the library.

For every little bit he moved, Patrick would pass out.  It took him 3 hours to get to the window from his hiding space less than 2 tables away.  His path was not straight (as the blood trail he left would show) and he kept running into things, like bodies.  He just knew he had to head for the light.  The light was the windows and the windows meant someone might see him.  Once he made it there, he had to somehow shimmy himself up from the floor.  He managed to get himself “standing” up against the metal girder between the window panes where he had to take a break for a minute.  

The window ledge was about to Patrick’s waist.  There was no way he was going to be able to jump so his plan was to kind of flip himself over it by just leaning over, but first there were the shards of glass in the windowsill.  He had to clean those out.  He didn’t want to get hurt after all.  The armored truck was pulling up under the window, but Patrick was going.  He thought they told him it was ok to jump, but they were still trying to get in place.  Patrick leaned forward and was caught at his waist.  He couldn’t use his feet  because they weren’t touching the floor anymore.  Two SWAT officers made it to the top of the armored truck just in time to catch Patrick who kicked up his left leg and went over the ledge.  Once Patrick landed on the top of the truck, the officers tried to get him down from the truck, but Patrick was still in go mode.

He was desperate to get out.  Patrick even climbed in the truck like he was just a rider,  He didn’t realize he was the injured party.  The paramedics asked Patrick the basic mental acuity questions; Do you know where you are?  When’s your birthday?  What’s your name?  Easy, Patrick knew these answers.  However, knowing them and saying them were very different skills.  Patrick couldn’t get his name out accurately.  “Patrick” wasn’t happening, but “Rick” came across enough for them to get it.  Patrick Ireland.  He was struggling with other memories, too.  Just the new ones.  He gave them all the digits in his phone number, but he thought he had been shot in the ER.

Just before Patrick’s escape and rescue, President Bill Clinton came on TV to address the nation about the tragedy at Columbine.  When CNN cut from the president to the footage of Patrick’s escape, his sister in the 8th grade was watching.  Fortunately (or unfortunately?), she didn’t recognize him because of all the blood.  However, his parents didn’t see that.  They found out where Patrick was when his mom, Kathy, asked a neighbor to check their machine.  There was a message from St. Anthony’s Hospital.  At the hospital, his parents were informed that when something enters the brain, the damage is 2 fold.  First, there’s the tissue damage and severed connections.  Then, there’s the blood.  The blood fills the skull and begins to deprive the brain of oxygen.  Patrick’s brain had been “drowning in its own blood” for the hours he was laying on the floor in the library.

Back at Columbine, at 2:47 pm, kids had been trapped in the choir room and science area.  Around 120 kids came out, led by SWAT and running past the bodies of Rachel and Danny.  SWAT finally reached Science Room 3.  The students and staff were told to put their hands on their heads and follow them out.  But they were worried that someone needed to stay with Coach Sanders.  Aaron volunteered, but the SWAT team wasn’t going to allow that.  Ok, so we carry him somehow.  SWAT said no to that also.The team was trained in making quick decisions that might seem cruel, but are in place to ensure the most survivors.  There were lots of people trapped in that school who needed help and no one knew the killers were dead.  For all they knew, the shooters were around the corner.  Two SWAT officers ended up staying with Dave and a paramedic was brought in to him. 

By the time the paramedic was brought in Dave wasn’t breathing anymore.  The paramedic tried to help Dave because he “was stuck in a room with him by [himself] for 15 minutes” so he “wanted to help.”  It became clear that they weren’t going to be able to save Dave Sanders.  The SWAT team took the paramedic to the library that had just been cleared by SWAT.  At about 3:15 pm SWAT finally reached the library and found the massacre as well as the bodies of Eric and Dylan.

Of the 13 bodies in the library, 12 were cold.

Lisa Kreutz had her eyes open and tears running down her cheek.  She had been shot in the left shoulder.  Both of her arms and one of her hands were injured, and she had lost a lot of blood.  She was carried out by the SWAT team and survived.  The SWAT team also found Patti Nielson crouching in a cupboard.  She had been in there, crouching for 3 hours.