Columbine High School Shooting - Part 2 - Killer Queens: A True Crime Podcast

After the Massacre - Theories

Immediately after the shooting, theories started popping up. The most prominent were: The Trench Coat Mafia, Marilyn Manson made me do it, Eric and Dylan had been bullied, Hitler’s birthday (April 20th, 1889) and hatred for specific groups (gays, goths, blacks, etc.) Hitler’s birthday could have been a good theory because of Eric’s obsession with German history, music, culture, the Holocaust, etc. However, the original plan had been for April 19th. It would have been more likely to be related to the Oklahoma City bombing or Waco, but those were still not solid links. Marilyn Manson did not make anyone do anything. There isn’t even evidence to show that either boy really listened to Manson all that much. Eric was big into Rammstein and other German rock bands but not really Manson.

Eric and Dylan hadn’t been bullied. They were bullies. They enjoyed picking on underclassmen and both got in trouble for damaging the locker of a freshman. Eric and Dylan were fairly popular actually. They went to football games with friends. Dylan had gone to prom with friends the Friday before. Eric was considered “cute” by many of the girls in school. There is evidence that Eric and Dylan hated specific subgroups of people. Their Basement Tapes made that clear, but it was said by multiple eyewitnesses on that day that they were just shooting at random. The victims were not from one specific group, they were from lots of groups. Isaiah Shoels was the only African American to be shot and killed. Dave Sanders was the only teacher to die. Matthew Kechter as a JV defensive lineman, but he was the only student that was a “jock.” As far as we know none of the victims were outwardly gay or goth.

The MOST talked about theory was Eric and Dylan’s supposed membership in the Trench Coat Mafia. In fact, their bodies hadn’t even been found before this became the most prominent “reason” for the murders. CNN would describe the Trench Coat Mafia as a street gang, they were gays or goths or outcasts. In actuality, Eric and Dylan were not part of the Trench Coat Mafia. The TCM was accidentally started by a kid named Eric Dutro. He bought a trench coat at Sam’s Club one year as part of a Halloween costume. He liked it so much, he just kept wearing it. Dutro wore the coat to school and got teased. He was teased about many things, but this was the newest thing. The other kids at school called him “faggot” and “freak” already so Dutro thought he’d just lean into it. He was going to be a freak on purpose.

Dutro’s friends joined him in wearing these dusters or trench coats. They started getting called the Trench Coat Mafia. One member was Chris Morris. Chris was also friends with Eric and Dylan. Eric actually tentatively tried to recruit Chris to be a part of the attack. Eric and Dylan didn’t get trench coats until the TCM had kind of faded away, and the group stopped wearing their coats.

Eric Harris

Eric David Harris was born on April 9, 1981 in Wichita, Kansas to Kathy and Wayne Harris. Wayne was in the military and would retire after 23 years as a Major and highly decorated Air Force pilot. Kathy had been a stay-at-home mom to her boys (Eric and his older brother, Kevin) hoping that her focusing on them would help them with the many transitions they made as a military family. Though the news would eventually portray Eric and his friend as loners and outcasts, he wasn’t. As a younger child he was fairly shy, but had friends. He played soccer and little league and was a fan of the Rockies before the family even moved to Colorado.

Eric was a bit of a perfectionist and never wanted to fail at anything. Like many little boys, he loved guns and thought that he’d be a Marine. Eric was obsessed with computer and computer games. He was very talented with them as well. Eric played Doom, specifically, and would hack into the system to create his own characters and adventures. In 1993, Wayne retired and the Harrises made one final move to Colorado. Wyane became a defense contractor. In this position, he created electronic flight simulators. Kathy got a job part-time with a catering company. Eric started 7th grade there and his older brother went to Columbine High School.

He enjoyed fishing trips with his dad, but he also did typical teenage things when he got older. Cullen’s book described Eric as a “cool brain.” He was extremely smart and read all the classics (MacBeth, Euripides’ Medea, John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of Heaven), but also went to parties, drank (though he didn’t like it), and smoked (cigarettes and weed). Eric created his own nickname, “Rebel” or “Reb” (which also happened to be the school mascot) and blared hard core German rock (like Rammstein) from his Honda Prelude. Eric thought of himself as a non-conformist, but still played soccer and had a job at Blackjack Pizza with Dylan.

Eric was described as “unflappable” and when he ran into issues with authority, Eric was calm, cool, and collected. He was able to talk to the authority figure and determine how to play them instantly. He told them what they wanted to hear. He was obsessed with German things, especially the more unsavory things like Hitler and Neitzsche (German philosopher who developed the concept of the Ubermensch or the “superhuman”). He high-fived people and said “Seig Heil” or “Heil Hitler.” Toward the end of his life, people notice that Eric was more angry and he had no plans for the future. He claimed to hate most people and even had a literal “shit list.”

Dylan Klebold

Dylan Bennet Klebold was born on September 11, 1981 to Sue and Tom Klebold. He was their second son. His older brother, Byron was later kicked out of the family home for using drugs. Dylan was always beyond shy and seriously depressed. He was 6’3” when he was 17 and towered over Eric. Before that, Dylan was recognized as an extremely smart kid. He started school early and was especially good in math. By the time he was in 3rd grade he was in the CHIPS program (like AG or Gifted, Challenging High Intellectual Potential Students). He started out in Cub Scouts and also played little league. Dylan loved sports and was even 1st place in his fantasy league and working a trade all the way up until the Monday before the massacre.

Where Eric chose the nickname “Reb,” Dylan chose “VoDKa” (the D and K were capital because they were his initials). Dylan loved vodka and drank it often. He was a budding alcoholic and was considered very unreliable And Eric’s handling of authority was polar opposite to Dylan’s. Dylan flipped out. Either anxious or completely unhinged. He tended to blow up at the slightest trigger. Dylan actually had a plan for the future despite his depressed state. He wanted to be a computer engineer and was accepted to several colleges. In fact, the Monday before he would kill classmates, his mom mailed his deposit to the University of Arizona.

He even went to prom the Saturday before. He went with friends and his date, Robyn Anderson. Dylan was not nearly as into the planning or even the idea of the massacre, but he followed Eric’s lead.

Both Eric and Dylan

Both boys were actually very active in school activities. They attended all the events: football games, dances, and the variety shows. They worked together for the Rebel News Network, the school’s in-house television station. Both tended to be bullies to the younger kids. They created websites and, like Eric, Dylan would also change his favorite video games to be more to his liking. They shot videos and acted in them. Dylan was the better actor. He actually had emotions. Both frequented the smoker’s spot at school and smoked Camel unfiltered.

Both worked at Blackjack Pizza and Eric was promoted to shift manager the Friday before the attack. That night they also asked for cash advances. Eric needed $200 and Dylan needed $120. Every Friday, the boys went to the Rock ‘n’ Bowl where they also had gym class Monday thru Wednesday. They were always present.

Planning and Prior Bad Acts

Eric and Dylan were on their path to this moment for a while. Eric was more active in the planning than Dylan, but they were both on this journey. Sophomore year of high school, Eric started to alter his appearance. No more “preppy” clothes. Combat boots and typical 90s grunge were now his staples. Dylan followed right behind him, but in a less dramatic form. He didn’t want to get too crazy. Sophomore year was also the beginning of their “missions.” These were mischievous expeditions the boys went on with their friend Zack Heckler or “KiBBz.”

Starting in January of 1997, the three boys would meet at Eric’s house and then sneak out that night after his parents were in bed (around midnight). Then they would vandalize houses. Specifically, the house of people that Eric didn’t like. And Eric didn’t like Brooks Brown. Brooks had been a friend of Dylan’s who mainly dealt with Eric because of Dylan. Eric even put a dent in Brooks’ car and cracked the windshield during a snowball fight that got out of hand. Eric was already mad at Brooks and hadn’t been speaking to him at this point so he intentionally damaged the car out of spite. Brooks told his mom and they went to Eric’s parents. Eric was furious. Brooks knew all about Eric’s late night escapades and partying.

When Brooks and his mom talked to Eric’s mom, she became upset and even cried. Wayne…Wayne wasn’t having any of it. When he got home that night, Wayne laid down the law with Eric, but Eric being the little psycho that he was, played it cool and tried to convince his dad that none of it was true. There’s no alcohol in my room…I don’t sneak out…I have NEVER vandalized a thing! In fact, Eric said he was afraid of Mrs. Brown. She was the real problem here.

Kathy wasn’t buying that and wanted to talk to Mrs. Brown more and Mrs. Brown felt like Kathy was sincere in her concern. Wayne was still not having it. He wrote in a journal he started on February 28, 1997 that this was an “over-reaction to [a] minor incident.” Wayne believed the real trouble maker was Brooks. That was the first of many entries he would make in his journal dedicated to Eric’s nonsense.

Dylan also started a journal. On March 31, 1997, he began writing about his feelings. He was depressed and angry with himself and he let those emotions out in this journal. He wrote, “My existence is shit” and about how lonely he was. In the summer of 1997, both boys started working at Blackjack PIzza and Eric built his 1st pipe bomb. Then Dylan took an emotional hit when Zack met a girl named Devon. Dylan felt betrayed and left behind. Interestingly, Dylan wrote this about Zack breaking their threesome apart:

“My best friend ever; the friend who shared, experimented, laughed, took chances with , & appreciated me, more than any friend ever did…Ever since Devons (who I wouldn’t mind killing) has loved him — that’s the only place he’s been!…hello I finally found someone who was like me! Who appreciated me & shared very common interests. I finally felt happiness (sometimes)…I feel so lonely w/o a friend.”

Sooooo…Eric’s not Dylan’s best friend or Dylan’s being really dramatic?

Eric had also been working on his website and cataloguing all the people, places, and things that he hated. The list. was. extensive. Pages and pages of things that he hated. Over 50 entries by this point. All started with, “YOU KNOW WHAT I HATE!!!?”

Cuuuuuuuuhntryyyyyyyyyy music!!!
R rated movies on CABLE! My DOG can do a better damn editing job than those tards!!!
THE “W.B.“ network!!!! OH JESUS MARY MOTHER OF GOD ALMIGHTY I HATE THAT CHANNEL WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL.
People who mispronounce “acrosT” or “eXspresso”

Just for a taste.

Brooks Brown’s parents were concerned when they found out about this site. Brooks’ dad called the police on August 7, 1997. Eric was now in the system and a deputy wrote up a report that explained that not only were the “I HATE” lists on the site, but so was documentation of the “missions” the boys had been completing. The report was sent to his superior, but nothing was done beyond that. Early in their junior year (October 2, 1997), Eric and Dylan, along with Zack got suspended for breaking into lockers…after hacking into the school computer system and finding all the combinations. They were also each grounded for a month.

The boys were also upping their criminal game. At some point between November and January (there isn’t a specific date, because they didn’t sign them out obviously and they didn’t write about that in their journals. Dylan’s dad discovered the computer. Not long after his suspension, Dylan’s older brother was kicked out of the house for drugs. In January of 1998, things got dicier for the boys. First on January 27, 1998, Dylan got in trouble for messing with lockers again. He was caught scratching obscenities into the locker of a freshman. He was suspended again and ordered to pay for the repairs ($70).

Then on January 30, 1998, Dylan and Eric got into the most trouble yet. They had gone out for a little Friday night vandalism. There was a van just sitting there with all kinds of electronic equipment. So Eric and Dylan decided they were going to help themselves. Eric was the guard and Dylan was the one that broke into the van. Dylan seemed to not understand how strong car windows are and thought he could just punch through it. He repeatedly hit the windows with his fists, but surprisingly he wasn’t strong enough to break it. Weird, right? Next, he tried a rock. Not enough. Next step was a boulder. After a few tries the boulder did the trick and Dylan wnet about grabbing anything he could while Eric ran to the “getaway car.” Once he had gotten all the items he could hold, Dylan joined Eric in the car.

Eric drove them and their loot to a park that closed for the night so they could investigate their haul with the car’s interior light on. Looking through their hundreds of dollars worth of stolen electronics, the boys didn’t realize they were being watched. A deputy had seen the car that shouldn’t be there and went to check. He had seen Eric and Dylan going through the stolen goods and had heard them talking. Eric tried to lie his way out of trouble, but in telling the officers that they just found the stuff in a parking lot, he told the officer they’d found it in a parking lot where there had JUST happened to have been a break-in in an electronics van. Huh, weird coincidence.

Dylan was, of course, the one that sold them out. When they were taken in to the police station and interviewed in separate rooms, Eric threw Dylan RIGHT under the bus saying it was Dylan’s idea and that he had voted against it. They were threatened with felony charges and fines of up to $100,000. These charges also came with a 3 year prison sentence. They were arrested and booked, but later released to their parents’ custody. Wayne Harris decided to take action and get Eric help. He was going to get him in to see a psychologist and get him help for his anger and mental health. He wanted to help Eric get his life planned out. Wayne wrote in his Eric journal that he needed to look into a therapist and the school counselor.

Wayne got Eric into a therapist named Dr. Kevin Albert on February 16, 1998. He was prescribed Zoloft. On March 18, 1998, Dylan reached out to Brooks Brown via old school note passing. He wrote the web address to Eric’s website and told Brooks to look it up. Brooks did. Eric was threatening to kill Brooks on this site. Brooks told his parents who called the police. The police wrote a report. The next day, March 19, Dylan and Eric were admitted into a juvenile Diversion program where they would spend a year working with counselors, doing community service, and paying fines and such. Then if they stayed out of trouble for another year after that, they would start over with clean slates. Their records would be expunged and it would be like none of this ever happened.

During the intake interviews, Dylan and Eric were provided with an 8-page questionnaire. Completing this questionnaire would provide revealing information for the boys’ parents. Dylan’s parents found out that he had been drinking since he was 15 and had smoked pot. He said that he wasn’t doing those things anymore. Eric was just honest enough to seem like he was trying, but still not completely honest. He also said that he’d tried drinking a couple times, but wasn’t a fan so he was done with that.

There was a section with a possible 30 checkboxes to select and determine problems the boys might have. Eric’s parents had the same options on their questionnaire. They checked 3 and Eric checked 14. Some of those were:

Jealousy
Anxiety
Suspiciousness
Authority figures
Temper
Racing thoughts
Obsessive thoughts
Mood swings
Disorganized thoughts
Homicidal thoughts

On March 25th, the boys go to court and get sentenced. The judge was so impressed by their dads being so active in their lives and the fact that they had been proactive in getting into the Diversion program. Meanwhile the Brown family is continually calling the police about Eric and eventually they got Investigator Mike Guerra to look into it. Guerra wrote up an affidavit for a search warrant on March 31st. It was thorough and outlined Eric’s wrongdoings. The affidavit was filed.

Eric was outwardly calm and compliant, but on the inside he was a ball of rage and narcissism. Eric officially started the Diversion program on April 8, 1998 meaning that now he was not only having to talk to his therapist, he was meeting with the program’s counselor two times a month on top of having to complete community service hours, attend Mothers Against Drunk Driving classes, provide restitutions, working to pay the fines, and writing an apology letter. Not to mention having to keep good grades and a job and getting drug tested. He. was. Pissed. And he let his journal know all about it. His journal that he had titled, The Book of God.

On April 10, 1998 he wrote a two-page entry about his hatred of the world and the disrespect he received. Eric wrote:

“I feel like God. I am higher than almost anyone in the fucking world in terms of universal intelligence…ever wonder why we go to school? It’s not to obvious to most of you stupid fucks but for those who think a little more and deeper you should realize it is societies way of turning all the young people into good little robots.”

Eric and Dylan liked to think of us regular folk as robots or zombies. They were far better than we are and shouldn’t exist in their world. At the end of junior year, when all the other “robots” are signing H.A.G.S. and LYLAS in their friends’ yearbooks, Eric and Dylan were writing about their mass murder plans in each other’s yearbooks. Dylan wrote in Eric’s yearbook: “We, the gods, will have so much fun w NBK!! My wrath for January’s incident will be godlike. Not to mention our revenge in the commons.” Similarly, Eric wrote in Dylan’s yearbook: “Jan 31 sux” and “I hate white vans!!” Then they proceeded to draw pictures in each other’s yearbooks. Swastikas and mountains of dead bodies.

Their arrest in January wasn’t the sole reason for the shootings, but it had triggered the boys to put their money where their mouths were, so to speak. They were done with our bullshit. Dylan was still just kind of a tagalong in Eric’s psychopathic spiral. Eric was the one who paid for supplies, built the bombs, procured the weapons, drew the plans. Eric was also doing whatever it took to convince all the adults around him that he was making all the necessary changes in his life to be a productive member of society. Dylan…not so much. Eric was getting fantastic grades. Dylan was failing.

Eric was working hard at Blackjack and even got a second job at Tortilla Wraps. Dylan quit his job at Blackjack and didn’t get another for the summer. Eric was convincing the Diversion program that he was exactly what they (and his parents) wanted him to be. He told the counselor there what she wanted to hear, and when she wrote her last entry on him, she said he was a “very easy man!”

Eric also told his therapist that the Zoloft he had been prescribed back in February was making him restless and that he was having a hard time concentrating. His doctor switched him to Luvox on May 14, 1998. A theory in Cullen’s book is that maybe Eric complained about the Zoloft because it was actually working too well. Senior year meant it was time to get serious. On October 22, 1998, Eric began making all the bombs they would need for their attack. He documented every bomb and all the details about each: name (Alpha, Beta, Charlie, Delta, Echo and Foxtrot batches, size, quantity, shrapnel content and power load.

Dylan, however, was not planning to be alive by the time the attack was to occur. He was seriously considering suicide by now. He was in love with a girl that didn’t know he existed and thought that it would be better to just die. Where Eric’s journal was filled with plans for the massacre, Dylan’s was full of love and suicide. Eric and Dylan were also letting out their thoughts in papers for school and videos in their video production class. Eric was thriving on the fact that he was basically telling everyone that he was going to kill them all, but they thought it was just him being creative. He wrote a paper about Nazis and another called “Is Murder or Breaking the Law Ever Justified?” He thought so, in certain situations.

On November 17, 1998, Eric wrote about his fantasies in his journal. He wrote truly terrifying entries about the things he wanted to do to girls. Eric wanted to lure a woman somewhere, rape them and then he wrote, “I want to tear a throat out with my own teeth like a pop can. I want to grab some weak little freshman and just tear them apart like a fucking wolf. Strangle them, squish their head, rip off their jaw, break their arms in half, show them who is god.”

In his planning for the attack, Eric decided that bombs were not enough, and he needed guns. He and Dylan went to the Tanner Gun Show on November 21, 1998, but were turned away because they were still underage. Eric wouldn’t let that stop him though. He needed to find an 18-year-old who could be convinced to buy them guns. Enter: Robyn Anderson. Eric knew that she was not only 18, but was also infatuated with Dylan. She’d do ANYTHING for Dylan. So, the next day, she went to the gun show and bought 2 shotguns for Eric and Dylan. The boys then proceeded to saw-off the barrel’s way past the legal limit. On December 2, they shot those guns for the first time and realized the recoil was a bitch. Since they had sawed off the barrel the recoil was even more powerful and they had to get in a good deal of practice to be able to fire the guns without getting beaten up by the butt.

January 20, 1999 marked the end of the boys’ requirements in the Diversion program. Eric was recommended for early release, because he had done so well. Despite not doing as well – like, not well at all really, Dylan was released at the same time. Dylan continued to struggle almost completely unnoticed. He wrote a horrific story for his creative writing class that was basically their plan for April 20th. His teacher was very concerned. She’d read a lot of wild stories from kids over the years and understood that boys tend to veer toward writing about war and violence, but this was not like that. She contacted the school counselor and Dylan’s parents, all of whom brushed it off.

On January 23, 1999, Eric and Dylan bought a TEC – 9 rifle from their friends Mark Manes and Phil Duran as well as Mark’s girlfriend, Jessica. They took bowling pins they had stolen from the bowling alley and went out to practice with their sawed-off shotguns and this new rifle. Eric named his rifle Arlene after a character in the book Doom. During their first shots in “The Basement Tapes” he keeps Arlene across his lap.

They began filming on March 15, 1999. With Arlene in his lap and a bottle of Jack Daniels passing between them, Eric and Dylan made lots of derogatory comments about different minority groups and also women. Eric said, “Yes, moms, stay home. Fucking make me dinner, bitch!” They named a bunch of people they wanted to kill, but it turns out that not one of those people were killed on April 20th. Mostly girls that had shunned them, and other students that had “wronged” them (in their opinion).

Other lovely quotes from these tapes include:

Dylan – “I’ve narrowed it down. It’s humans I hate.”
Eric – “You will all die, and it will be fucking soon. You all need to die. We need to die, too.”
Eric – “We’re going to kick-start a revolution. I declared war on the human race and war is what it is.”
Eric – “I really am sorry about this, but war’s war.”

They also made sure to comment on the fact that their parents were going to get the brunt of the blame after. They wanted to make sure that people knew that their parents had done all they could and it wasn’t their fault. In April, Eric begins talking to a Marine recruiter. He started doing it because he was having trouble getting his napalm to work, and he thought maybe he could get some info from the recruiter. But he also thought that maybe he could use this to make it look like he was making plans for the future so he could play the part for his parents.

April 17th was prom. Dylan went with Robyn Anderson and some friends. They did all the stereotypical prom things: limo, dinner, dancing, shenanigans. They both went to the “after prom” activities and didn’t get home until early the next morning. All of the almost 2,000 students came back to school Monday safe and sound despite the tendency to drink and drive on prom night. Principal Frank DeAngelis had been really worried about that and even talked about it in his speech at the pep rally Friday.

The plan was originally for Monday, April 19, 1999. They had planned for “Judgement Day” to play out in 3 Acts and they wanted to make sure they had the largest body count they could get. So, even though they had planned for April 19th Eric was greedy. He had about 700 rounds for the 4 guns they had. He wanted more ammunition and Mark Manes was supposed to be getting it for him. Eric had turned 18 on April 9th, but he apparently didn’t realize that meant he could buy his own damn ammo. Mark Manes finally got the ammunition on April 19th – for $25 for 2 boxes at Kmart…He met up with Eric and handed off the bullets. Eric told Mark he might go shooting tomorrow.

Eric and Dylan had planned for this day, and they knew going in that they wouldn’t live to April 21st. Their attack would become the deadliest school shooting in American History to that point. Sadly that title has been taken multiple times. On December 14, 2012, 26 people died in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Before that on April 16th, 2007, 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech. This one is currently listed as the “most deadly.”

Eric Harris was a Psychopath

Dwayne Fueslier studied Eric and Dylan’s journals for years. He read and reread them, becoming an expert on these killers. Fuselier had watched the Basement Tapes and read all the records he had access to involving the boys. He had plenty of information to determine that Eric Harris was without a doubt, a psychopath. Dylan was depressed, but Eric met many of the markers for being a legit psycho.

In Cullen’s book it says:

“Psychopaths appear charming and likeable, but it’s an act. They are coldhearted manipulators who will do anything for their own gain.”

“Typically, murderous psychopaths are serial killers, but occasionally one will go on a spree.”

Psychopath and Sociopath have become “ virtually synonymous.”

“…criminologists and law enforcement personnel prefer psychopath; sociologists tend toward sociopath. Psychologists and psychiatrists are split, but most experts on the condition use psychopath.”

It is believed that psychopaths are born predisposed, but that certain things can kind of push them toward that but….

“Symptoms appear so early, and so often in stable homes with normal siblings, that the condition seems to be inborn. Most parents report having been aware of disturbing signs before the child entered kindergarten.”

Dr. Robert Hare refined the Psychopathy Checklist originally developed by Dr. Hervy Cleckley:

Glib and superficial charm – YUP
Grandiose estimation of self – YUP
Need for Stimulation – YUP
Pathological lying – YUP
Cunning and Manipulativeness – YUP
Lack of Remorse or Guilt – YUP
Shallow affect (superficial emotional responsiveness) – YUP
Callousness and lack of empathy – YUP
Parasitic lifestyle – YUP
Poor behavioral controls – YUP
Sexual promiscuity 0Early behavior problems – YUP
Lack of realistic long term goals – YUP
Impulsivity – YUP
Irresponsibility – YUP
Failure to accept responsibility for own actions – YUP 2Many short term marital relations
Juvenile delinquency – YUP
Revocation of conditional release
Criminal versatility

Each item rated on a scale from 0-2: 0 is never, 1 is partially or sometimes, and 2 is clearly applies. Max is 40, 30 is required to be considered a “psychopath,” the average criminal is about 20.

Lawsuits

In Colorado, there is a fairly short time frame when a person can file a lawsuit against the government for negligence. There would have to be a notice of intent filed within 180 day. Twenty of the families of the dead and injured as well as the Klebolds filed these notices. The Klebolds felt that the sheriff’s department was negligent in alerting them to their investigation of Eric in 1998. The sheriff’s department had been warned about Eric making death threats and there had been a document filed, but they sat on it. If they had known, the Klebolds felt they would have taken action against Dylan hanging out with Eric. People were shocked that the Klebolds filed anything because at this point, Tom and Sue Klebold and Wayne and Kathy Harris were on the community’s shit list. They were the ones people wanted to blame most since Eric and Dylan were not there.

Five weeks after the shooting, Isaiah Shoels’ family filed a wrongful death lawsuit and were represented by Geoffrey Fieger, who had previously represented Dr. Kevorkian. This lawsuit wasn’t against the government. It was against the Harrises and the Klebolds and it was for a quarter of a BILLION dollars. The family claimed this wasn’t about the money, but about making a point. However, Colorado law had limits to the amount you can get from individuals ($250,000) and the government ($150,000). Not surprisingly, the survivors were not happy about this. This lawsuit made it hard for them to be credible in their efforts to raise awareness and be advocates for things like anti-bullying and gun control. They were also working hard to raise money for their “Healing Fund.” More than $3.5 million had been raised in the first few months that would be distributed among the victims (dead and alive) to help offset different costs that had come because of this tragedy.

There was a lot of back and forth about how the money would be split up because some felt they deserved more than others, and that if the dead got less than the living that meant their lives weren’t worth as much. In fact, Danny’s dad lost his shit when a couple of teachers were given $5,000 so they could seek treatment for the anxiety they were dealing with since the attack.

Eventually, 40% of the money was split up among the families like this:

$150,000 each to the 4 critically injured kids
$50,000 each to the families of the 13 murdered children
$10,000 each to the 21 other injured students

The remaining money would be used for trauma counseling, tolerance programs, or held for “contingencies.” (A way to have money available for the medical bills of the kids who are alive and racking up bills, but without saying those kids get more than the deceased.) Jeffco was being very secretive about the information they had gathered about Eric and Dylan and the attack. They were stalling, and it was making the families angry. Brian Rohrbough and The Fleming family were not willing to trust that Jeffco was going to release their information before the end of the timeline they could sue (the 1 year mark). So, they filed an open records request 10 days before the first anniversary in order to not have to file a lawsuit.

District Judge R. Brooke Jackson ruled that the families have access to the draft of Jeffco’s report as well as most of the 911 calls and some videos, and he was going to read the binders with other evidence and decide if that would be released as well. However, families were impatient with Jeffco by now and 15 of them filed lawsuits against the sheriff’s department. The Klebolds and the Harrises were not among them. The families went into this process knowing that their lawsuits would bring about a ruling in their favor, but it would force out information. Only one was likely to actually rule in their favor. Dave Sanders’ daughter, Angela had filed a lawsuit stating that Jeffco had basically let her dad bleed out and die.

The suit claimed that they had purposefully kept him in jeopardy by not allowing him to be taken out, promising that people were coming for hours, and advising the people in the room against getting him out another way (like breaking the window or leaving the room). They basically forced him to stay there and die.

Judge Jackson made another ruling right after the 1 year mark and said that the sheriff’s department had to release the report to the public no later than May 15th, and he released more evidence and videos. Specifically, he released a video called a “training video” that was footage of the library after the bodies were removed. So, Jeffco made copies of the tape and the SOLD copies for $25 (because it cost money to make the copies)!

The families watched the tape and were SHOCKED that there was no “training” taking place in the video. Instead it was footage of the crime scene with “I Will Remember You” playing over it! Sarah McLachlan’s people threatened copyright infringement, and it was removed. In May, Judge Jackson released all the 911 tape calls and the ballistic report. He was releasing everything. The Klebolds and Harrises wanted him to stop just short of releasing things that had come from their home (i.e., the Basement Tapes and journals).

On May 15th, Jeffco followed orders and released their report with a timeline of April 20th broken down to the minute. Included in this release were also the reports filed about the concerns the Brown family kept calling about. In this section, the sheriff’s office claimed they hadn’t been able to access Eric’s website. This was a lie, because they had printed the pages and they were files. AND those pages were pulled up within minutes of the shooting on April 20th AND they cited them for the search warrants.

Many of the parents were involved in making changes about gun control among other things. Tom Mauser was particularly outspoken about gun control and was integral to getting bills passed about minors and criminals’ access to guns. Judge Jackson kept releasing things after he read them. Pretty much everything, but the journals and the Basement Tapes were released. This included 11,000 pages of police reports in November of 2000.

Jeffco was like, that’s totally it.

But they are idiots, because they numbered all the pages and then made the copies. There were thousands and thousands of pages missing. By October of 2003, they had released another 15,000 pages. In June of 2003, Kate Battan’s search warrant was released that proved that Jeffco had lied about their knowledge of Eric’s website among other things the Browns had warned them about. Eventually, the Basement Tapes and the journals were ordered to be held in the federal courthouse in Denver.

Lawsuits went on for years. Some against the Klebolds and Harrises. Some against the school. Some were against the medicine Eric had been on, Luvox. The only case that didn’t get dismissed or basically brushed off with lower settlements was the Dave Sanders suit. Angela Sanders was awarded $1.5 million in August of 2002 and the judge blasted the sheriff’s office saying they had plenty of manpower that day with almost 800 officers on the scene.

Patrick Ireland’s case was also not shoved off, but his award was $117,500. Probably a fraction of his medical bills.

The Harries and Klebolds were being sued personally, but oddly, their homeowners policies provided money if their children murdered someone. The policies paid out about $1.6 million to be split evenly among the 31 families.

The End-ish

Frank DeAngelis, “Mr. D” offered to resign the day after the shooting. He felt guilty. The school board refused to accept his resignation. He was an amazing principal, and they weren’t going to let him think this was his fault. He finally retired in 2014. Now he goes around the country speaking at different events and telling his story. He wrote a book called They Call Me Mr. De.

The Bernalls moved to Blowing Rock, NC, but they hated how isolated they were. They then moved to New Mexico and Misty’s book has sold over a million copies. Agent Fuselier retired, but not really. He continued to consult on cases and teach hostage negotiation classes.

Craig Scott and his family have started a program called Rachel’s Challenge where he shares Rachel’s story and sets up clubs in high schools to promote compassion and kindness. They reportedly reach upwards of 3 million students a year.

Anne Marie Hochhalter is a supporter of the No Notoriety Movement which works to prevent the media from using the names and images of the shooters in an attack. They want fame and recognition and this is trying to stop that. She is also very passionate about gun control, but she is disheartened by the politics of it and the people in power.

Former students Mandy Cooke, Christofer Welsh, Noel Sudano, and Zachary Martin had all bolted from Columbine on April 20, 1999. Now they all teach or are counselors at Columbine High School. They knew they wanted to help other kids, but also they all felt that the school was incredibly safe and the people were family.

Lauren Townsend graduated Columbine posthumously as valedictorian a month after the shooting.

Sean Graves walked across the stage at his graduation despite thinking he may never walk again. Sean continued his recovery and helped to inspire another young man who had been paralyzed in a car crash. He went to visit the boy in the hospital and talk to him about how he got through it. The boy gave Sean credit for why he was able to walk across the stage at HIS graduation. Sean is married to a woman named Kara.

The Klebolds and the Harrises have both been quiet and tucked away since April 20th. Sue Klebold has recently started speaking out and even did a few interviews and a Ted Talk.

Kelly Fleming had a poem of hers published in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book. She had wanted to be a writer. Now she is.

Austin Eubanks who was injured in the library. He was shot in the hand and the knee and watched his friend Corey DePooter die. Austin became addicted to the painkillers he was prescribed and battled that addiction for many years. He finally got sober and used his knowledge of addiction and recovery to help others. On May 20, 2019, NBC reported that Austin died at the age of 37. It was not reported how.