True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

 (Continued from Part Two) 

Who were Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris? We know them as the killers who carried out The Columbine High School Massacre but who were they really? If you were to go back in time to April 1999 and read the newspapers and watched the news reports, you'd be led to believe that these two boys were goths, listened to Marilyn Manson, loved Nazis, were part of a group called The Trenchcoat Mafia, addicted to violent video games and movies, took drugs, took anti-depressants, wore Gothic makeup, dressed in trenchcoats, collected guns and hated everyone from ethic minorities to jocks with white baseball caps. So what was the truth and what was fiction?

 In high school I was the kid that sat at the back of the class and wore black, listened to bands like Placebo and people in the small town that I lived in thought I was a Satan worshipper and drank blood. Some people were weary of me because they thought I was a weirdo and others would bully me to my face.

Nowadays it's not a big thing to see kids dressed in black and listening to goth bands but back then it was, especially where I was from.

I remember reading comments on forums about Columbine from other kids like me and the narrative was more or less, ''Two schoolkids who were sick of being bullied got revenge on the people who made their lives hell''. I automatically thought that these people were like me (It sounds crazy but at that time I was in a really depressed state and I was young). I'm not going to lie, there was times when a door would be kicked in my face by boys calling me ''Monster'' and ''Freak'' and I would imagine what it would be like to get revenge on them. I was having some really dark thoughts.

I'd already read bits and pieces about school shootings before and from when Columbine happened, it seemed different somehow, like I could relate to who I thought Eric and Dylan were. I didn't relate to the Nazi stuff, the racism or love of guns but I did relate to the frustration of being bullied, being different, not fitting in. I shaped my idea of who they were from the media and from what I had read online. 

I started to collect all the newspaper articles that I could and I bought a Marilyn Manson CD because I'd read in the papers that they listened to him. I became obsessed trying to find out all that I could about them. This was in the days before the Internet was a big thing over here in the UK.

At that time I felt a sort of comfort to know that there were people out there I thought were just like me, who'd been through what I had.

Over the years as I grew up and more information was made available with having access to the Internet and then the evidence files, I learned that a lot of what was reported at the time was false. I read Dave Cullen's book (before reading the evidence files plus statements from their family and friends) which was supposed to be based on 10 years of research. I read it a few times and it confused me. Dave said that they weren't motivated by bullying and there seemed to be a more sympathetic view of Dylan despite the fact that there's evidence that Dylan was very active in the shooting, the planning and was very vocal and clearly enjoyed what he did.

Before I did further research into the evidence and statements of those that knew Dylan and Eric, I wondered why Dave Cullen got so much hate online (he still does to this day) and thinking back to the book there is a lot of things that are not fact. I felt it wasn't the whole truth the first time round when I read it.

I watched a youtube video of Dave Cullen doing a speech at a university (the comments were disabled) and he was talking about Columbine. He seemed to struggle to remember a few things and got mixed up. He seemed to be really over confident about who he thought they were like he was in the book. The fact that he didn't take the bullying aspect seriously says a lot to me.

I grew out of the obsession with the Columbine case (I was never one of these fan girls of Dylan and Eric, I was intrigued at the beginning because I'd read that they were two bullied goths) as I got older but from time to time an article would pop up, a documentary or a movie that would be loosely based on them would pop up and I would read or watch them. I read the evidence files because I was interested to find out the truth and what other people who knew them had to say.

Now, with the 20th anniversary coming up and including true crime cases on my blog, I was asked if I would cover Columbine after the Kip Kinkel case and I thought about it. At first I wasn't going to do it but then I changed my mind. As I looked into the case again, I found endless tribute videos to Dylan and Eric, Tumblr accounts and websites dedicated to Columbine, fan art and stories that people had written and I thought, these people are probably kids who are like I was and they've read the whole lonely bullied goth stories and see them as people who couldn't take anymore and created a horrific event. Others I believe to be interested in the psychology of the whole thing, why did they do it, was anyone else involved etc. There are people out there (like me) who are interested in researching the case but do not idolise Dylan and Eric.

There is a big following of people who are really interested in the case called ''Columbiners''. These are the people who have the dedicated websites, Tumblrs and channels. I think there's a mix of people who idolise Eric and Dylan and others who don't idolise them but just research the case. It's one of those things were people seem to class all of them as Columbiners. They would probably class me as one because I've covered them in this blog & done a lot of research into the case or as one when I was a teenager.

In my opinion, I don't see anything wrong with people researching the case and finding out the real facts for themselves, it's when people go to an extreme with it and refer to Dylan and Eric as Gods or try to copy what they did which is obviously not the right way to go. 

In this post I want to talk a little bit about who Dylan and Eric were based on what people who knew them have said (Not Dave Cullen or the newspapers) and The Basement Tapes.

Who Was Dylan Klebold?

Dylan Bennet Klebold was 17 years old at the time of the massacre and (born on the 11th of September 1981) was described as someone who was painfully shy but quick to anger from those that knew him, his favourite band was Nine Inch Nails. He is often described as depressed, lonely and full of suppressed rage. As a child he was discovered to be quite ahead of his classmates academically and seemed to have quite a number of friends. He was close with his parents and had a brother who was 3 years older than him.

In middle school Dylan met Eric Harris and from what I have read there were no problems in middle school from either of the boys. In 1995 they moved up to Columbine High School which had just undergone a $15 million dollar makeover. They were amongst the first to see the new look and take advantage of the new facilities.

Friends who knew both Dylan and Eric said that Eric was the one who suffered the most bullying at Columbine, however people did comment that they saw both Eric and Dylan being targeted by Jocks in the cafeteria on a couple of occasions, one incident involved the Jocks spraying both of the boys in ketchup and calling them homophobic names. Brooks Brown also said that he was with Dylan and Eric one day when a group of Jocks threw a glass bottle at them. Brooks wanted to say something but Dylan told him to leave it as it happened all the time.

Dylan and Brooks Brown (the boy who Eric told to go home before the massacre began) had been friends since childhood. Dylan also informed Brooks about the website that Eric had made where he posted Brooks' address and threatened to kill him (I'll talk more about that when I cover Eric).

At Columbine he was active in school play productions as a light and sound coordinator as well as being involved in video productions and Columbine High School's rebel news network.

Dylan and Eric would make homemade videos, they also created a video for a school project called Hitmen For Hire, this was later believed to be a spoof of what they planned to carry out and another red flag that should have been looked into.

Just weeks before the massacre, Dylan handed in an essay to his teacher that was so graphically violent that she refused to grade the paper till she contacted his parents and spoke to him directly about it. The essay was about a lone warrior wearing a trenchcoat who stabbed and shot to death a group of college preps then set off a bomb to divert attention away from the police. Dylan's explanation for this was that it was just a story and the whole thing seemed to be forgotten about. This teacher along with other members of the Columbine teaching staff were later named in wrongful death lawsuits from parents of the victims who said that she and her colleagues could have done more to prevent the tragedy and that the essay should have been taken more seriously.

Dylan worked with Eric at a place called Blackjack Pizza, he was written up for bringing a pipe bomb to work (Eric and Dylan often played pranks at work). He quit the job shortly after but was rehired again by Blackjack when they were short of staff.

Sue Klebold, Dylan's mother said that she and her husband had no idea about what was really going on in Dylan's mind. She knew that there had been some trouble at school involving Dylan and Eric hacking into computers. There was also an incident where Dylan scratched a school locker and he and Eric were caught breaking into a van to steal electrical equipment, both boys had to attend a juvenile diversion program. Dylan did so well on the program that he was allowed to complete it earlier than normal.

Dylan promised his mum and dad that he was going to straighten himself out and not get into any more trouble. Over the weeks and months, Dylan seemed to be doing well, he applied to and been accepted at 4 different colleges. He visited the University of Arizona (which was his first choice university/school) with his parents and picked out a room. he also made plans to attend prom which he did on the weekend before the shootings. He went to prom with his date Robyn (who was just a friend) along with a group of friends in a limo. The night of the prom he was said to be in good spirits, laughing, having a good time and talking about the future with his friends.

When Dylan got home from the prom he thanked his parents for paying for everything and that he'd had one of the best night's of his life.

On the 20th of April 1999, Sue said that Dylan got up very early (it was still dark outside) and she heard him walking down the stairs like he was in a hurry. She called out to him ''Dyl'' and the next thing she heard was ''Bye'' as Dylan slammed the front door shut. She said she felt at the time that something was wrong with him, maybe he'd had a falling out with a friend or was in a hurry for something. She spoke to her husband about it and he said that he'd noticed that Dylan seemed to be talking in a more higher tone the past few days. They both agreed that Dylan's dad would have a talk to him that night to see what was bothering him.

Unbeknown to his parents, Dylan and Eric Harris had been planning the massacre for a year and Dylan had been writing about feeling depressed and suicidal for a long time. Dylan wrote about being lonely, wanting to find love and he wrote about a girl that he had a crush on but nothing ever came of it. Sue said that Dylan didn't have a journal, he just wrote on random bits of paper that were found in various places in his bedroom.

A I mentioned before Dylan was said to experience some form of bullying but not as much as Eric. Dylan was also alleged to have harassed a boy at school to the point of the boy's mother having to speak with the principal about it but nothing was done. Dylan and Eric killed people who had nothing to do with how they were treated at school, none of the kids who were shot had bullied them. A few of the kids had problems themselves with not fitting in and having difficulties.

One of the students who was badly injured in the library by the shots fired by Dylan was a girl named Valeen Schnurr, this was the same girl who was asked if she believed in God. Witnesses later revealed that Valeen sat in front of Dylan in one of their classes together and she was always nice and talked to him, they were surprised at how cold he was to her.

In the transcripts of the library shooting, Dylan can be heard shouting and yelling all kinds of profanities and racist remarks. He and Eric were bullying the kids before they shot them.

After the shootings, Dylan's parents wrote a letter to all of the families who lost a loved one. They also released this open letter to the public:

Nearly a year has passed since tragedy changed the community of Columbine forever. A day that began innocently but ended catastrophically. The healing process has moved slowly as we all attempt to cope, not only with our own despair, but also with the distractions and intrusions that result

from world attention.

There are no words to convey how sorry we are for the pain that has been brought upon the community as a result of our son's actions. The pain of others compounds our own as we struggle to live a life without the son we cherished. In the reality of the Columbine tragedy and it's aftermath, we look with the rest of the world to understand how such a thing could happen.

We are convinced that the only way to truly honor all of the victims of this and other related tragedies is to move clearly and methodically toward an understanding of why they occur, so that we may try to prevent this kind of madness from ever happening again. It is our intention to work for this end, believing that answers are probably within reach, but that they will not be simple. We envision a time when circumstances will allow us to join with those who share our desire to understand. In the meantime, we again express our profound condolences to those who's lives have been so tragically altered, we look forward to a day when all our pain is replaced by peace and acceptance.

Finally, we wish to thank those who have sent their kind thoughts, prayers and expressions of support to our family. We are constantly surprised and heartened by the gestures of understanding and compassion that have been extended to us. The support has been both humbling and inspiring, and we are truly indebted to those who have offered it.

The Klebold family - 4-15-2000.

Dylan's mother often gives talks about her son and suicide prevention. She wrote a book with all the proceeds going to mental health charities.

Do I believe that Dylan was a depressed follower who did whatever Eric told him to do? I think (based on what I've read over the years) that Dylan did have depression and self loathing, he was insecure and I don't think he was a follower, with him and Eric it seemed to be a meeting of the minds. Dylan was happy to take part in this every step of the way and wrote about how he was excited and couldn't wait to do it.

The way he was in the library was the real him, nobody forced him to do that. There was no remorse, he was taking pleasure in the killings. Some people believed that Dylan manipulated people into thinking that he was just a shy and quiet person. There was definitely two sides to him (like there is to most people) only his dark side was a lot darker than people imagined.

I do believe he went through some bullying and to what extent we'll never know (people have mentioned that Eric was bullied more than Dylan or they never saw Dylan being bullied but situations may have occurred when witnesses were not around) but one thing's for sure, he had an extreme amount of anger inside of him.

In Dylan Klebold's autopsy, no traces of drugs were found.

Dylan's funeral was very private for obvious reasons with only 15 people in attendance. The funeral home where the service took place received a lot of backlash at the time with members of the public calling for the funeral director to be fired.

Who Was Eric Harris?

Eric David Harris was born on the 9th of April 1981 and had not long turned 18 years old at the time of the massacre. He is often described as the ''Textbook Psychopath'' and the more dominant out of himself and Dylan. he has also been described as controlling, manipulative and sadistic. He described himself as ''God like'' in his journal and ranted about how much he hated the world and pretty much everyone in it.

People who knew him said that he came across as polite, well educated but like Dylan, he had a fiery temper. He was also described as an ''injustice collector'', if anyone made a rude comment to him or if he asked a girl out and she rejected him, he'd write their names down on his hit list and write about how much he hated them.

From what I've read, Eric seemed to have both over confidence and insecurity at times. He had the confidence to ask out a lot of girls and talk to them but he was very insecure about a chest deformity that required surgeries just before he started high school. He was self conscious about taking his shirt off in gym class.

During freshman year, Eric met a girl in his German class and took her to the homecoming dance, it was their only date and she refused to go out with him again. Eric staged a fake suicide, laying on the ground covered in fake blood. He later wrote in her year book ''Ich Bin Gott'' (I am God).

Witnesses say that it was in gym class that Eric experienced a lot of bullying because of his size, weight and because he wasn't very good at sports. He was also mocked for how he dressed and his taste in music. Eric was a big fan of KMFDM and Rammstein.

Eric moved around quite a lot as a child because his dad worked in the Air Force, Eric would later express that the moving was always difficult for him, having to always be the new kid and never being settled.

Eric did care a lot about animals and expressed anger at anyone who committed animal cruelty. He had a dog that he adored who was often sick with seizures (in one of the home videos that were part of The Basement Tapes, Eric is seen talking to the camera and wishing that he could see some of his old friends again, there's a moment where he begins to cry and has to turn the camera off). Eric was capable of showing emotion which, like Dylan shows how they both had two different sides to them. They had the sides that their families and friends knew and then the dark sides that planned and committed the massacre.

Eric had a fascination with Hitler and the Nazis and would often be seen sketching swastikas (Dylan was never seen doing this. Dylan was actually from a Jewish background. According to Brooks Brown's parents, in one of The Basement Tapes Dylan mentions about being Jewish to which Eric is shocked and there is an awkward moment between the pair but they quickly change the subject)

As I mentioned earlier, Eric was said by witnesses to have had a lot of bullying. There was an incident where Jocks had thrown tampons covered in tomato ketchup at him and someone said they'd seen him getting slammed into a locker in gym class.

Like Dylan, Eric took part in the Juvenile Diversion Program (after the van break in) and passed with flying colours. He appeared to the court and his family as butter wouldn't melt and that he was on the straight and narrow but behind closed doors he wrote in his journal how he found it hilarious that he managed to fool everyone. He had no regret for what he had done, he was angry at how he was treated. Dylan was also full of rage because they were arrested.

Eric didn't go to prom the weekend before the massacre, he asked a girl that he liked to go but she said no. he stayed at home and hung out with another girl (said to be just a friend but he later mentioned in one of The Basement Tapes that this girl was to keep the CD that they were listening to that night and he said that in another world, things may have been different)

On the day of the shooting, Eric's dad heard the news and straight away called 911 thinking that Eric had been involved when he heard the words ''Trenchcoat Mafia''

Brooks Brown (who was told by Eric to go home that morning) was a childhood friend of Dylan. Dylan introduced Brooks to Eric and the pair became friends. Brooks would often give Eric a ride to school but on a few occasions he'd turned up late. Eric wasn't happy about this and when it happened a few days in a row, they had an argument about it. Brooks decided it would be best if Eric just found his own way to school from now on and in a temper, Eric threw either a rock or piece of ice which dented Brooks' windshield. Brooks told Eric he would have to pay for the damage.

Eric continued to harass Brooks and his family by putting firecrackers on the windowsill of their house. Eric would gloat about this in his journals and online. Brooks' parents had contacted the police and Eric's parents over the damaged windshield and harassment. Eric apologised but Brooks' mother didn't believe his apology was genuine.

Eric then went online and posted Brooks' phone number and address as well as a rant about wanting to kill Brooks (Dylan later told Brooks about Eric's website). It was around this time that Eric's dad began keeping a journal on his behaviour.

In 1997 Brooks Brown's parents filed a report with an investigator regarding Eric's website. During this investigation, Eric's hit list was found (a manifesto that listed everyone he hated and would like to kill), notes about bomb making were also found. After the shootings this report was hidden.

Eric was very active on the Internet and both he and Dylan had their computers set up on a network to play Doom together.

One of Eric's aspirations was to join the marines and he even took steps to apply. His application was rejected shortly before the shooting (Eric was unaware of this as the recruiter failed to get in contact with him) likely because he was taking an anti depressant called Luvox. Some people think that Eric may have had an idea that he would be rejected from the marines as his mother had mentioned to the recruiter whilst Eric was in the room that he was taking anti depressants. It was also theorised that the side effects of Luvox could have been a contributing factor to what happened at Columbine.

Originally, Eric was taking Zoloft for a while but began to complain of depressed thoughts and feeling suicidal. His doctor took him off of Zoloft and gave him Luvox which was said to be no better.

In Eric's autopsy a low level of Luvox was found in his system. It is not known if this was the right amount prescribed to Eric or that he was bringing himself off of the drug, nobody knows for certain because there's no information about how much his regular dose was.

I couldn't find much information about Eric's funeral but most people believe that his family had a quiet service and he was cremated.

The Harris family issued an open letter to the public:

We continue to be profoundly saddened by the suffering of so many that has resulted from the acts of our son. We loved our son dearly, and search our souls daily for some glimmer of a reason why he would have done such a horrible thing. What he did was unforgivable and beyond our capacity to understand. The passage of time has yet to lessen the pain.

We are thankful to those who have kept us in their thoughts and prayers.

Wayne and Kathy Harris - Apr 15, 2000.

The Trenchcoat Mafia:

Back in 1999 you would've seen the words ''Trenchcoat Mafia'' all over the newspapers whenever Columbine was mentioned. So many stories were reported and fabricated. The Trenchcoat Mafia was just a group of kids who liked dressing in dark clothing and hanging out together listening to music and playing video games. Because of the way they dressed, rumours went around about them at school that they were satanic, bisexual and into knives. This was also reported to the media. Dylan was friendly with some of the members but they were not connected to the shooting as some of the earlier reports stated. Chris Morris who was said to be a member of TCM and worked alongside Eric and Dylan at Blackjack pizza, was initially arrested due to his connection to the shooters and had previously spoken about his hatred for Columbine High School. He was later released with no charges.

Goths?

They dressed in black but I wouldn't call them full on goths! They seemed to be more into Nine Inch Nails and German industrial music. If they were full on goths they would have dyed their hair black and been more into the same kind of bands and stuff that I liked.

Marilyn Manson:

Marilyn stated in a Larry King interview that he has been blamed for 36 high school shootings. Along with The Trenchcoat Mafia, Marilyn was getting the blame for Columbine too. It was because of this that I bought his album to see what all the fuss was about. I ended up a fan as I'm sure a lot of other kids did. Eric and Dylan were not fans of Marilyn Manson. I read something years ago that someone found a MM CD in Eric's room that a friend had gave him to listen to but that was about it and that started off the media saying they were fans.

Bullying:

I'm not going to say that Dylan and Eric weren't bullied at Columbine because numerous witnesses have confirmed that to be true. You could tell by how some of the students had described them after the shooting, they were described as ''wierdos'' and ''losers''. I think that was a factor in what they did. I've read a lot about the Jocks of the school, what they got up to and how they would get away with things because they put trophies on the school cabinets.

No Friends Or Social Life:

Dylan and Eric had a great social life, lots of friends and were always hanging out. It seemed to be some of the people in the school that they had the issues with, who possibly made them feel that they didn't belong. Just because you may have a group of friends at school it doesn't mean that you won't get bullied.

The Cassie Bernall Story:

Cassie was a born again christian and was killed in the library. The media had reported at the time that she was asked ''Do you believe in God'' to which she replied ''yes'' and was shot. This was a mistake. The girl who had this conversation with Dylan was actually Valeen Schnurr. The media ran away with the Cassie story and soon there was books and movies made about it. Witnesses say that Eric and Dylan asked a number of students if they believed in God.

The Basement Tapes:

There's a lot of obsession around The Basement Tapes, a lot of people would like to see them released. I looked into this and apparently all of the tapes were destroyed in 2011 (Dylan and Eric recorded 6 videos, a couple of which were filmed in the Basement near Eric's bedroom so the police called them The Basement Tapes). A lot of people, especially Columbiners believe that the police made several copies of these tapes and that they will surface online one of these days. Some of the transcripts are available to read online (which I have since seen recreated in movies). It puzzled me as to why they would release some of the transcripts but not the tapes? They have edited out a few details like names but there is still discussion of guns and pipebombs etc. Families of the victims, select members of the media and Brooks Browns' parents have viewed what was known by police as The Basement tapes. 

Thank you for reading. Please check out: COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL MASSACRE | PART FOUR: THE VICTIMS, THE AFTERMATH AND FINAL THOUGHTS x

(Continued from Part One. As with part one, the details included in this post may be distressing)

Eric Harris turned around north towards where they were standing around 11:35am and shot Daniel Mauser at close range. Witnesses say that Eric made a comment to Daniel about his glasses before he shot him.

Eric then joined Dylan at another table where three other students were hiding, they shot underneath the table and wounded two of the students and killed the other, that student was Corey DePooter who was just 17 years old.

Both Eric and Dylan then walked towards the administration desk. Eric threw a Molotov Cocktail but it didn't explode. They spotted a student who had previously been injured and had moved to another area of the library. They began to harass the student, joking about killing him but then they decided to leave him alone. 

They decided they were going to leave the library and go down to the cafeteria (The Commons). Eric started walking out of the library but Dylan decided to do a few things before he left. He pointed his gun towards the staff break room and shot at a television, he then slammed a chair really hard on top of the computer terminal that was on the desk where Patti Nielson was hiding underneath.

They were both reported to have left the library at 11:36am. The 911 operator was still on the phone with Patti Nielson. As soon as it looked like Dylan and Eric were out of the library, Patti told the operator that she had to go and quickly moved into the library's staff break room to hide inside a cupboard.

Three of Patti's colleagues had been hiding elsewhere, two in the television studio and the other one in the periodicals room. Patti and her colleagues would remain in their hiding places till the SWAT team came into the building at 3:30pm to evacuate them.

During this time, a deputy spotted a man on the roof of the school building. They thought at first that this could possibly be a third shooter but it turned out to be a repair man who happened to be working on the roof that morning and when he heard the shots, he tried to clamp the door to the roof shut and hide as much as he could for fear of being shot.

For those still left in the library after Eric and Dylan left, they described the scene to be horrific, completely on edge, people were moaning in pain and their ears were ringing with the constant noise of the alarms going off. people were scared to move for fear of the killers coming back and people were wondering where the police were and why wasn't help coming.

Some students decided to make a run for it knowing that there was a possibility Eric and Dylan could come back at any moment, they took the risk and managed to escape through the northern emergency exit that opened out onto the sidewalk. They moved as fast as they could and hid behind one of the police cars. They told the police that the shooters had left the library but they didn't know if they were going to come back.

By the time that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris had left the library, 12 students were dead, Teacher Dave Sanders was still in a classroom with some other students who were trying to keep him conscious and stop his blood loss. The students were trying to get through to 911. One of the students got through to his father and he helped by giving instructions over the phone. One of the students also put a sign up at the window ''1 Bleeding To Death'' but nobody responded. There was also students who were seriously injured. 

In the 7 minutes that Eric and Dylan were in the library, they killed 10 people and injured 12. The total number of people in the library that day was 56. 34 were unharmed but clearly traumatised by what had happened. The investigators later said that Dylan and Eric had more than enough ammo to kill more people but for some reason they decided not to, some people think that they were still hoping that the bombs could work or that they grew tired and gave up.

Dylan and Eric walked passed a few of the locked classrooms as they made their way to the cafeteria and witnesses say that they looked into the windows in the classroom doors and made eye contact with some of the students. They didn't fire their guns or make any sudden actions. The witnesses in the classrooms were terrified because they thought that they could fire at them at any moment but they seemed to be uninterested at this point and carried on walking.

At around 11:38am from the official timeline and from CCTV footage from inside the school, Eric and Dylan threw some pipe bombs down to the cafeteria. They threw a pipe bomb into one of the storage rooms but luckily nobody was in there. Witnesses say that they saw them shoot into some of the empty classrooms and that they taped a Molotov Cocktail to a storage room door (which was next to the classroom where Dave Sanders and the students were hiding). The Molotov Cocktail did go off and caused a small fire which was quickly put out by a teacher when Eric and Dylan had left the area.

The CCTV cameras caught Dylan and Eric at 11:44am on the stairs leading down to the cafeteria (I tried to find a clip of this moment on Youtube but they've removed it. You can find it elsewhere online but I did find the full CCTV from that morning which is over 3 hours long. If you're interesting in viewing it, you can see it here) where Eric knelt down and tried to fire a few shots at one of the duffel bags containing the propane bomb when this failed to do anything, Dylan walked over to the bomb and it's unclear what he was trying to do, possibly tamper with it but it didn't work either.

A witness who was still in the cafeteria at this time said that he overheard one of them saying ''Today the world's going to come to an end. Today is the day we die''. Some people think that the reason they went to the cafeteria and shot at the propane bomb was their first attempt at suicide. If the bomb had exploded it would have destroyed the cafeteria and taken the library and everyone who was still in there with it as the library was located above the cafeteria.

After the failure to get the bomb to explode, they were seen looking across the cafeteria as if wondering what to do next as well as drinking from cups that students had left behind on the tables. Dylan was seen to light what looked like a pipe bomb and threw it towards the bomb in another attempt to make it go off. The camera showed a fire as they both walked back up the stairs (there was an explosion, possibly from the pipe bomb Dylan threw igniting some of the flammable liquids that were said to be attached to one of the bombs, this took out the cafeteria windows and activated the sprinklers, The two propane bombs still didn't explode) at 11:46am.

Eric and Dylan (11:49am) were seen walking towards the main office area of the school where an unarmed security guard and secretary were hiding, both were on the phone with 911 operators. The SWAT team arrived outside of the school. The Jefferson County Undersheriff John Dunaway arrived at the command post and gave the go ahead for the SWAT team to now enter the school.

At 11:53am, Eric and Dylan moved from the main office areas to the art hall, they fired their guns into the ceiling as they were walking.

At 11:56am they returned to the cafeteria again and from the camera footage, they are seen to be looking tired, fed up and frustrated that the bombs hadn't gone off and the fire was now being put out by the sprinkler system.

It was around this time that TV stations both locally and around the world were reporting that there was an active shooting going on at Columbine High School.

From 12:02 to 12:05pm Dylan and Eric were back in the library which was covered in thick smoke. They made another last attempt at a shoot out with police through the broken windows of the library (the police were said to be going through the school at this moment, from classroom to classroom and the 6 SWAT team members were just about to enter the school), one theory around this is that they were hoping to be killed in the process.

Officers outside returned fire to keep Dylan and Eric distracted whilst other officers worked on rescue procedures and other members of the SWAT team were watching from roofs of nearby houses. A few of the ambulances left containing some of the injured students. It was reported that the only people that were alive at that point in the library were Patrick Ireland, Lisa Kreutz and the four members of teaching staff including Patti Nielson. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris had committed suicide in the library a few feet away from some of their victims. Investigators believe it was shortly after the shoot out with police that they took their own lives by gunshot. Patti and the other witnesses said that they couldn't tell when they killed themselves because of the smoke and all of the noise with the alarms.

At 12:08pm a smoke alarm in the library went off where Dylan and Eric's bodies were later found. A Molotov Cocktail was found on a table near to their bodies which had been placed there by one of them, it didn't cause an explosion but there was a small fire.

Chaos continued outside the school with police and emergency services trying to deal with injured students and getting people to the local hospitals as soon as possible. More of the media were there and frantic parents had turned up too.

The SWAT team and police were in the school building proceeding with caution because they were unsure at this point if there was any more bombs hidden around the school.

The SWAT team were informed of the sign and the room that Dave Sanders and the students were in and they were told that a bloody rag would be on the door handle of the classroom. The SWAT team and police thought that the school was still under siege and as a result resources were delayed for up to 3 hours.

Despite the amazing efforts of the students to save Dave Sanders, he sadly passed away. During his last moments, one of the students tending to him took some of the family pictures from Dave's wallet and talked to Dave about his family in an attempt to keep him conscious and take his mind off of the pain. His last words were said to be ''Tell my family I love them''. 

[Dylan and Eric had also placed bombs in their cars which were set to go off when emergency services and police arrived on the scene. The bomb in Eric's car failed to explode and the bomb that was in Dylan's car partially detonated the evening after the massacre]

I'll be talking more about the victims of this horrific event, The Basement Tapes, Dylan and Eric and the aftermath in my next few posts. 

Thank you for reading. Please check out: COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL MASSACRE | PART THREE: ERIC & DYLAN, THE MYTHS, COLUMBINERS AND THE BASEMENT TAPES x

It's hard to believe that the 20th of April 2019 marks 20 years since the massacre at Columbine High School (carried out by two senior students, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris) took place in Littleton, Colorado. 

I have done various amounts of research into the case over the years. Like a lot of people, I had read all of the initial reports from 1999 and then later on the evidence files and witness statements. I also read a lot of what the people closest to the shooters had to say. I did read Dave Cullen's book and I'll be talking about that in an upcoming post.

In the next two posts I'll be focusing on what happened on the 20th of April 1999 and following the official timeline as close as I can. Feel free to leave a comment below if you feel there's anything you would like to add or further discuss with me on the subject. Please note that some of the details in the next two posts may be distressing.

That morning of Tuesday the 20th of April 1999, started just like any other school day, some people were still reflecting on the prom that they'd just had at the weekend and some were looking forward to graduating which was just 17 days away, talking about the future and what colleges they were hoping to go to. 

At 11:10am that morning, Eric Harris and his friend Dylan Klebold (who preferred to be called Reb and VoDKa) pulled into the parking lot of Columbine High School. Neither of the boys had parked in their usual spots, with Eric parking at a spot in the junior parking lot to the southeast and Dylan parking in the senior parking lot to the southwest. They chose these spots because they had the full view of the front student entrance as well as the entrance to the cafeteria.

 When Eric first pulled up, Brooks Brown (a former enemy of Eric's who had recently made peace with him) stopped outside for a cigarette after one of his classes which was his usual routine. Brooks found it strange that Eric hadn't been attending his classes that morning and walked over to his car to talk to him.

Brooks told Eric that he had missed an important exam to which he replied ''It doesn't matter anymore''. Brooks said there was some back and forth conversation with Brooks giving Eric a lecture for missing his classes. Eric then said ''Brooks, I like you now, get out of here, go home'. Brooks then said that Eric paid no attention to him after that and proceeded to get two duffel bags out of the boot of his car. Brooks didn't feel comfortable about the conversation but walked away.

According to the official timeline, some time after 11:14am, Eric and Dylan carried the two duffel bags which contained two propane bombs into the cafeteria. The bombs had been set to go off at 11:17am.


After planting the bombs in the cafeteria, they returned to their cars to wait for the bombs to explode. In the planning of the massacre, Eric had previously taken notes of when the cafeteria was at it's busiest and set the bombs to go off at that time. They knew there would be around 488 students in the cafeteria.

The two boys were dressed in black trenchcoats and shades. Eric was wearing a white t-shirt with the words ''Natural Selection'' and Dylan had a black t-shit on with ''Wrath'' written across it. They had been planning their attack on Columbine (which they called NBK - Natural Born Killers, not only a codename for their plan but a tribute to one of their favourite movies) for the past year and now they were carrying it out, but it wasn't going quite how they planned. They expected the bombs in the cafeteria to explode creating chaos, destruction and as many deaths as possible. They also planned on shooting any remaining students who would be fleeing the cafeteria to safety.

The bombs didn't explode and Eric and Dylan decided that they would start shooting instead. There was a lot of confusion amongst the staff and students inside and out of the school at first. A lot of people thought that some of the seniors were just playing a prank. 

Eric and Dylan shot students outside of the school who were having their lunch, some were badly injured and some sadly died. It was at this point Rachel Scott (17)  and Daniel Rohrbough (15) were killed. Rachel's friend Richard (17), who'd she'd been sitting having lunch with was shot and paralysed. Students Sean Graves (15) and Lance Kirklin (16) were also injured.

During this time, Michael Johnson (15) and Mark Taylor (15) were injured and Anne Marie Hochhalter (17) was hit and paralysed when she tried to run to the cafeteria for safety.

Witnesses reported that Eric and Dylan were shooting towards the people who were near the soccer field several yards away but didn't hit anyone. They also threw pipe bombs onto the school roof, down the parking lot and toward the grassy hill to the right.

A teacher reported that she saw Dylan Klebold standing on the hill just shooting. She recognised him as he'd been a student in her class and she'd had some trouble with him before (he'd previously hacked a school computer and she described him as a troublemaker who regularly wore tall Nazi boots and a trenchcoat to school).

Inside the school people were still confused as to what was going on. The cafeteria was now packed with students and people started to become alarmed. Dave Sanders (who was a teacher and coach at Columbine) knew that something wasn't right and along with some other members of staff tried to keep the students calm and figure out a way to escort them to safety. 

Dave Sanders and his colleagues managed to evacuate most of the students out of the cafeteria. Eric and Dylan's bombs have still failed to detonate. Dave tried to secure the school as much as possible, he checked the corridors and ran from classroom to classroom telling everyone to keep quiet and get under the tables. 

Patti Neilson who was a teacher and was on hall duty that day heard all of the commotion and thinking it was a prank, she walked towards the west entrance to find out who the students were that were creating all of the noise to tell them to stop it. Student Brett Anderson was told to get out of the school by another teacher because they could hear what sounded like gunfire. Brett couldn't tell where the noise was coming from so he went through the first exit he came to which was the west entrance. Brett went through the first set of doors and saw Eric Harris outside the second set of double doors. Brett knew that Eric often made movies around the school for film class so assumed that Eric was just making another film and the gun that he was holding was just a prop. Patti Nielson was right behind Brett and Eric spotted the two of them and fired, shattering the glass on the doors and spraying fragments of glass everywhere which injured both Brett and Patti. 

Patti ran to the library and Brett followed her, once in the library he hid in a utility closet. 

Eric and Dylan entered the school at the west entrance. Patti and Brett managed to get away because the shooters were distracted by the arrival of police cars outside. 

Deputy Neil Gardner was the first on the scene and both he and Eric fired at each other back and forth. This exchange only lasted a few minutes. Eric quickly turned and made his way into the school through the west entrance.

In the library, Patti Nielson made a phonecall to 911 (you can hear some of that call here), she told everyone to get under the tables. At first everyone was confused and didn't know what to do, they thought it was a joke but eventually they did as they were told. 

Local people and students were flooding the police department with calls reporting that something was going on at Columbine.

Whilst Patti was on the phone with 911 she told them that the library was beginning to fill with smoke (from the pipe bombs) and the sounds of the gunfire was getting louder and louder. There was some discussion about Patti going to close the library door but she decided not to do that because she was frightened and felt that the shooters were too close to the library.

Two deputies arrived on the west side of the school. They quickly rescued two students who were laying injured on the ground near the baseball field. Deputy Gardner spotted Eric appearing again at the west entrance and they both exchanged gunfire before Eric disappeared back inside the building. The deputies heard more shots being fired from inside the building and saw some more students running out of the building.

Some of the students who were still in some of the classrooms had no idea what was happening, they reported seeing Eric and Dylan walking down the hallway shooting at lockers and at random places, laughing.

Two students were coming out of their tech lab class in time to see a teacher and several other students running towards the school's main entrance to the east. The teacher shouted at them to get out of the building and keep running. Dylan fired at the two students as they ran for the east entrance to follow the other students. When they made it to the exit, one of the students was caught with a bullet in the ankle. They managed to both flee to safety to Leawood Park across the street.

Students reported that they saw Dylan and Eric chasing students and firing the gun at various moments. 

After Dave Sanders had tried to secure as many classrooms as he could and evacuated the cafeteria, he ran up the stairs passed the library, motioning to some students to stay where they were and keep quiet. Dave spotted Eric and Dylan in the hall and ran back the way he came, just as he was about to turn a corner he was shot in the neck by Eric.

One of the students who witnessed Dave being shot from a nearby science room described seeing Dave being shot twice. 

Once the shooters were out of sight, Dave Sanders (who was heavily bleeding) managed to crawl to the corner of the science hallway where a fellow teacher helped him into a classroom. A group of students including Aaron Hancey tried their best to give him first aid whilst others tried to get through to emergency services. When they finally got through, they were told that help was on the way.

More police cars and emergency services were arriving in the parking lot but nobody was allowed to go inside the school. 

Inside the school, Eric and Dylan were walking up and down the hallway outside of the library, shooting at random things and throwing pipe bombs. More smoke was filling the library, the hallway and the cafeteria. 

Patti Nielson was still on the phone to 911 in the library underneath the checkout desk. She described to the 911 operator everything that was going on whilst regularly telling everyone to stay under the tables.

Three staff members and fifty five students were said to be hiding in the library at this point.

Aaron Hancey and the handful of students who were trying to help Dave Sanders realised that the shooters were outside of their classroom door. They were scared because the door had a window and they were worried that they would be seen. They quickly hid elsewhere in the classroom when they heard the shooters walk by. They left Dave for a few minutes in case the shooters did look through the window, they thought that they'd see Dave, think he was dead and continue walking by. As soon as the coast was clear, they got back to Dave and continued trying to help him.

Students who'd been hiding in other parts of the school were still trying to find ways to escape, some managed to make it out to safety and hid behind police cars.

Eric Harris threw a pipe bomb right outside of the library whilst Patti Nielson was still on the phone to 911. Patti thought there was only one shooter at the time and told the operator that he was right outside the door. Patti started to whisper at this point and tried to stay silent but she kept on the line so that the operator could hear everything that was going on. 

Eric and Dylan entered the library, yelling at everyone to ''Get Up''. Patti still had the operator on the phone who was recording everything. In the library tape that was released to the public it is difficult to make out exactly what was said but witnesses in the library claimed to have heard the shooters shouting things such as ''Everyone with a white baseball cap, stand up!'' and ''All Jocks stand up!''. The Jocks at Columbine were known for wearing white baseball caps and there was a few of them in the library at that time. When nobody stood up, either Eric or Dylan was heard saying ''Fine, I'll start shooting!''.

Dylan shot Kyle Velasquez who was just 16 years old, he died immediately. 

Outside of the school, there was chaos with police cars, ambulances, injured students and students trying to take cover behind police cars. The police were also dealing with students who were still fleeing the building. The police department were dealing with numerous calls from panicked parents. Some of the media had arrived and were making it difficult for emergency services to get through.

Back in the library, Eric and Dylan were reloading their weapons, they moved back and forth between tables. At one point. Eric got down on one knee and began shooting the west library windows at the police and emergency services who were tending to fleeing and injured students outside in the parking lot. Dylan knelt down beside Eric and started firing out the broken west window also. 

Dylan took off his trenchcoat and fired his gun at three students (Patrick Ireland, Daniel Steepleton and Makai Hall) and injuring them.

The police tried to return fire toward Eric and Dylan but couldn't get a good shot at them.

Eric gave up firing through the windows and came to the nearest table where he shot 14 year old Steve Curnow (Steve was the youngest victim of the massacre). He fired his gun again and injured Kacey Ruegsegger.

Some of the deputies reported seeing smoke coming from the school and the school alarms going off. The alarms were so loud that people were struggling to be heard by 911 operators. 

By this time, the media was everywhere outside, some witnesses said that up to 400 different media outlets were there that day. Some reporters had been working on the Jonbenet Ramsey case and as soon as they heard about Columbine, they rushed to the scene. Some of the media vehicles were parked on the grass and the curbs, trying to be as close to the scene as possible. There was also helicopters flying overhead.

Inside the library, Eric moved south, he spotted two girls hiding underneath a table, he slapped the table twice, bent down and said ''Peek-a-boo'' before he shot and killed 17 year old Cassie Bernall. The recoil from the shotgun caught Eric in the face and his nose began to bleed. 

In a brave moment, Patrick Ireland moved towards his friend to try and administer first aid. Dylan saw him and shot him twice in the head and once in the foot when Patrick tried to take cover. Patrick would become one of the most inspirational stories to come out of Columbine, he was known as ''The Boy In The Window'' and it was a miracle that he survived and overcame what he did. His friends Makai and Dan Steepleton kept still and played dead in an attempt to avoid being shot again. 

A student named Bree Pasquale was crouched down, out in the open near to where Cassie Bernall had been hiding. She couldn't find anywhere else to hide and Eric soon spotted her and pointed his gun in her direction. He asked her ''Do you want to die?'' and she said ''Please don't shoot me, I have a family and a fiance''. Eric laughed at her response but was quickly distracted by his nose bleeding. Eric said ''Dylan, I hit my nose'' and began laughing again, ''Everyone's gonna die, we're gonna blow up the school anyway''. 

Dylan called Eric over to a table where some boys were hiding and Eric forgot about Bree (she said later that it took her four days before she could sleep again, she was so traumatised by that moment). 

Dylan was at another set of tables, east of where Eric was standing (Dylan made a racial comment about one of the boys, Isaiah and told Eric to come over). Three boys (Mat Ketcher, Isaiah Shoels and Rachel Scott's younger brother Craig Scott) were hiding underneath. Eric and Dylan stood at either side of the tables and trapped the boys in. Isaiah was heard by witnesses trying to plead with Dylan and Eric that he was scared and wanted to go home and see his mom. Dylan tried to pull him out from under the table but failed. Eric then fired from the other side of the table killing Isaiah. (I have read elsewhere online that Isaiah had had a few previous run ins with Eric and Dylan but this has never been confirmed)

Dylan copied Eric and fired his gun under the other side of the table killing Matt Kechter. Craig Scott was unharmed but laid still and pretended to be dead. Craig said later on that he prayed and heard Isaiah taking his last breaths, he was covered in his friends blood and had no idea at the time that his sister (Rachel Scott) had also been killed.

Eric threw one of his ''Crickets'' (CO2 cartridge which was a homemade bomb) underneath the table where Pat, Daniel and Makai were hiding. The bomb landed on Dan's thigh and even though it was lit, he was too scared to move. Makai grabbed it and threw it from the table where it exploded in the air causing no harm to anyone.

Eric jumped on some bookcases and began shouting, swearing and shooting at the books. Dylan shot at the trophy case.

Dylan then pointed his gun underneath the nearest library table to the south and left Mark Kintgen with bullets in his head and shoulder, luckily he survived. he then shot underneath the tables to his left where Lisa Kreutz and Valeen Schnurr were hiding, both were injured with the same bullet. He then fired nine shots, one of which had killed Lauren Townsend.

Dylan joined Eric and went over to the table where Valeen and Lisa were hiding, Eric bent down to look at them and said ''Pathetic''. Valeen was in so much pain, she cried out ''Oh, my God! Help me!''. Either Eric or Dylan (reports vary) was reloading their weapon and asked her if she believed in God (for years after the massacre, stories went around the media that this conversation had taken place with Cassie Bernall who was one of the Columbine victims and known to be a Christian). Valeen was scared to answer, at one point she said no and then she said yes. He asked her why and she said that it was what her family believed. Witnesses then said that she crawled under the table and pretended to have passed out or died. 

Eric went to another table and shot John Tomlin and Nicole Nowlen, both were injured. John tried to get out from under the table but Dylan caught him and killed him. Eric walked back to the table where he shot and killed Lauren Townsend to find 16 year old Kelly Fleming hiding behind it (there wasn't enough room under the table for Kelly so she had to hide behind it). Eric shot Kelly in the back and underneath the table again towards Lauren who was already dead. He shot Lisa again and injured Jeanna Park.

Eric and Dylan then moved to the centre of the room where they stopped at a table to reload their weapons.  Eric spotted a student hiding under one of the nearby tables and asked him to identify himself. Dylan pointed his gun in the same direction and the person identified themselves as John Savage, John had been a friend of Dylan and had always gotten along with him. John was terrified but tried to strike up a friendly conversation asking Dylan what he was doing. Dylan replied ''Oh, just killing people''. John asked him if he was going to kill him too and Dylan told him to get out of the library. John ran as fast as he could out of the library's main entrance thinking that at any second they would change their minds.

Continued in part two.... x

(Continued from part two) 

He left some homemade bombs around the house and left a note on the coffee table which read ''I just got two felonies on my head, my parents can't take that. It would destroy them. The embarrassment would be too much for them. They couldn't live with themselves. My head just doesn't work right. God damn these voices inside my head. I have to kill people. I have no other choice''.

As morning approached (May 21st 1998), he dressed for school. He loaded up the Glock pistol, filled a gym bag with ammunition, taped two bullets to his chest and a knife around his ankle.

 He put on a long stone coloured trench coat and wore a hat with the logo 'NIN' which was from one of his favourite bands 'Nine Inch Nails'.

Kip was 15 years old. He took his gym bag and got into his parents car and drove to Thurston High School.

He arrived at the school at 7:45am and parked the car about two blocks from the school and jogged to the campus. He then entered the patio area where he fired two shots, one which killed student Ben Walker and wounded another student. He then went to the cafeteria where he knew where most of the kids would be as they'd go there every morning before class. Whilst in the cafeteria he fired the last remaining 48 rounds from his rifle, wounding 24 students and killing 17 year old Mikael Nickolauson.

When Kip's gun ran out of ammunition a group of seven students led by Jacob Ryker pounced on Kip and got him to the ground, during the scuffle, Kip reached for his Glock which was attached to his belt and fired again once more before the students wrestled the gun from him. Jacob was wounded by the shot from this gun but continued to restrain Kip with the other students till the police arrived and arrested Kip.

[Jacob Ryker was later awarded the 'Boyscout Of America' Honor medal with crossed arms for his bravery.]

Kip fired a total of 50 rounds, 37 of which struck students and killed two. The students who were wounded that day made a full recovery of their injuries.

Whilst in police custody, Kip grabbed the knife that he had taped to his ankle and pounced on a police officer shouting ''Just kill me, shoot me''. The police officer subdued him with pepper spray.

Kip told police officers that he wanted to commit suicide after killing his parents but couldn't bring himself to do it.

Whilst Kip was being questioned by the police their colleagues travelled to the Kinkel residence and found the bodies of Bill and Faith Kinkel as Kip had left them with a sheet covering each of their bodies, the music was still playing and there was homemade bombs and ammunition scattered around the house. They also found Kip's note laying on the coffee table.

Reporters were everywhere and people who went to school with Kip gave interviews describing him as 'strange and morbid'. They said that he would tell the class how to make bombs and said that he wanted to join the army so that he would know what it was like to kill people.

Whilst Kip was in custody being questioned by police officers he was emotional and talked about 'voices' inside his head. The recording is quite harrowing but you can listen to it: here

On the 24th September 1999 (three days before Jury selection was set to take place) Kip Kinkel pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder, forgoing the possibility of being acquitted by reason of insanity.

In November of 1999, Kip was sentenced to 111 years in prison without the possibility of parole. At the sentencing he apologised to the court for everything that he had done.

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(Continued from Part One) 

After much persuading, Bill and Faith gave in and bought Kip a Glock pistol. Bill thought it would be ok as long as he laid down some ground rules to Kip, such as: he can only use the gun whilst Bill is present, the gun would also be locked up and Bill would have the key. Faith wasn't so sure about the gun but Bill said it would be ok as he would keep an eye on Kip and he would enrol him in gun safety courses. 

Before giving in and buying Kip the gun, Bill asked a few friends for advice and they told him that Kip would end up either stealing a gun or finding a way to buy one at some point so it was best to do it this way. Bill thought that Kip would calm down with his obsession with guns if he had the Glock. 

[Later on when the Psychiatrist was questioned about his discussion with Kip about guns he said that he would never recommend a gun to a patient such as Kip]

After 9 sessions with the Psychiatrist, Kip seemed to be so much better and Faith spoke excitedly on the phone to Kip's sister Kristen about all of the progress that he had made. The decision was made to end Kip's therapy and after being on Prozac for three months, Kip wanted to stop taking the tablets, he said that he felt so much better and his parents agreed that he was doing really well so they said that he could stop the medication. 

Kip started attending 'Thurston High School' where his father had retired as a popular Spanish teacher. Kip really wanted to excel in sports and put himself forward for the football team, he was a lot smaller and skinnier than the other guys and struggled. It soon became apparent that Kip wasn't cut out to be a footballer. He saw this as another failure and constantly compared himself to other people.

He would write random notes in his bedroom such as ''I want to be something I can never be'', ''I'm always alone'' and ''I hate what I've become''. 

Bill decided to buy Kip another gun. It's not clear whether Kip had begged him for another gun or that Bill wanted to show Kip that he trusted him after he saw the improvement in Kip after he bought him the Glock pistol. 

It was during this time that Kip was having problems with a girl that he'd been dating. According to friends, the girl been playing mind games with him and he never really knew where he stood. He often felt frustrated with the situation. The relationship came to an end and this plunged Kip into depression. 

One day in English class, Kip's teacher put on the movie 'Romeo and Juliet' which was a remake of the famous love story and starred Leonardo Dicaprio and Claire Danes. Kip became obsessed with the film (especially as guns were heavily featured in the movie) and the soundtrack.

By the end of freshman year, Kip became interested in school shootings. There had been a few shootings that had happened the year before and he would make comments to friends about what he would have done and where he thought the shooters had gone wrong. He mentioned to friends that he thought his father was going to take away the guns he had bought him and he was fed up of Bill having so much control, he wanted a gun of his own that he could keep on him whenever he wanted to use it.

Kip arranged to buy a stolen gun from a friend and he hid it in his school locker. Someone tipped off the police (it's unknown whether Kip bragged about having the gun in his locker and was overheard or a friend had spoken up) and they came to the school. When the police searched the locker they found the gun was fully loaded. Kip was arrested and Bill was contacted.

The police took Kip straight to the police department and Bill had to pick him up from there. It's unknown what was going through Bill's mind at this moment but from friends who knew him, they said that he would've been furious, he was already at his wits end and had run out of options with Kip. Being the proud man that he was, he would've felt embarrassed having to constantly sort out the mess that Kip had created and now having to collect him from the police station. It must have been a very tense car ride home.

Kip's mother was out of the house and was unaware of what was going on. Bill's friends say that he would have laid down the law and confiscated the guns, they also said that Bill had opened up to a few friends previously saying that he was 'terrified' and was running out of options on how to help his son. According to the police, there was an argument between Kip and Bill. Kip claims that Bill said some hurtful things to him, including that he would be sent to military school if he didn't improve his behaviour.

After the argument, Kip went upstairs (the length of time is unknown) but soon returned downstairs and went into the kitchen where his father was sat at the kitchen counter with his back to him drinking a cup of coffee, without a word, Kip pointed a gun at his father's head and fired.

Around 6:30pm, Faith returned home. Kip told the police that as she was walking up the stairs, Kip said to her ''I love you mom'' then fired two shots which struck her head, a third above her left eye, another into her left cheek, another into the centre of his mother's forehead and one into her heart. 

Kip then moved his father's body into a bathroom which he covered with a bed sheet. He also covered his mother's body with a bed sheet. 

Kip had 'Liebestod' on continuous play (the final dramatic aria from Wagner's opera. The recording was also featured in Baz Luhrmann's 1996 movie version of Romeo and Juliet). 

Continued in part three....

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