Murder In America - EP. 16 COLORADO - Columbine, The School Shooting That Changed The World

Episode Date: May 15, 2021

On April 20th, 1999, two disgruntled students from Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado went on a murder spree which ended the lives of students, a teacher, and the shooters themselves. In this episode we retell the story of the crime minute-by-minute, and provide some background on who these killers were and why they may have chosen to carry out their scholarly bloodbath. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Now that the spring season is upon us, Quince makes it so easy to refresh your warden's. with spring pieces that feel as good as they look. I love that they always use premium materials like 100% European linen, organic cotton, and ultra soft denim. And everything at Quince is priced 50% to 80% less than similar brands. They also work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen, so you're paying for quality and craftsmanship, not the brand markup. I recently have been on the hunt for a good denim skirt,

And so I went to Quince and I ordered their stretched denim miniskirt and I am absolutely obsessed with it. It is so cute I've already worn it several times. I have made a ton of different outfits with it. And I could not believe the price of it. I actually had to go back and double check it because it is such good quality. I could not believe how affordable it was. But that's been my experience with everything I've gotten from Quince. They are so affordable and their items are amazing.

and I know you will love them too. So refresh your everyday with luxury that you'll actually use. Head to quince.com slash America for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash America for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash America. Warning. The following podcast contains graphic descriptions of various violent

crimes and is definitely not suitable for all audiences. If you're easily triggered by depictions of violence, then this podcast is not for you. Listener discretion is advised. I hate the fucking world. Too much goddamn fuckers in it. Too many thoughts in different societies all wrapped up together in this fucking place called America. Everyone has their own goddamn opinions on every goddamn thing. And you may be saying, well, what makes you so different? Because I have something only me and Dylan have. Self-awareness. Call it existentialism or whatever the fuck you want. We know what we are to this world and what everyone else is.

We learn more than what caused the Civil War and how to simplify quadratics in school. We have been watching you people. We know what you think and how you act. All talk and no actions. People who are said to be brave or courageous are usually just stupid. Then they say later that they did it on purpose because they are brave when they did it on fucking accident. God, everything is so corrupt and so. filled with opinions and points of view and people's own little agendas and schedules.

This isn't a world anymore. Self-awareness is a wonderful thing. I know I will die soon. So will you and everyone else. Words from the Journal of Eric Harris. School shootings have become all too common in today's society. We as Americans failed to even blink when we hear of another school being ravaged by a senseless act of violence. But in the 1990s, school shootings were still pretty rare, and on the more, we were more.

morning of April 20th, 1999, two students in Colorado were preparing to embark on a brutal murder spree that would inspire countless copycats, become an international story, and send shockwaves across the planet that are still felt today. This is the story of the Columbine High School Massacre. And you're listening to Murder in America. It's rare to come across a crime that had an impact comparable to that of the Columbine School shooting. And this crime, for some twisted reason seemed to really capture the morbid interests of Americans across the nation. There have been many books written, countless documentaries, and TV shows produced about this case. But what's the real story of Columbine? That's what we're going to explore today. In the wake of

the massacre, there were a lot of false narratives spread about the reason why this act of violence occurred. People blamed violent video games, other people blamed mental illness, some even blamed Marilyn Manson. But in reality, Columbine was nothing more than a perfect storm of dreadful consequences. Words from the journal of Eric Harris. The human race sucks. Human nature is smothered out by society, job, and work and school. Instincts are deleted by laws. I see people say things that contradict themselves, or people that don't take any advantage to the gift of human life. Just because your momsey and dad'sy told you blood and violence is bad, you think it's a fucking law of nature? wrong. Only science and math are true. Everything. And I mean every fucking thing else is manmade.

My doctor wants to put me on medication to stop thinking about so many things and to stop getting angry. Well, I think that anyone who doesn't think like me is just bullshitting themselves. It's 11.08 a.m. in the morning on April 20, 1999, and Eric Harris is only three minutes away from Columbine High School. Earlier that morning, he and his friend Dylan Klebold had planted two 20-pound propane bombs in the cafeteria of the school set to detonate at 1117 a.m. only six minutes from now. The duo's goal that day was to kill as many people as possible before killing themselves. They hoped that their massacre would cause the most deaths in United States history, hoping to exceed the death toll of the Oklahoma City bombing, which took place four years earlier

in 1995, and took the lives of at least 168 individuals. But why did Eric and Dylan choose 420 to carry out their massacre? Why was that Tuesday, a seemingly random day of the week, chosen for the slaughter? There are a couple of theories. Before his death, Eric Harris demonstrated a deep fascination with Nazism. And 420 happens to be Hitler's birthday. Did he pick that day as a tribute to an evil figure in history that he admired? Another theory states that the original date of the massacre was meant to be on 419,

the day after Collinbein High School's prom. A day when students were meant to come to the school, excited after a fun night out with their friends. 419 is also the day that the Oklahoma City bombing took place in 1995 and the date of the federal raid on the Branch-Divdian complex in Texas in 1993, which ultimately took the lives of 76 men, women, and children. It seems most likely that they planned to carry out the slaughter on 419, but they were forced to push their plans back a day because they needed more time to assemble their guns and ammunition. In another strange twist, the day that the Columbine shooting took place is actually on the date of another famous shooting that took

place in Colorado. The Ludlow Massacre, a shootout that took place in 1914 between coal miners and state troopers, and it claimed 19 lives. While there have been theories posed, nobody seems to have a solid answer on the question, why 420? It's another question that has haunted society in the wake of the shooting. Eric arrives in the Columbine High School parking lot at around 11-11 that morning. Some say that 1111 is a lucky number, but in this case, it seems to be cursed. When Eric gets out of his car after pulling into the parking lot, he is confronted by a fellow student that he knew named Brooks Brown. Brooks cusses out Eric for missing class and being a delinquent, calling him a few names in the process. During the encounter, Brooks calls out Eric for

missing a test earlier that day, and chillingly, Eric responds, it doesn't matter anymore. Eric then said to Brooks, I like you now. Get out of here. Go home. and feeling like this was a warning that he really should listen to, Brooks then leaves the school grounds. He later stated in interviews that he didn't understand why Eric let him go unscathed that day, but he did. Oh, God, I want to die so bad. Such a sad, desolate, lonely, unsalvageable, I feel I am. Not fair, not fair! I wanted happiness! I never got it. Let's sum of my life, the most miserable existence in the history of time, farther and farther distant. That's what's happening.

Soon I will be at peace, I hope. I get more depressed with each day, more evil. And I can't ever stop it. Words from the journal of Dylan Klebold. At around 1112, one minute after Eric arrived at the school, Dylan Kleboldt pulls into the parking lot. After pulling in, he gets out of his vehicle and joins Eric in the process of arming himself. Both Dylan and Eric use straps and webbing to conceal the multiple weapons on their persons that day. with each carrying a 9mm firearm and a shotgun.

Both Dylan and Eric also carry a knife with them, and they were both outfitted in backpacks and duffelbacks, containing extra ammunition and pipe bombs. They had come to school that day ready to kill, and they were more than equipped to do so. 11.14 a.m. While the two shooters prepared for the massacre at Columbine High, three miles south of Columbine,

two backpacks filled with pipe bombs, aerosol canisters, and small propane bombs which had been placed in a field earlier that day by Dylan and Eric were set to explode. Only the pipe bombs and a single aerosol container were successfully detonated, and instead of causing the large explosion that the shooters had hoped for, this small ignition only caused a minor grassfire. Dylan and Eric had hoped that this explosion would divert emergency responders south of the school prior to their massacre, so that response time would be much slower when their massacre began. But the fire that the explosives caused was quickly extinguished,

and the response from first responders was minimal. This was the first of many failures in their plan that the shooters would experience that day. 11.16 a.m. It's lunchtime at Columbine High School and the cafeteria is packed with students. In one minute, the powerful propane bombs that were placed earlier that morning underneath lunch tables

are set to detonate in the cafeteria. If all goes according to Dylan and Eric's plan, they're about to kill or severely wound all 488 students that are currently located in the cafeteria. If the bombs they made were strong enough and their placement in the room was correct, their detonation also could possibly cause the ceiling of the cafeteria to collapse by destroying the pillars holding it up,

which would then drop the library and all the students and furniture in it down into the cafeteria area. The two shooters wearing all black wait nervously outside. 11.17 a.m. There is no explosion. Nothing unusual inside the school. No screams. 1118 a.m. Still no sign that anything has happened in the cafeteria.

Dylan and Eric grow anxious. The school that day had received a much less deadly introduction to the shooters than they had hoped for. You see, fortunately, due to failures in the construction of these weapons, the propane bombs ultimately never exploded. Hundreds of lives were saved simply by Eric and Dylan making a mistake while they were building these bombs. But regardless, the two had come to Columbine that day to kill, so they decide that it's time to start shooting. 11.19 a.m. Near the west entrance to the school, 17-year-old student Rachel Scott is having lunch with her friend Richard Castaldo, sitting in the grass and enjoying the beautiful weather. It is at this time when the massacre begins.

Dylan begins the assault by tossing a pipe bomb in the direction of the two pupils eating lunch, but the bomb only partially detonates and emits some smoke. Richard and Rachel believe this smoke bomb incident to be some sort of a senior prank and begin to laugh it off. But this sense of relief won't last long. It is then when Dylan and Eric both pull out their guns for the first time and opened fire. Rachel Scott has struck four times and killed instantly, with one bullet entering her left temple.

Her friend Richard Castaldo is shot eight times in the chest, abdomen, and arm. He falls to the ground unconscious, and when he eventually wakes up after the shooting, Richard realizes that he's forever paralyzed below his chest. If you think you are worthy, which you probably will, you little shit, drop all your beliefs and views and ideas that have been burned into your head and try to think about why you're here. But I bet most of you fuckers can't even think that deep. So that is why you must die. How dare you think that I and you are part of the same species when we are so different?

You aren't human. You are a robot. You don't take advantage of your capabilities given to you at birth. You just drop them and hop onto the boat and head down the stream of life with all the other fuckers of your time. Well, God damn it, I won't be a part of it. I've thought too much, realized too much, found out too much, and I am too self-aware to just stop what I'm thinking

and go back to society because what I do and think isn't right or morally accepted. No, no, no. God fucking damn it, no! I will sooner die than betray my own. thoughts. But before I leave this worthless place, I will kill whoever I deem unfit for anything at all, especially life. And if you piss me off in the past, you will die if I see you. Because you might be able to piss off others and have it eventually blow over, but not me. I don't forget people who wronged me. Words from the Journal of Eric Harris. After shooting Rachel dead and

Wounding Richard, Dylan and Eric continue their massacre. Eric points his 9-millimeter carbine at a nearby staircase, which leads to the school's cafeteria, and begins opening fire on students who still don't fully have a grasp on what's happening. A young 15-year-old named Daniel Roerbo's shot and killed instantly, while the two other boys he was walking with, Sean Graves and Lance Kirkland, are wounded and fall to the ground. Both Dylan and Eric then turned west towards a grassy hillside next to the school and opened fire on a group of five students who had been sitting outside enjoying their lunch.

break. The group of five hadn't been given much time to react before they had begun being fired upon by the shooters. Three members of the group ran away escaping the gunfire without injury, but the other two were not so lucky. Michael Johnson was shot in the face, leg and arm, but managed to still run and escape. But student Mark Taylor was forced to fall to the ground and play dead after being shot in the arms, chest, and leg. Both Michael and Mark, however, would survive the shooting. outside where the shooting has begun, students begin to question what's happening. While some figure that the explosions and loud noises are once again some sort of senior prank, teacher and coach

Dave Sanders knows that there's something darker occurring just outside the west entrance of the school. Dave at the time was a 47-year-old business and computer teacher who coached the girls' basketball and softball teams at Columbine High. He had a wife, four children, five grandchildren, and had worked at the school for 25 years. Upon hearing the gunfire, he sounded the alarm in the cafeteria with the help of two school janitors and began the process of evacuating students from the lunchroom. While Dave is saving lives, Dylan and Eric are nearby ending them. Lance Kirkland, who had already been shot by Eric, was now laying on the ground near where he was shot, calling out for help. Dylan slowly approached Lance, shotgun in hand, and listened to him weakly begged to be saved.

For a moment, Dylan just sits and stares at Lance. then Coltley tells him, sure, I'll help you, before shooting him in the face with his shotgun. Amazingly, although seriously injured, Lance survived. Sean Graves, who had already been shot and wounded by Eric, was paralyzed from the waist down. He managed to crawl over towards the cafeteria doors, had squeezed through the doorway, and collapsed. After collapsing, Sean rubbed his own blood all over his face and played dead. After shooting Lance in the face, Dylan then approaches Sean, who appears to be a successful kill from his perspective. It was this quick thinking, this idea to play dead that saved Sean's life.

As Dylan steps over Sean's corpse and enters the cafeteria area, he murmurs. Sorry, dude. Dylan steps into the cafeteria, where some students are hiding under the tables, but strangely, he doesn't shoot anyone. He may have entered the room to check on the bombs, but regardless of why he entered the cafeteria, he quickly exits and regroups with Eric, who is continuing to open fire on students. While Dylan was gone, Eric managed to strike 17-year-old Anna Marie Hodge later as she attempted to escape. The two fire-off rounds at kids standing near the soccer field, visible from their vantage point, but their bullets miss all of their targets. They then decide that it's time to enter the school and really begin the bloodbath. As they approached the west entrance to Columbine High,

Dylan and Eric tossed pipe bombs in several directions, including on the grass and onto the roof. However, only a few managed to detonate. Students who were in the area later reported hearing one of the shooters yelling, quote, This is what we always wanted to do. This is awesome. At the same time, art teacher Patty Nielsen was inside the school, and having noticed the commotion was walking with student Brian Anderson towards the west entrance.

Brian goes to open the doors, and as he pulls on the handles, Dylan and Eric shot out windows, sending shrapnel flying into both Anderson and Patty. They are both injured and take off running down the hallway. away from the gunmen. 11.22 a.m. While all of this is unfolding, school resource officer, Deputy Neil Garner,

receives a call for assistance in the senior parking lot from a custodian over the school radio. 11.23 a.m. While driving to the senior parking lot, another call comes through to Neil. This one's on his police radio, stating that a female was down.

He assumes that there's been a car accident. 11.24 a.m. After parking his car in the car, senior lot near the west entrance, noticing the chaos and exiting his vehicle, Neil hears another call come in from the school radio, but this one changes everything. Neil, there's a shooter in the school. Only moments later, Eric Harris sees Gardner and opens fire on him from 60 yards away with his 9mm carbine. Neil takes cover behind his vehicle, and when he hears the shot stop, pops up and fires off four rounds at Eric using his service pistol. Eric ducks

behind the building and emerges moments later, firing four more rounds at Gardner before rushing into the school through the west entrance with Dylan. It's interesting to note that at this point in the shooting, Eric had already fired his weapon 47 times, and Dylan only five. The gunmen proceed to walk slowly through the halls of Columbine High, tossing pipe bombs in front of them, and down hallways, and firing rounds at any students or faculty that they see. Dylan shot a girl named Stephanie Munson in the ankle, but she was able to eventually walk right out of the school to safety and survived. As the shooters continued walking throughout the hallways, it was a chaotic scene, almost resembling that of a war zone. There were near constant explosions from the pipe

bombs and loud gunshots ringing throughout the building. Anybody and everybody in the school that day was a target. Dylan and Eric attempted to shoot and kill multiple people who were fleeing during this part of the shooting, but they missed every single one of them, besides Stephanie Munson, of course. 1125 a.m. Patty Nielsen and Brian Anderson, after escape, escaping the rain of bullets at the west entrance that blew out the windows have entered the library. They frantically tell all the students inside to get under tables, find cover, and stay silent. Patty gets under the library's administrative counter, grabs the phone from the desktop above her, and dials 911. This is what dispatch hears.

Jefferson County 911. Yes, I am a teacher called by high school. There is a scene with a gun. He has shot out a window. I believe one is a gun. Yeah, she got Chawnee. Column High School. I don't know what's in my shoulder.

If it was just the last few of the toilet. Okay. Has anybody been injured, ma'am? Yes. Okay. And the school is going to panic. And I'm in the library. I've got students and my teacher are, you know,

time to take the holding. We need to please hear. Okay. We're getting them there. Who is the student, ma'am? I do not know who the student is. Okay. I don't know who the student is.

He told me a joke, I said, well, I don't think that's a good idea, and I went walking out. I can see what was going on it. He turned the gun straight out and shot, and my god, the window went out. And the kid standing there with me, I think he got hit. Before we continue with the play-by-play of the massacre, let's pause for a second and question for a moment. Who were Eric and Dylan? How did these two become so close? Why were they bonded so deeply that they were willing to commit mass murder together?

Well, if you look into their pasts, one finds a troubling pattern of behavior, and the story of a duo's descent into madness. Dylan and Eric met each other in the seventh grade and became friends very quickly. They would carpool together, go bowling together, play video games. Peers that knew the two of them described them as generally liked throughout the school. Eric was described by some as charismatic and likable. While Dylan was described as extremely nice but shy, and somewhat fidgety. The two had been described by those that knew them as inseparable by their junior year and said that every day at lunch they would sit together, isolating themselves from others,

even though they were a part of a pretty tight-knit friend group. Eventually, the two would end up working together at a local restaurant named Blackjack's Pizza. What's crazy to me is how normal these two seemed on the outside, in a superficial sense of the word. Just look at their high school senior yearbook pictures. They look like kids that could have been in my science class, somebody who I didn't really know, but someone who I was never really given a reason to dislike. The two were so inseparable from one another during school hours that allegedly a rumor began circulating throughout Columbine High that the two were romantically involved with one another. Although this was simply a rumor, that doesn't mean that either one of the two had ever had serious girlfriends or relationships. Though they both wrote extensively about women in their

journals, allegedly, both Eric and Dylan, according to a friend of theirs, Chad Loughlin, died virgins, having never had sex. Taking a look at their friendship in its earlier years, Dylan and Eric seemed like your average pair of teenage best friends. But as the years progressed, their friendship would begin to take some dark twists and turns. In 1996, three years before the shooting, a 15-year-old Eric Harris created a private website on the server AOL, America Online, for those too young to know what that is. At first, this website was meant to be a place where Eric could store custom levels of video games like Doom that he was playing. But before long, Eric began a blog on the site, where he would detail the mischievous activities that he and

his friend Dylan Klebold enjoyed getting into, including sneaking out of the house, vandalizing public property, and lighting fireworks. But soon this blog took a dark turn. In early 1997, Eric began rambling about his anger towards society. By the end of the year, this anger had progressed to a point where, on his blog, he was providing people with instructions on how to create homemade pipe bombs. Chillingly, at one point in the blog, he wrote, The first true pipe bombs created entirely from scratch by the rebels. The rebels being Eric and Dylan, this was a nickname that the two gave themselves due to Columbine's high school mascot, the rebel. Now our only problem is to find the place that will

be ground zero. That same year, in 1997, Eric made a post on his blog about his desires to kill students and faculty at Columbine High, writing, all I want to do is kill and injure as many of you as I can, especially a few people, like Brooks Brown. Interestingly, Brooks Brown was a student who ran into Eric only moments before the massacre began, whom Eric told to go home, leaving him alive. I've always wondered why he left Brooks alive that day, when in years prior, he had made specific death threats against him online. As an interesting side note, I want to add in here that Dylan and Eric were both mega fans of the Oliver Stone film Natural Born Killers, which follows two spree killers, Mickey and Mallory,

as they embark on a murder spree across America. While this story's fiction, Dylan and Eric seemed to view it as fiction that needed to be reenacted in real life. Two rebels living above the law, killing who they pleased, and becoming celebrities along the way. They even titled their Columbine shooting plans in their journals as NBK. Just felt like that was important to note. Anyways. In 1998, Eric and Dylan were charged with felonies after breaking into a locked van and stealing electronic equipment and computer. Since they were minors at the time, the two were sentenced to anger management classes and community service in exchange for getting the charges expunged from their records.

Strangely, even though at this point Eric had expressed homicidal thoughts many times on his blog and the two had experimented with pipe bombs, they made great impressions on their probation officer. The officer even called Eric a very bright individual who was likely to succeed in life and stated that Dylan was smart but needs to understand that hard work is part of fulfilling a dream. Even the police were fooled by these two into thinking that they were innocent. But words from the boys' journals showed that deep down, they really weren't repentant or cured of their anger after the incident. Words from Eric Harris's journal. Isn't America supposed to be the land of the free? How come, if I'm free, I can't deprive a stupid fucking dumb shit from his possessions if he leaves them sitting in the front seat of his fucking van out in plain sight and in the middle of fucking nowhere on a fry fucking day night. natural selection

fuckers should be shot same thing with all those rich snotty toadies at my school fuckers think that they are higher than me and everyone else with all their money just because they were born into it no one is worthy of this planet only me and whoever I choose

there's just no respect for anything higher than your fucking boss or parent everyone should be shot out into space and only those people I say should be left behind words from Dylan Klebold's journal My wrath for January's incident will be godlike, not to mention our revenge in the commons. God, so many people need to die. You know what I hate?

People! Yeah! Dylan and Eric also foreshadowed the attack on their high school and the schoolwork that they submitted in various classes. Both of the two used themes of violence and destruction and creative writing projects that they submitted for grades. On school computers, the two of them had researched. both war and murder. During their senior years, Eric wrote a research paper about the Nazis. And during his senior year, in a class shared with Eric, Dylan wrote a paper titled The Mind and Motives of Charles Manson, and the same class during his senior year and only weeks

before the shooting. Dylan submitted a creative writing piece for an assignment in which the story revolved around a man in black, walking into town, and blowing away all of the popular kids. The teacher who received this essay, Judith Kelly, was so unnerved. by the paper that she submitted it to Dylan's school counselor and contacted Dylan's parents. When confronted about the meaning of the essay, Dylan stated, It's just a story. Judith Kelly ended up being one of the educators who was in the cafeteria that day on the massacre, who helped usher students out of the room, in effect, saving hundreds of lives from the wrath of her own pupil.

Eric Harris was known by the school faculty as well for his violent and disturbing creative writing projects. In December 1997, Eric wrote and submitted to his instructor a paper on school shootings titled Guns in School, and later a poem written from the perspective of a bullet. In a psychology class, Eric also allegedly wrote in detail about his desires to embark on a shooting spree with Dylan. Finally, let's briefly talk about the tapes. In the years after Columbine, home recordings made by Dylan and Eric have been released to the press and to the public. And some of these are downright disturbing. Using video equipment that the two borrowed from the school, they recorded and kept a series of five videotapes.

Two of them, Hitmen for Hire and Rampart Range, have been released to the public, along with part of a third, titled Radioactive Clothing. Watching these recordings is absolutely eerie. Nobody had any idea at the time what these two were planning and what they were recording for us at home to see later on. In their tape titled Rampart Range, Dylan and Eric are seen with friends at a firing range near where they lived called Rampart Range. In the video, they're shooting guns at trees and bowling pins, laughing and joking around as they shoot from around their hips and from long range, all while wearing the black trench coats that they would go on to wear while committing the shooting. Looking back at this video, it's incredibly dark. While at the range, both Eric and Dill and are videotaped firing some of the weapons that they would go on to use in the Columbine Massacre. Here's a clip from some of the audio.

We will post the full videos on our Patreon if you want to watch them. I have a lead for everyone. All right, I want to take out the tree. Is that all? Try to hit the tree. I want to see what a slug does to the tree. That's a fucking slug! Imagine that in someone's fucking brain. And it hurt my wrist like a son of a bitch.

I bet so. Look at that. I got blood now. You guys see what I'm hitting it all? No. Behind the tree. Another one of their home videos titled Hit Man for Hire is even more chilling to watch.

In the short film, Dylan and Eric, wearing once again the same black trench coats that they would go on to wear during their massacre, play hitmen, that nerdy and weak kids in their school can turn to to protect them. In the film, Dylan and Eric helped by eliminating bullies. How do they eliminate these bullies, you ask? By shooting them to death, of course. The short film plays out as some sort of pseudo-dress rehearsal for the shooting that would take place in the same hallways that the movies were filmed in and features some disturbing scream dialogue from both Dylan and Eric. These are their voices that you're about to hear.

Who's making fun of me? I don't like it. I need some hell. Oh, church go off you, a lot of pretty cold. No, you goddamn piece of punk-ass shit. Do not mess with that freaking kid. If you do, I'll rip off your goddamn head.

And so far up your freaking ass, you'll be coughing up dandruff for four freaking months. Look, I don't care what you say. If you ever touch him again, I will freaking kill you. I'm going to pull a goddamn shotgun and blow your damn head off. Do you understand, you little worthless piece of crap? And finally, we have the basement tapes. These recordings have never been released to the public

and are apparently the most disturbing of all. They feature Eric and Dylan discussing their plans for the actual massacre itself, drinking Jack Daniels and showing off the weaponry to be used in the massacre. In the last tape, the two are sitting in the empty family room of Eric's home. There are large duffel bags laying on the floor. The transcript of this final tape reportedly goes as follows. Eric, say it now. Dylan.

Hey, Mom, got to go. It's about a half an hour before our little judgment day. I just wanted to apologize to you guys for any crap this might instigate as far as something. Just know I'm going to a better place. I didn't like life too much, and I know I'll be happy wherever the fuck I go. So I'm gone. Goodbye. Reb. Dylan takes the camera and then begins filming Eric. Eric. Yeah, everyone I love, I'm really sorry about all this. I know my mom and dad will be just like, just fucking shock beyond belief. I'm sorry, all right. I can't help it. Dylan, interrupting, says. We did what we had to do. Eric. Morris, Nate, if you guys live, I want you guys to have whatever you want for my room in the computer room. Dylan then adds that they can have his things as well. Eric. Susan. Susan.

sorry. Under different circumstances, it would have been a lot different. I want you to have that fly CD. There is a pause. Then eventually Eric says, that's it. Sorry. Goodbye. And Dylan sticking his face in the camera says, goodbye. The tape ends with a brief shot of a sign that is hanging on the wall of Eric's bedroom, with someone's arm partially blocking it from sight. On the sign are the letter CHS, which assumedly stand for Columbine High School. There's also a drawing of a bomb with a lit fuse next to the CHS and in bold black letters, the word clue. This tape was recorded roughly 30 minutes before the attack on April 20th, 1999. Now, let's go back to Columbine High on that very same day. Growing up, my mom was always the best at handling sticky, stressful situations. I mean,

we have so many crazy family memories, so many things that stick out to me, so many trips that we took and just funny moments. I mean, I remember. specifically one just crazy time when we had jet skis and we took them out. We had rented them for the day and we took them out on this lake and somehow something got on the engine of the jet ski, mine stalled, my dad stalled and my mom and sister had to come rescue us because we floated to shore on the other side of the lake. We've got some hilarious pictures from that day. But it's just one of those memories that I don't want to let die. And aura frames can help keep those moments alive. So basically an aura frame is like a virtual.

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Just a really quick interjection. Follow our social media. We just started our podcast four months ago in January of 2021, and it's always been our goal to become successful podcasters. We do everything ourselves, from recording, editing the podcasts, adding the music, and even mixing and mastering the final products. And we still have full-time jobs of our own. If you want us to produce even more episodes and have more time to make them even longer,

consider becoming a patron or buying a piece of our merch. It also helps us a lot if you spread the word about our podcasts on social media. So if you, yes you with your headphones in at the gym, you driving the car or you listening in your room and vibing. If you are listening and really like what we're doing here, take a screenshot of your screen, upload a story to Instagram or tweet and tag us, and we will be sure to show you some love on our socials. It all helps so much.

This is our dream and only you, the person listening to this message, can help us achieve it. Anyways, that's all for now. I'm so sorry we have to interrupt the story, but our handle on Instagram and Twitter is at Murder in America. If you want to find our Patreon, just type in Murder in America, Patreon. And I hope to see you all there. Enjoy the rest of the episode. This is where it gets really dark. 1126 a.m.

The police force outside of Columbine High was beginning to grow, and those who were wounded were beginning to receive emergency treatment for their injuries. As wounded students are being rescued and a crime scene is being established, Eric once again approaches the door at the west entrance, and he opens fire on school resource officer Eric Gardner, who once again returned the fire. This time, though, police officers from the town were already at the school and opened fire at Eric as well, prompting his quick retreat back into the building.

As Eric and Dylan run back into the school, escaping momentarily from the gunfire, they see two people, a student who is monitoring the halls and Dave Sanders, the teacher who had initially warned students to leave the cafeteria, saving hundreds of lives. Sanders had been sweeping and securing the school, room by room, attempting to save as many lives as he possibly could. But sadly, it seemed like his time was up. As soon as they saw Dylan and Eric, Sanders and the student that he was with turned in the opposite direction and began running down the hallway.

Both Dylan and Eric instantly opened fire, and while their bullets missed the student, Eric ended up landing two solid shots in Dave Sandler. back and neck. One of those shots ended up blowing out some of Dave's teeth. Dylan then proceeded to walk slowly and ominously towards Dave, taking a sweet time with every step, tossed a pipe bomb in a different direction, then returned back towards Eric. The two gunmen then departed towards the library. Dave Sanders, after being shot, crawled across the ground and attempted to make his way to a nearby science room, a room into which the students who he had just been with had fled into. A teacher ended up dragging his body into the science room, where inside a student by the name of Aaron Hansy was brought in from another classroom to provide first aid. Sadly, Dave ended up dying

that day, in that room, but it's to be noted that the students tried as hard as they could for hours to save his life. This is the part of the story where the bulk of the massacre takes place. Twelve students would receive injuries in this room, and ten would lose their lives. After the massacre, survivors from the massacre in the library would go on to state that initially they believed that they were invisible to the shooters. But that hopeful thought would be proven wrong very quickly, carrying with it deadly consequences. 1129 a.m. Dylan and Eric enter the library of Columbine High were 52 students. Two teachers and two librarians are hiding. Although the school at the time was filled with noises of alarms and sirens, the library was striking. The library was

strikingly silent. The events that would go on inside of that room were truly taken straight from a nightmare. We're going to stop the podcast right here once again to warn you, the listener. This part of the show is going to be extremely graphic and disturbing. The descriptions of the events that follow, of the bloodbath that took place in the library, are described in the following paragraphs as accurately and honestly as we could possibly transcribe them. Once again, this warning is real. Listener discretion for the next portion of the program is heavily advised. There Dylan and Eric stood in the entryway to the library. Some witnesses who survived the slaughter that took place in this room reported hearing one of the shooters holler.

Everybody with a white cap or baseball cap, stand up! Other survivors reported hearing the words, All jocks stand up. We'll get the guys in white hats. Wearing a white cap was a tradition for those who participated in sports at Columbine High School. And after hearing this, some students removed their white hats and attempted to hide them. When, after yelling out these demands, no students stood up to face the gunman. Witnesses claimed to hear one of the two utter, fine, I'll start shooting. It was Eric who allegedly shot first, firing two shots from his shotgun while aiming at a desk in front of him. While nobody

was underneath the desk, a student Evan Todd had just taken cover nearby and was hit in the eye and lower back with wooden splinters from the desk. Luckily, he was not seriously injured. Dylan and Eric then walk into the library towards the row of computers located at the south end of the room. At the north end of the computers, a disabled student named Kyle Velazquez is hiding. Dylan fired his shotgun, killing him instantly. The gunmen then continue walking, laying their duffel bag of bombs at the far end of the room, and they take a moment to reload, breathe, and focus on the plans for their slaughter at hand. After loading fresh bullets into their weapons, the two then slowly began to walk through the row of computers, towards the library's windows, while at the same

time sporadically shooting at random throughout the room, oftentimes yelling, yahoo, after taking their shots. The theory that the Columbine massacre was some sort of revenge, a form of vengeance stemming from some sort of bullying that Dylan and Eric experienced has been expressed in the press and also in research papers and television programming since the day of the shooting. This outlook on the events of that day makes the shooting seem to possess some sort of Tarantino-style revenge narrative, where the outcasts finally released their violent emotions, taking revenge against the jocks for the horrible things that they did to them during school.

But this narrative has never really proven to be true. In reality, Dylan and Eric hated people. They hated humanity. They hated everyone. And while they did seem to hate some groups of people more than others, during the massacre, on that day, they really seemed to hate everyone equally and killed with a distinguishable lack of consideration or remorse. Words from the Journal of Eric Harris.

If you recall your history, the Nazis came up with a final solution to the Jewish problem. Kill them all. Well, in case you haven't figured it out yet, I say kill mankind. No one should survive. We all live in lies. People are always saying they want to live in a perfect society. Well, utopia doesn't exist. It is human to have flaws.

You know what? Fuck it. I think we are all a waste of natural resources and should be killed off. And since humans have the ability to choose, and I'm human, I think I will choose to kill and damage. as much as nature allows me to. Words from the journal of Dylan Klebold. Existence is pure hell and pure heaven at the same time.

I will never stop wondering. The lost highway will never end. The music in my head will never stop. I didn't want to be a jock. I hated the happiness that they have. And I will have something infinitely better. I am God. The zombies will pay for their arrogance, hate, fear, abandonment, and distrust.

At this point, back in the library, Dylan and Eric are ready to kill. After approaching the window in the library and noticing a police presence outside, the two gunmen opened fire on authorities, and the police officers outside fire back. While nobody is injured in this gunfire, it signals at a point of no return for Dylan and Eric.

At this point, they know that they're going to die, and they want to take out as many people with them as they possibly can. Dylan, probably knowing the end is approaching, then removes his trench coat and fires his shotgun at a nearby table that he knew students were hiding under, injuring three individuals. Patrick Ireland, Daniel Steepleton, and Mackay Hall. All three survived. Eric, noticing that Dylan has begun his killing spree, gets down on one knee and fires his shotgun underneath the first desk on a nearby row.

He hits 14-year-old Eric Kernow in the neck, causing a wound that would quickly kill him. Eric then moves to an adjacent desk and fires again, injuring 17-year-old Casey Ruggseger with a blast that passes completely through her right shoulder and severs an artery after grazing her neck. Casey, bleeding out and severely wounded, dropped to the floor and began to gasp in pain. When Eric saw this, he looked at Casey and responded coldly, saying, Quit your bitching. Eric got up and walked over to another table where two students were hiding. He slapped the surface of the table twice.

knelt down and yelled, Peekaboo, before firing his shotgun at 17-year-old Cassie Bernal, killing her instantly. At this point in the shooting, Eric had grown cocky and was holding the shotgun with one hand when he fired the fatal shot at Cassie. His shotgun fiercely recoiled backwards, hitting his face and injuring his nose.

He told this fact to Dylan, and Dylan responded, Why'd you do that? The timetable during the bloodbath in the library is hard to discern. There haven't been many specifics released, but it is known that the assault in this room lasted from 1129 a.m. to 1136 a.m. While seven minutes may not seem like a long time to you, the listener, in a situation like this one, these students were forced to endure that day. That is an incredibly long time. For all seven minutes, you're forced to confront death. Forced to wonder if you're going to make it out alive that day. Those are questions that you should never have to ask yourself while at school. but at that point in the shooting, things weren't looking good for the pupils in the library.

After killing Cassie, Eric turned to the next closest table, where a girl named Bree Pasquale was sitting next to the table, as opposed to taking shelter beneath it. Eric pauses for a second, stares at Bree, then asks her, Do you want to die? Bree pleaded for her life and would go on to later state that Eric seemed almost disoriented in that moment. Allegedly, after hearing her pleas, Eric responded with laughter and stated, Everybody's going to die anyways.

watching these events unfold, Dylan shouts out to Eric, shoot her. And strangely, in a moment of mercy, Eric spares Bree, stating, no, we're going to blow up the school anyway. As Dylan watches Eric Spare Bree, he notices one of the people that he had just shot attempting to provide medical attention to another one of his victims. Silently, he takes aim. And just as Patrick Ireland's head rose above the table, Dylan fired his shotgun. Even though Dylan shot Patrick twice in the head and once in the foot, knocking Patrick unconscious, he went on to survive. Dylan, then in a shocking move, walked over to another table. This is the only part of the transcript that we aren't going to read in its entirety.

When Dylan approached this next table, he discovered 18-year-old Isaiah Sholes, 16-year-old Matthew Kector, and 16-year-old Craig Scott. Dylan then called out to Eric that he had, quote-unquote, found an N-word. I'm not going to actually say the word, and proceeded to attempt to yank Isaiah out from under the table. Eric then runs over and joins Dylan. They taunted Isaiah for a few seconds with racial slurs before they started to open fire. Eric shot Isaiah in the chest, killing him. And Dylan shot and killed Matthew Kector. Scott, the third kid under the table, pretended to act dead to avoid being shot,

all the while being soaked with the blood of his two friends. Without pause, Eric then screamed, who's ready to die next? And then proceeded to arm and throw a pipe bomb, which detonated without causing injury to anyone. Both Dylan and Eric opened fire at this point, shooting randomly at decorations and desks, injuring four students in the process.

It was then when a student named Villeen, who had just been seriously injured in the previous shotgun blast, began to scream, Oh my God, oh my God. Hearing this, Dylan asked Veline, Do you believe in God? To which he responded, yes. Dylan then asked her, why?

And then remarked, God is gay. Valene, scared for her life, said nothing. As Dylan reloaded his shotgun, she thought that this was the end. But after reloading a shotgun, he walked away, leaving Valene unharmed. Eric approached a table slowly and once again bent down to look at who was underneath. He observed two girls hiding. told them that they were pathetic and dismissed them, sparing them from the bloodshed.

He then moved to another table in open fire, injuring Nicole Noan and John Tomlin. Mortally wounded, John attempted to crawl out from under the table to make an escape, but before he could reach safety, Dylan repeatedly shot him, killing John instantly. Behind the table that John had just crawled out from under,

a 16-year-old girl named Kelly Fleming had taken shelter by hiding next to the table and not under it, due to a lack of space. Eric approached her, and with every step he took, Kelly was filled with more and more anxiety. Once Eric noticed Kelly, he, without uttering a word, fired a shotgun blast directly into her back,

killing her immediately. Eric fired again, injuring more students than began to walk away. It was at this point when Dylan and Eric regrouped in the center of the library. They reloaded their guns, took a pause, and decided to continue on with the massacre. Then something interesting happens. As Eric bends down to fire at somebody who is hiding underneath the table, he watches as the person shifts out of his line of fire,

and instead of instantly shooting, decides to ask the student to identify themselves. They respond, stating that they are a boy named John Savage. John was actually an acquaintance and somewhat of a friend of Dylan's. Dylan then approached him. John asked, what are you guys doing? And Dylan responded, killing people. John then asked if they were going to kill him. Possibly due to a fire alarm, Dylan asked John, what?

And John repeated the question in fear for his life. But surprisingly, Dylan says no, and tells John to run. John then fled and escaped the library with no injuries. After John's departure, Eric immediately fired at another table, striking 15-year-old Daniel Mouser in the ear and hand. Daniel reacted physically in some way, which caused Eric to fire at him again in close range. Daniel was shot in the center of the face and killed almost instantly. Dylan and Eric both moved south through the library at this point and fired underneath a random table, injuring two students and critically injuring one. It was now 11.35 a.m., and in six minutes Dylan and Eric had

wounded 12 people in the library and killed 10. The gunmen met up at the entrance to the room, fired a few more shots, and exited. It should be noted that before Dylan left, he felt the need to grab the chair next to the counter under which art instructor Patty Nielsen was hiding and violently slammed the chair on top of the counter for no apparent reason. After leaving the library, Dylan and Eric walked slowly throughout the school, firing shots off and causing as much damage as they possibly could. When they got to the cafeteria, they were captured on security cameras. Eric took a drink from a cup that was left behind by students that had evacuated and fired a shot at one of the bombs that the two had left in there earlier in an attempt to detonate it.

After the bomb refused to explode, Dylan lit and threw a Molotov cocktail at it, and a minute later, the gas attached to the tank ignited. The fire that was started at that moment was extinguished minutes later by the school's sprinkled. system. 12.02 p.m. After damaging as much of the school as they could, Dylan and Eric returned to the library and opened fire on the police outside. A gunfight ensues, but nobody was injured. 12.05 p.m. At this point, all gunfire had come to a halt. The police were outside waiting, anticipating more shots to be fired, but they were met with silence. It was at this time that the shooters decided it was finally time to commit suicide.

There has been a lot of debate over the years about who killed themselves first, what they said before they died, and exactly what transpired in the library, and the moments directly leading up to the pair's death. But regardless, it was between 1205 and 12.08 p.m., when Dylan and Eric ended their lives. Eric sat back, laid against a bookshelf, stuck the shotgun in his mouth,

and fired it vertically, straight through his head. Dylan knee down in his knees, pressed his tech nine pistol to his left temple and fired. The massacre was finally over. In the following months and years, local police were heavily criticized

for not intervening sooner. Video games, violent movies, and musicians were blamed as being causes of the violence, being cited constantly in the news as the reason why the shooters chose to shoot. People claimed that Dylan and Eric wanted revenge.

People claimed that Dylan and Eric were influenced. by dark people and dark forces. People claim that Dylan and Eric were bullied. But at the end of the day, from what we've learned in the last 22 years, I think we can confidently say that we don't truly know why Dylan and Eric chose to kill. There isn't a specific reason. There isn't a real source. There isn't a cause. All that I can discern from studying the case is that within the two of them existed a vitriolic form of hate, an extremely strong hatred for almost everybody and everything. And sometimes emotions like that have no cure.

And without proper action from those who surround others who experience these emotions, occasionally, this hatred and these dark thoughts turn to real plans and death. Words from Dylan Klebold's journal. This next passage is the last thing that he ever wrote in his journal. My emotions are gone. So much past pain at once, my senses are numbed. The beauty of being numb. I won't bore you with advice shit like you already know.

NBK, which was their code word for the Columbine shooting, will be the ultimate revenge to our shit lists, the pigs, everyone. We'll fucking take care of business to be sure. Ah, fuck it, just let it come. They will know when gods get pissed off. The little pussies will feel the shotgun shells and the bullets. Just like that little piglet at community service, they need to die so bad.

Now they will. And now the final words from Eric Harris's journal. Months have passed. It's the first Friday night in the final month. Much shit has happened. Vodka, a.k.a. Dillon. Has a tech nine. We test fired all of our babies.

We have six time clocks ready, 39 crickets, small bombs. 24 pipe bombs. And the napalm is under construction. Right now, I'm trying to get fucked and trying to finish off these time bombs. NBC came quick. Why the fuck can't I get any? I mean, I'm nice and considerate and all that shit, but no, I think I try too hard. But I kind of need to, considering NBK is closing in.

The amount of dramatic irony and foreshadowing is fucking amazing. Everything I see in here I incorporate into NBK somehow. Either bombs, clocks, guns, napalm, killing people, any and everything finds some tie to it. Feels like a goddamn movie sometimes. I want to try to put some mines and trip bombs around this town too, maybe. get a few extra frags on the scoreboard. I hate you people for leaving me out of so many fun things. And no, don't fucking say, well, that's your fault, because it isn't.

You people had my phone number, and I asked in all. But no, no, no, no, don't let the weird-looking Eric kid come along. Oh, fucking no. After the massacre at Columbine High School, many memorials were erected. Rachel Scott, the first victim of the massacre, had a car parked in the school parking. lot that day, but unfortunately she was never able to leave the school. So her car stayed eerily parked in the parking lot. It later became a memorial that sat in the parking lot for a period of time. The same happened for victim John Tomlin's truck. The vehicles were covered with notes and flowers

in the days following the shooting. It became a symbol of resilience, love, and healing. A permanent memorial was finally dedicated, almost a decade after the massacre, in 2000. and the library where most of the killings took place was demolished and replaced with an atrium, meant to inspire reflection in those who visit. But not everybody found comfort in peace after the shooting. A mother of a victim killed herself years after Columbine, and a student who witnessed the death of coach and teacher Dave Sanders did as well. But what did those events mean?

Did the shooters win? Sadly, many other mass shooters in recent years have seen. cited the Columbine Massacre as an inspiration for their violence. This was one of the goals that Dylan and Eric had that day, to do something so violent, so shocking, that it would inspire more individuals to commit these atrocious acts. And in reality, they sort of succeeded. It's sad that people view this massacre and say to themselves,

I want to do that. But unfortunately, it has happened in the past, and I'm sure in the future, it will again, because at the end of the day, you can't really change hate. It has existed, and for some reason, I'm sure it always will. But regardless, the memorial that I want to end this episode with our focus on is one that was erected almost immediately in the wake of the massacre. Soon after the shooting, an artist erected 15 crosses for those who died in the Columbine Massacre on a hill, with 13 of the crosses representing those that were killed

in the murder spree, and two other crosses placed, one for Dylan and one for Eric. There were also 15 trees planted, 13. for the victims and one for both Dylan and Eric as well. People flocked to the memorial from the community. They wrote messages of love on the crosses of the victims, messages of sorrow, messages of hurt. And interestingly enough, they also wrote messages on the crosses of Eric and Dylan. While you'd think that these messages would contain hatred, mean-spirited remarks about how horrible these shooters were, The messages written on the crosses were actually those of forgiveness. You also deserve our compassion.

He loves you, someone wrote on one of the shooter's crosses. Other messages read, hate breeds hate. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. No one is to blame. And how can anyone forgive you? People even left flowers, little notes, objects on the crosses of Dylan and Eric. And for me, those actions, those messages, leaving the flowers, that's a bit shocking to hear. These people just had family members slaughtered by Eric and Dylan.

And yet, almost immediately, they were willing to attempt to forgive them. And some even felt bad. It just goes to show that some of these shooters, some of the people that commit these horrible acts, they suffer from deep mental illnesses, abusive backgrounds, or troubled childhoods. But also at the same time, Eric and Dylan lived great lives. They had great families. There was no abuse. And instead of choosing love, the two of them seemed to just want to choose hate.

The crosses for the shooters didn't stay up for too long, though. Soon after they were erected next to the crosses for the other victims, a disgruntled father of one of the victims tore down Dylan and Eric's crosses and chopped down their two trees. He seemed to think that they didn't deserve to be forgiven. at least not so quickly. And this also brings up another question. What happens to the bodies? While everybody who died in the Columbine massacre

was buried in a public cemetery, the final resting place of Dylan and Eric's bodies has never been revealed to the public, something that they're buried in unmarked graves in public cemeteries. Others believe that the parents of the shooters must have had the bodies cremated and now keep their ashes with them at home.

It's a mystery. But, sadly, I don't think that the end of the day, violence in schools is over. It's far from over. And I don't think that it will ever truly cease because even though Eric and Dylan are dead, their bodies rotten and destroyed, the legacy of their crime of that shooting spree on April 20th, 1999, will continue to haunt America for decades to come. Colin here again, Courtney, is at work right now. I'm sorry, I'm talking on my. I'm iPhone because we had some technical difficulties earlier.

But thank you for listening to this brand new episode of Murder in America. And welcome to all of you people who are joining us for the first time, maybe the second time, this week. We have so many exciting stories to tell and crazy places to visit with the show. So we're happy to have you along for the ride. And if you want to follow our social media, you can follow Murder in America on Instagram and Twitter, Kornshan on Instagram, and Colin Brown on Instagram. Those are our personal. I just want you guys to, at the end of the day,

think about the fact that Columbine really did influence the way that the United States has changed in the last couple of decades. And it makes you wonder what some of those people that lost their lives would have to say. Makes you wonder, the dead don't talk or do they. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usa a.com slash bundle.

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