Like most people my age the Columbine high school massacre was my first introduction to terrorism.
I watched the gruesome drama play out on television from my eighth grade classroom.
This month I read Dave Cullens in-depth analysis of the massacre,Columbine.
Daniella Urdinlaz
I hoped it would answer those questions I ask every time another shooting happens.
Eric Harris was a psychopath who planned the attack for over a year and a half.
[*] There was never a trenchcoat mafia and Eric and Dylan werent bullied.
[*] Jocks were never targeted.
Most of the shooting was done in the schools library, not a classic jock hang out.
The kids who were killed and the kids who were spared were random.
Daniella Urdinlaz
Eric and Dylan were barely even paying attention to who they killed.
[*] No one could have stopped the shooting.
Plenty of people knew that these boys could be dangerous.
Mark Manes
Their parents were warned by other parents and by at least one teacher at the school.
They exist in the form of a series of explanatory videos shot by the pair in Erics basement.
I believe in God.
FBI render of Columbine High School
and then Because I believe and my parents brought me up that way.
[*] The media coverage while the shooting was still in progress MAY have helped the killers.
Every classroom in Columbine had a TV in the classroom.
Mark Manes
Two or Three hundred students and staff were trapped during that time.
They hid in classrooms and closets, and in plain site under tables in the cafeteria.
[*] Students tried to use the media to bring attention to those who needed medical rescue.
Qqqqqq
They brought a white board to a window and prayed people would see their message and act on it.
The board read 1 BLEEDING TO DEATH.
They fell through the ceiling tiles and ended up needing medical rescue.
[*] Danny Rohrburgh was shot down on the sidewalk outside of the school.
[*] Tom Klebold suspected his son when a friend called and said the suspects were wearing trenchcoats.
Tom went to Dylans bedroom and discovered his trenchcoat gone.
He then phoned the police.
[*] Wayne and Kathy Harris were private and unhelpful to police from the start.
While their son was still alive inside Columbine they retreated to their home and refused entrance to the police.
To this day they have never spoken to the press.
[*] Eric Harris was on the anti-depressant Luvox and remained on a full dosage through the massacre.
[*] Like many terrorists, Eric Harris wanted to create performance violence.
The staff and students at the school didnt matter.
Even in his journal he referred to the audience as his real victims.
[*] Both boys kept journals.
Erics was about how many people he wanted to kill.
Dylans was covered in hearts and was about how he wanted someone to love him.
[*] Eric liked to play with firecrackers and start fires as a kid.
[*] Eric had a stay at home mother and a scoutmaster father.
The classmates parents contacted the police and a file was created for Eric Harris.
[*] Both boys were popular at school and had many friends.
They werent the most popular, but they werent outcasts.
The Saturday before the shooting, they were at prom.
[*] For a time, there was a clique at Columbine called the Trench Coat Mafia.
Eric and Dylan were not members.
No one took it seriously.
Dylan brought the short story with him to Columbine the day of the murders.
[*] The night before the attack the boys went to Outback and bought themselves steaks.
Two students were killed at a restaurant near the school on Valentines day.
A basketball star took his own life.
[*] Columbines principal was diagnosed with a stress related heart condition.
[*] Columbine won the state football tournament the year following the massacre.
[*] No gun control laws were passed as a result of Columbine.
What strikes me about this massacre is how many people were aware that Eric and Dylan needed help.
The boys were in a a diversion program that was supposed to help troubled teens transition into good adults.
Why didnt it do anything?
If we cant cure psychopathy for people like this, what do we do with them?
There has to be a better option than waiting for them to explode.
