Columbine High School Massacre

Columbine High School Massacre

Many people have most definitely heard of the horrifying events of the Columbine High School Massacre. Two shy, bullied, low self-esteemed teenage boys go plant bombs in their school and shoot everyone, right? This is what a majority of people believe and they think the cause behind it has to do with the boys’ clothes, music, and the school jocks and preps bullying them (Rosenburg). This, however, is a misconception. In order for anyone to truly understand what was going on in the minds of these killers, they must first look deeper into the event and know exactly what it is that occurred. They must immerse themselves into the minds of both the murderers and the unfortunate victims. For example, imagine this:
They were both smart and they loved to work with computers (Rosenburg). On the side however, they had been planning for up to a year before their attack and spending night after night building up their own arsenal (God I Want to Torch and Level Everything, Cullen) which consisted of knives, guns and a massive amount of bombs (Rosenburg). The boys began to search for pipe bomb recipes on the internet and decided to “study the influx of students in the cafeteria” and noticed that “there would be over 500 students after 11:15 a.m. when the first lunch period began. They planned to plant propane bombs in the cafeteria timed to explode at 11:17 and then shoot any survivors as they came running out” (Rosenburg). They obtained their guns from Dylan’s friend Robyn K. Anderson and co-worker Philip Duran who introduced them to Mark Manes who then sold them another firearm (Shepard). They began to make charts and schedules of their plans and even wrote about their dream in each other’s yearbooks (God I Want to Torch and Level Everything, Cullen). There was much debate on why they selected the date that they did and it is believed to be because it marked the date of Hitler’s birth
Eric and Dylan were more than ready for their assault when they arrived at their school at 11:10 a.m. (Rosenburg). They headed straight for the school’s cafeteria with two duffel bags, each one concealing a 20-pound propane bomb (Rosenburg). They set them down by some of the lunch tables and went back out to their cars to wait for an explosion (Rosenburg). Luckily, the bombs didn’t explode for if they did it is estimated that all off the 488 inside the cafeteria would have been killed (Rosenburg). Once they realized the bombs weren’t going to detonate, they decided to go ahead and enter the building anyways (Rosenburg). “Klebold, wearing cargo pants and a black T-shirt with ‘Wrath‘ on the front, was armed with a 9-mm semi-automatic handgun and a 12-gauge double-barrel sawed-off shotgun. Harris, wearing dark-colored pants and a white T-shirt that said ‘Natural Selection,’ was armed with a 9-mm carbine rifle and a 12-gauge pump sawed-off shotgun. Both wore black trench coats to hide the weapons they were carrying and utility belts filled with ammunition. Klebold wore a black glove on his left hand; Harris wore a black glove on his right hand. They also carried knives and had a backpack and a duffel bag full of bombs”(Rosenburg). Not long after the boys entered the school, a couple bombs exploded as a diversion for the cops and at the same time, they open fired by the cafeteria instantly killing Rachel Scott and injuring Richard Castaldo