by Jeff Kass
Jessica Hughes, who was among those sharing the prom limo with Dylan, talked with him about a reunion party a couple weeks away for their elementary school gifted program. Dylan was going to bring pizza because he worked at Blackjack.
The prom dance was at the Denver Design Center and ended around midnight. Robyn and Dylan then took the limo back to Kelli’s and changed clothes. Robyn drove herself and Dylan to the after-prom at Columbine where Eric, wearing a blue flannel shirt, met them.
Monica Schuster, who was with the prom group, said Eric seemed normal at the after-prom. She spent time with him, “just goofing around going to the various sites and playing the various games.” Robyn says Eric, Dylan, and their buddy Chris Morris gambled at the casino.
Robyn left the after-prom with Dylan at about 3:00 a.m. and drove them back to Kelli’s house, where Dylan had left his tuxedo. She got Dylan home at 3:45 a.m. Sue Klebold was up, and asked Dylan how prom went. He flashed her a flask of schnapps, but said he only drank a little. The rest of the group was going to breakfast, he said, but he just wanted to go to bed.
The Klebolds usually reserved Sundays for family dinners. But when she spoke with police ten days after Columbine, Sue Klebold could not recall whether they followed through the Sunday before the shootings.
∞
The diary entry is undated, but if all was going according to plan, Dylan wrote at around 9 a.m. Monday:
One day, one is the beginning? the end. hahaha. reversed, yet true. About 26.5 hours from now, the judgment will begin. Difficult but not impossible. necessary, nervewracking & fun. What fun is life without a little death? It’s interesting, when ’m in my human form, knowing I’m going to die. Everything has a touch of triviality to it. Like how none of this calculus shit matters the way it shouldn’t. the truth. In 26.4 hours i’ll be dead, & in happiness . . . Little zombie human fags will know their errors & be forever suffering and mournful, HAHAHA, of course i will miss things. not really.
On the next page, Dylan scrawled “WILL,” and wrote, “OK, this is my will. This is a fucking human thing to do, but whatever. [name deleted]—You were a badass, never failed to get me up when i was down. Thx. You get . . . ” The next word is unintelligible. That’s it.
That same day Eric and Dylan went to 6:30 a.m. bowling class at the Belleview Bowling Lanes. Dustin Gorton, who was in the class, remembers Eric shooting a pellet gun at a wall outside the alley. At 7:15 a.m. Eric and Dylan went with Nate Dykeman and others to a nearby King Soopers supermarket. Eric and Nate then had video class together; Eric kept falling asleep and the teacher told him to go to the nurse’s office.
That Monday was the last time Robyn Anderson saw Dylan. They had second period calculus together in the morning and he was quiet, but that wasn’t unusual; he would sleep until noon or 1:00 p.m. on the weekends if he could.
Various classmates have recollections of what Eric and Dylan did next that Monday. Dustin Gorton and Eric Jackson say that around 9:50 a.m. they went to a nearby Burger King drive-thru as part of a film. Gorton drove his 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle with Dylan in the front and Eric in the back. They bought food, drove back to school, ate breakfast in the parking lot, then went to the school’s video production room.
Nate Dykeman had fourth period creative writing with Eric and Dylan at around 10 a.m. Dykeman says the teacher didn’t arrive on time, so Eric and Dylan ditched. Then Susan DeWitt says she saw Eric and they spoke for five minutes. He seemed anxious and irritated.
Brooks Brown says that by the time of Columbine, he had reconciled with Eric. They had a couple classes together that final semester, and Brooks figured it was time to “bury the hatchet.” Brooks also felt bad for Dylan, who was caught in the middle of the feud.
“We were both immature,” Brooks said to Eric. “I just want to move on. He [Eric] shrugged and said, ‘Cool.’”
So the day before Columbine, Brooks says he invited Eric and Dylan to skip fourth period and go to McDonald’s for lunch. They said OK, but first had to stop at Eric’s house. Around 2:30 p.m., friend Nicole Markham saw Eric and Dylan in the student parking lot. She thought it was strange because it was after school, and she never knew them to stay after school for anything.
At one point in the day, Columbine student Andrew Beard told police he talked to Dylan on the phone about their fantasy baseball league. Beard was trying to trade some players with Dylan. “I’ll think about it and let you know tomorrow,” said Dylan, who did not seem troubled.
The night before Columbine, Dylan told his parents he was going to Outback Steakhouse with Eric and some friends. He said it was Eric’s favorite restaurant and Eric had coupons. Dylan left around 6:00 p.m. When he got back, his mom asked him if he had a good time. He said he did. He had steak.
But Nate Dykeman says he knew of no dinner at Outback on Monday. What is clear is that Eric met with gun supplier Mark Manes that night.
Eric still wanted Manes to get him some ammunition and called him around 8:00 p.m. Manes felt bad and quickly went to Kmart. On his way back, Manes called Eric and told him to come over to his house. Manes, tall and thin, wore his long brown hair in a ponytail. That night, he waited in his driveway as Eric pulled up and gave him $25 for two boxes of 9mm cartridges—100 rounds.
Eric had been all but officially rejected, but talked to Manes about the Marines.
“It’s the last option I have,” Eric said.
Manes asked Eric if he was going target shooting that night.
“Maybe tomorrow,” Eric replied.
Eric recorded his thoughts on a tape labeled “Nixon,” which has only been excerpted by the sheriff. “It will happen in less than nine hours now,” he said. “People will die because of me. It will be a day that will be remembered forever.” (It is unclear why the tape is labeled Nixon, but it may not be connected to the shamed president. Eric once wrote about a friend named Nixon, and he may have simply recorded over an old tape.)
Zach Heckler figured he talked on the phone every night with Dylan. They would discuss school and the computer death match game Quake. (Arm yourself against the cannibalistic Ogre, fiendish Vore and indestructible Schambler, using lethal nails, fierce Thunderbolts and abominable Rocket and Grenade Launchers, reads the description.) But when Zach called Monday night, Dylan said he was on the phone with someone else. He told Zach to call back. Zach tried again at 10:30 p.m. Dylan said he was tired and going to sleep. That was odd, Zach thought. Dylan didn’t usually go to bed until 12:30 a.m. or 1:00 a.m.
∞
Eric and Dylan never articulated why they chose April 20th. On the basement tapes they say at one point, “Today is the 11th, eight more days,” and indicate the shooting will come on a Monday. But they do not note that the 19th is the anniversary of the 1993 Waco siege, nor the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. If they were set on the 19th, they may have missed that deadline and had to wait an extra day simply because Manes forgot to buy the ammunition.
The 20th has its own logic as the 110th anniversary of Hitler’s birthday, given Eric’s obsession with the Nazis, but that connection is never stated. In a December 20, 1998 diary entry, Eric noted that the album Adios by one of his favorite bands, KMFDM, was coming out “in April,” although he already seems settled on a date. Still Eric wrote, “How fuckin’ appropriate, a subliminal final ‘Adios’ tribute to Reb and Vodka. Thanks KMFDM . . . I ripped the hell outa the system.” The album was released on April 20, 1999.
But Eric and Dylan had April 1999 in their sights for at least a year. What makes sense is that they saw the month as the appropriate time for their own send off. This would be their graduation ceremony. And an ending they would control. They approached it with military precision. They made figure drawings to show how guns, ammo, and napalm tanks (never used) would fit on their bodies. A spreadsheet shows they produced dozens of cricket bombs on various days, and that the quality ranged from “OK” to “excellent.�
� Tests on thirteen batches of napalm showed that one was “worthless,” another was “shitty but in a fix would do OK,” and one was “good burning. very slick.” Budget figures ranged from $20 for gas to $200 for explosives. But Eric’s list indicated he still needed to get laid.
In Dylan’s car police found an undated list titled, “DO SHIT FOR NBK”: “fire off clip, buy suspenders, buy cargo pants, work out carrying gear plan, find out how to carry TEC-9, get pouches, get napalm containers, buy straps, figure out how to carry knife, get bullets, get shells, give Reb powder, buy adidas soccer bag(s), give Reb glass containers, fill up gas cans, find volatile combo of gas and oil, look for voltage amplifier, buy ‘wrath’ t-shirt, buy punk gloves.”
A schedule for the day of Columbine indicated they would get up around 5 a.m. and meet at “KS” (probably King Soopers market) at 6 a.m. They would get gas, propane, and carry out other last minute preparations. They had plotted the ebb and flow of the cafeteria lunch crowd to maximize their killings:
10:30 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.: 60-80 people scattered
10:56 a.m.: lunch ladies bring out shit
11:08 a.m.: up to 220 people
11:15 a.m.: 500+
11:16 a.m.: HAHAHA
∞
On the 20th, Eric and Dylan filmed themselves in the family room on the main level at Eric’s house for the final segment of the basement tapes. It was just before 11:00 a.m.
“Say it now,” Eric says.
“Hey mom, gotta go,” Dylan says. “It’s about 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 (inaudible) or something. Just know I’m going to a better place. I didn’t like life too much and I know I’ll be happier wherever the fuck I go. So I’m gone. Goodbye.”
“I just wanted to apologize to you guys for any crap,” Eric says. “To everyone I love, I’m really sorry about this. I know my Mom and Dad will be just like just fucking shocked beyond belief. I’m sorry alright. I can’t help it.”
“It’s what we had to do,” Klebold interjects.
“Morris, Nate,” Harris says, apparently referring to Chris Morris and Nate Dykeman, “if you guys live I want you guys to have whatever you want from my room and the computer room.”
Klebold says they can also have his possessions.
Harris wills a CD, Bombthreat Before She Blows (by the band Fly), to a girl. “Susan, sorry,” he says, possibly referring to Susan DeWitt. “Under different circumstances it would’ve been a lot different.”
“That’s it,” Harris says. “Sorry. Goodbye.”
Klebold sticks his face in front of the camera: “Goodbye.”
This photo and headline ran together the first day after the shootings, and they have come to symbolize Columbine. Rocky editor John Temple explained it this way: “Our approach to Columbine started on the first day. Our headline, ‘Heartbreak,’ tried to convey that we are part of this community, that we are neighbors, that we care.” Photo by George Kochaniec, Jr.
Unidentified students outside Columbine High the day of the shootings. This is among the work that earned the Rocky Mountain News the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. The Rocky donated its $5,000 prize to the HOPE committee, a group of families of Columbine victims raising money to build a new library at the school. Photo by George Kochaniec, Jr.
Students from Columbine High and other schools in prayer and song a day after the shootings. Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez.
A “frame grab” of Eric Harris, left, and Dylan Klebold, right, in one of their homemade videos titled “Radioactive Clothing.” The short, mostly goofy skit followed Eric and Dylan as they investigated contaminated clothing. The guns are probably fake, but this image of them is not far off from what they looked like the day of the shootings.
A rare glimpse of a killer’s parents: Wayne and Katherine Harris at the federal courthouse in Denver for depositions in 2003. Photo by George Kochaniec Jr.
Tom Klebold leaving the federal courthouse in downtown Denver in 2003 for depositions in Columbine lawsuits. “I’ve had better days,” he told the Rocky Mountain News. Photo by George Kochaniec Jr.
Sue Klebold, also leaving the federal courthouse as part of Columbine depositions in 2003. It appears to be the first time victims families were able to see the killers’ parents. Photo by George Kochaniec Jr.
President Clinton, who was in office at the time of Columbine, at the groundbreaking for the Columbine Memorial on June 16, 2006. At the groundbreaking, Clinton pledged $50,000 to help build the memorial.
Photo by Ellen Jaskol.
Doves released at the dedication of the Columbine Memorial on September 21, 2007—thirteen at first, then some two hundred more.
Photo by Chris Schneider.
Randy and Judy Brown filed numerous complaints regarding Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for more than two years before Columbine. After Columbine they were among the fiercest critics of how sheriff’s deputies investigated those complaints, and the actual shootings. Photo by Ellen Jaskol.
On the eight-year anniversary of Columbine the father of slain student Isaiah Shoels visited the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Four days earlier, a gunman had killed thirty-two before killing himself. The stones and flowers arrayed behind Michael Shoels represent the dead, including the gunman. Photo by Matt McClain.
There was no script to follow as Michael Shoels steps forward and places a flower on a memorial after the noontime moment of silence for the Virginia Tech victims on April 20, 2007. Photo by Matt McClain.
The Sunday front page of the Rocky Mountain News, five days after the Columbine shootings.
PART TWO: RECOIL
Violent Profiles
Psychopaths run the gamut, according to various interpretations, from serial killer Ted Bundy to murderous psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.
Intellectually, psychopaths have an icy sense of superiority: They are arrogant, excessively opinionated, self-assured, cocky, charming, and glib.
This is coupled with a mean hot streak: They are impulsive, irritable, and aggressive. Also called antisocial personality disorder, psychopaths may repeatedly steal, destroy property, harass others, or pursue illegal occupations, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the Bible of mental health diagnoses.
Psychopaths may act that way to avoid being pushed around. They may also say their victims deserved it because they’re foolish or losers, or because life is unfair.
Psychopaths move through life with reckless abandon. Yet they are not necessarily violent. The death they leave behind may come in pursuit of other goals. What stands out is their manipulation. The psychopath may be the confidence man in a sharp suit who extracts someone’s trust and then empties their bank account. They have no care for the feelings of others. The intellectual underpinning and lack of conscience may be scarier than the violence they sometimes embody.
Eric Harris, say some experts, was a psychopath. He remained calm on the surface and told people what they wanted to hear. He got through his diversion program with flying colors by seeming motivated and apologetic, writing a perfectly contrite letter to the owner of the van he broke into. In school, he wrote an “I feel sorry for myself” essay about how he learned a lesson from the break-in. He looked Judy Brown in the eye and told her he was sorry for flipping out over his backpack after the cracked windshield incident. It was all fakery (although Judy Brown was the one person who appears to have called him on it). He didn’t care. But he did keep plotting a school shooting.
Dwayne Fuselier, a psychologist who was the FBI’s lead Columbine investigator, is among those who believe Eric acted like a psychopath. He says that when psychopaths do become violent, it is extreme. “Eric Harris wanted to hurt people,” he adds. “It made no difference who it was.”
Psychopaths are not crazy or “psycho,” as everyday usage may imply, but rational, calculating, and aware of their actions. They cannot plead insanity when faced with their crimes. When a schizophrenic says they killed someone because they were under orders from a Martian, for example, “we deem that person not responsible ‘by reason of insanity,’” psychologist Robert Hare writes in his book about psychopaths, Without Conscience. “When a person diagnosed as a psychopath breaks the same rules, he or she is judged sane and is sent to prison.”
Hare adds, “Still, a common response to reports of brutal crimes, particularly serial torture and killing, is: ‘Anyone would have to be crazy to do that.’ Perhaps so, but not always in the legal or the psychiatric sense of the term.”
Treatment programs, such as diversion, don’t work because psychopaths don’t want to be cured. “Psychopaths don’t feel they have psychological or emotional problems, and they see no reason to change their behavior to conform to societal standards with which they do not agree,” Hare writes.
In therapy, psychopaths learn to manipulate the sessions and say the right things: “I was an abused child,” or “I never learned to get in touch with my feelings,” Hare writes.