Massacre at Columbine School April 20, 1999 - Eric Harris, Dylan Klibold, the list of the dead and wounded

In modern US history, massacre inColumbine School takes a special place. The massacre, organized by two teenagers, shocked the whole country. This event led to a public dispute over violent video games and permission to purchase firearms.

Harris and Klibold

The Columbine School in Colorado does notdiffered from thousands of the same educational institutions throughout the country. Here in the last class, Eric and Dylan's friends studied. They differed in their heavy character and strange habits. A few years before the massacre in the Columbine school, schoolchildren found themselves in the police because of hooliganism and computer theft.

Young people clashed with their peers. Eric Harris went to see a psychiatrist because he was diagnosed with depression. He took medicines that could have a negative effect on his behavior. Friends led a blog on the Internet, where they posted amateur videos related to the production of explosives and weapons.

Plan of shooters

On April 20, 1999, Eric and Dylan plannedexplosion in their own school. To do this, they for several months secretly engaged in the production of various bombs. According to their plan, they had to lay explosives in the school cafeteria and go to the street. After the detonator has worked, the shooters were supposed to open fire on the students and staff who ran out in panic. In total, friends were going to kill up to five hundred people.

If the bombs were produced by Eric and Dylanartisanal way, then they had to go to the trick to get the weapon. None of the shooters had reached adulthood, so they asked to buy the trunks familiar, which for this purpose went to Denver. The girl did not suspect about the plans of Hariss and Klibold.

Start attack

April 20, 1999 friends came to their school. They went to the cafeteria, where they quietly installed bombs with detonators, and then hurried to the street. However, at the appointed time, the explosion did not happen. First Harris and Klibold decided to wait a few more minutes for reinsurance. However, when nothing happened after that, they moved on to plan "B".

It consisted in what the arrows took from theirmachine guns and went to classes to arrange carnage. Thus began the massacre at Columbine School. When Harris took a sports bag with him, he was met by a schoolmate who asked why he missed classes. Instead of a clear answer, Eric told a friend: "I like you. Go away. Go home. " Within a minute this guy heard the first shots.

The first killed

The first victims of the shooters was a couple whosat on the lawn in front of the school. A girl from bullet wounds died right away, and her friend later became disabled. After that, the archers opened a random fire on the guys who were in sight. So three friends were seriously injured, who decided that high school students just played them.

In the future, massacre at school"Columbine" moved into it. The archers entered the building from the emergency entrance. Once in the west wing, they began to shoot those who were in the corridor. The next targets were the students sitting in the offices nearby. One of the teachers went to the library, where she called the service 911. Soon they learned about the incident in the police. A dress went to school.

When the police were in place, Klibold andHariss was already inside the building. The officers managed to notice the shooters through the window, after which a shooting started. However, no one was injured or injured.

Slaughterhouse in the library

At that time, the friends were heading for the library. Here they killed most of the people. Their victims were 10 students. They all hid under the tables when Dylan Klibold and his friend entered the room. However, this did not save them. Here, shooting at the US Columbia school was fought. The murderers approached their victims closely and cold-bloodedly shot them. Teenagers scoffed at wounded and numb with horror peers, asking them tricky questions about the desire to die and faith in God. Arrows clearly enjoyed what was happening. According to the reminiscences of surviving eyewitnesses, Klibold and Harris constantly laughed and made fun of each other.

In addition, comrades took with them carbon dioxidebombs, which they decided to use directly in the library. One of them was thrown under the table, where the pupil of the school was hiding. A dozen shots were made for some victims. When friends left the library after twenty minutes, 12 people were already killed in the school. Another teacher was bleeding and died after a while. Thus, Klibold and Harris have killed 13 people. The list of the dead appeared in the media a few hours after the tragedy.

Friends return to the dining room

The archers went down to the dining room, where they stillstored unmanned bombs. Eyewitnesses recalled that even in the library one of the friends said that they would still blow up the school. Apparently, they went to the dining room to finally set in motion the explosives stored there. In the room there were CCTV cameras that recorded the guys in the last minutes of their lives. Comrades puzzled over how to blow bombs. With them they had Molotov's cocktail, which was produced in the garage during the preparation for the attack on the school.

Harris threw the bottle in the place where it was storedbombs. Friends hastily left the room, waiting for the explosion. It happened, but its power was not nearly as lethal as the schoolchildren had hoped. The surveillance camera recorded the moment when a fire started in the dining room, which arose after the fireball burst from the bomb.

Suicide of Harris and Klibold

In the meantime, evacuation was organized on the streetpupils who were injured before the arrows were in the building. The police developed an action plan. Spetsnaz arrived at the scene. The situation was deepened by the fact that no one knew the exact number of attackers on the school. Initially, the police believed that they were dealing with an organized terrorist attack, in which a dozen people took part.

When friends left the cafeteria, they againwent to the top floor. From there the last exchange of fire began with the policemen on the street. Friends were firing until they had almost no bullets left. Then shooting at the US Columbia school was over, Hariss and Klibold went to the next room where they committed suicide.

The work of sappers and special forces

After the noise in the school ceased, the police stilldecided to storm. Special forces and sappers were sent there. The latter took up the library, where there were several unworked bombs. They had to be rendered harmless in the first place, since they prevented the evacuation of the wounded and the carrying out of corpses. Soon sappers were informed that explosives are also stored in the car of teenagers. They also got rid of them, and no one else suffered. It turned out that the archers took with them not all of their ammunition. In the car they found explosives and cartridges.

However, when SWAT was in the building, it became clear,that the arrows are already finished. Their bodies were found side by side in a burning room on the top floor. Apparently, Eric Harris left Molotov's cocktail, which crashed and provoked a fire. This was evidenced by a smoke detector signal that triggered a minute after the death of adolescents. Suicides fired in the mouth and temple. Death for them came instantly.

Meaning of the tragedy

Along with the names of the shooters list of the deadincludes 15 people. In memory of the victims in the city built a memorial complex. At that time, when the shooting at the Columbine school had just occurred, it was the third most similar case in the history of the United States. We are talking about massacres in educational institutions. However, this particular case in the state of Colorado became world famous.

The reason for this was the work of the then media. Soon around the school were dozens of reporters from various television channels and newspapers. The tragedy caused a response in the international community. It was the journalists who drew the attention of every American to what happened in an ordinary provincial school. Society demanded the results of the investigation of the responsible authorities.

From that April day, the world overthat there is a school "Columbine". 1999 remained in the mass consciousness associated with this tragedy. The word "Columbine" became winged. Unfortunately, similar cases of shooting in educational institutions of the USA, including in schools and universities, continue to repeat.

In 2007, a similar tragedy occurred inVirginia Polytechnic Institute, when 33 people died. A few years later, the shooting rang out at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It killed 28 people.

Investigation of the incident

When the names of the shooters became known to the cops,Investigators immediately went to their homes. They feared that important evidence would be destroyed. That did not happen. The investigation continued until January 2000, when the public was informed of the details of what had happened.

Up to this point, variousConspiracy versions of what happened. For example, adolescents were considered religious fanatics who staged a massacre at the Columbine School. The year of 1999 was full of scandals related to various totalitarian sects.

Public scandal

After it became clear the details of the life of twoshooters from Colorado, there were several media scandals. Investigators found Harris' diaries, where he described in detail his impressions of the Doom computer game. In this shooter you need to shoot at numerous monsters. Many Americans accused the game of promoting violence.

In addition, the public has criticizedseveral groups that listened to teenagers. The Rammstein musicians from Germany were particularly harassed. They were known for their provocative entourage on stage. In addition, the lyrics of their songs often touched on the topic of violence, hatred and intolerance. The group members rejected all charges and condemned the shooters. A similar campaign was waged against Marilyn Manson. This American artist noted that he prepared a special publication in the press, in which he talked about the causes of the tragedy. In addition, the musician wrote two songs dedicated to what happened in the school "Columbine".

The discussion on the sale of firearms became acute.weapons. After the tragedy, several states have introduced laws prohibiting or restricting such trade. US law has a number of features. General federal regulations in such matters do not apply. Each subject of the state decides in its own way, to allow or prohibit the sale of weapons. The same rules apply to the regulation of the death penalty, etc.