Harris shot three students on the west staircase. One
of these students, Daniel Rohrbough, was later fa-
tally shot by Klebold.
Sheriff’s Deputy Neil Gardner, the school re-
source officer, arrived on the scene at 11:24a.m.,re-
turning from lunch. He fired at Harris and Klebold
from a distance. When the gunmen retreated into
the school building, Gardner did not pursue. Many
more officers, including a special weapons and tac-
tics (SWAT) team, arrived quickly. However, no law-
enforcement officers entered the building, even
while an open 911 line revealed that students (ten to-
tal) were being methodically killed inside the library.
At 11:35a.m., Harris and Klebold left the library
and entered the cafeteria, which had been evacu-
ated. They then attempted to break into a locked
room where many students had taken refuge. This
event too was known to the police in real time via a
911 line. The gunmen returned to the library,
where, after shooting out the windows at policemen
and paramedics, they shot themselves dead around
12:08p.m.
A SWAT team finally entered the opposite end of
the building at about 12:06p.m.The police began to
search carefully one room at a time. Over the next
few hours, wounded teacher Dave Sanders bled to
death, even though cell phone calls from students
who were locked in a room with him had begged for
urgent medical care.
The murder victims were Sanders (age forty-
seven), Scott (seventeen), Cassie Bernall (seven-
teen), Steven Curnow (fourteen), Corey DePooter
(seventeen), Kelly Fleming (sixteen), Matthew
Kechter (sixteen), Daniel Mauser (fifteen), Rohr-
bough (fifteen), Isaiah Shoels (eighteen), John
Tomlin (sixteen), Lauren Townsend (eighteen),
and Kyle Velasquez (sixteen).
Before the Massacre Diaries and other writings dis-
covered in the perpetrators’ homes revealed that
they had planned the killings for over a year and that
they were consumed by a wide-ranging hatred of
most other people and a belief in their own superior-
ity and self-awareness. Before the killings began,
Harris and Klebold had, without being caught, vio-
lated twenty state and federal weapons control laws.
In 1998, the two teenagers had broken into a van
to steal some items. They were caught and pleaded
guilty to first-degree criminal trespass, theft, and
criminal mischief. On February 3, 1999, they suc-
cessfully completed a year-long juvenile diversion
program in which they had been required to per-
form community service and to take classes in anger
management. On April 14, 1999, the U.S. Marines
rejected Harris’s attempt to enlist because he was
taking Luvox, an antidepressant for which he had a
prescription.
One of the killers’ guns, an Intratec TEC-DC9
semiautomatic pistol, was supplied by their friend
Mark Manes, who also bought Harris ammunition
the night before the massacre. Manes was sentenced
to six years in Colorado state prison for selling a
weapon to a minor. Harris’s friend Robyn Anderson
supplied the other three guns: two shotguns (Savage
67H and Stevens 311D) and one carbine (Hi-Point
9 millimeter). Anderson bought the guns legally
in December, 1998, at the Tanner Gun Show. She
told conflicting stories about the purchase but said
that she would not have purchased the guns if she
knew that her name would be registered. Prosecu-
tors did not file charges against her because they be-
lieved that she was unaware of Harris and Klebold’s
plans.The Nineties in America Columbine massacre 211
People gather for a memorial service for the victims of the Colum-
bine High School shooting rampage in Littleton, Colorado, on
April 25, 1999.(AP/Wide World Photos)