Columbine High School massacre: Difference between revisions

=== The shooting begins ===

When the cafeteria bombs failed to explode, two minutes had passed and Harris and Klebold convened and walked toward the school. Both armed, they climbed to the top of the outdoor West Entrance steps, placing them on a level with the athletic fields west of the building and the library inside the West Entrance, directly above the cafeteria. From this vantage point, the cafeteria's west entrance was located at the bottom of the staircase, next to the Senior parking lot.

At 11:19 a.m., a witness heard Eric Harris yell "Go! Go!" The two gunmen pulled their guns from beneath their trenchcoats and began shooting at two 17-year-old students who had been sitting in the grass next to the West Entrance of the school. Rachel Scott was hit four times by Harris and killed instantly. Richard Castaldo was shot eight times in the chest, arm, and abdomen and paralyzed below the chest.

Deputy Paul Smoker, a motorcycle patrolman for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, was writing a traffic ticket north of the school when the "female down" call came in at 11:23. Taking the shortest route, he drove his motorcycle over grass between the athletic fields and headed toward the West Entrance. When he saw Deputy Scott Taborsky following him in a patrol car, he abandoned his motorcycle for the safety of the car. The two deputies had begun to rescue two wounded students near the ball fields when another gunfight broke out at 11:26, between Harris, back at the West Entrance, and Gardner, still in the parking lot. Deputy Smoker returned fire from the hilltop, and Harris retreated. Again, no one was hit.

Meanwhile, William David Sanders, a computer and business teacher and a varsity coach, had evacuated the cafeteria, taking students up a staircase leading to the second floor of the school. Much of the cafeteria had been evacuated thanks to him. Security footage captured the students running away and panicking in the cafeteria, including Sanders rushing up the stairs. The stairs were located around the corner from the Library Hallway in the main South Hallway. (It is believed, but not confirmed, that having evacuated the cafeteria, Sanders was rushing toward the library to evacuate students there when he encountered Harris and Klebold.) As Sanders and a student walked down the Library Hallway, they encountered Harris and Klebold, who were approaching from the corner of the North Hallway. Sanders and the student turned and ran in the opposite direction. Harris and Klebold shot at them both, Harris hitting Sanders twice in the chest but both gunmen missing the student. The latter ran into a science classroom and warned everyone to hide. Harris and Klebold returned up the North Hallway.

=== Library massacre ===

As the shooting unfolded, Patti Nielson talked on the phone with emergency services, telling her story and urging students to take cover beneath desks. According to transcripts, her call was received by a 9-1-1 operator at 11:25:05 a.m. The time between the call being answered and the shooters entering the library was four minutes and ten seconds. Before entering, the shooters threw two bombs into the cafeteria, both of which exploded (one of the explosions from the bombs can be seen on the surveillance tape, a staff member jumping away from the explosion). They then threw another bomb into the Library Hallway; it exploded and damaged several lockers. At 11:29 a.m., Harris and Klebold entered the library, where a total of 52 students, two teachers, and two librarians had concealed themselves.

=== Suicide of the perpetrators ===

At 12:02 p.m., Harris and Klebold re-entered the library, which was empty of surviving students except for the unconscious Patrick Ireland and the injured Lisa Kreutz. Once inside, they shot at police through the west windows but did not hit anyone. Around 12:05 p.m., both Harris and Klebold began to admit defeat and they walked toward a row of bookcases near the table where Patrick Ireland, Daniel Steepleton, and Makai Hall hid.