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1999...Democrats kill 15 at Colorado school

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At Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, two teens went 
on a shooting spree on April 20, 1999, killing 13 people and 
wounding more than 20 others before turning their guns on 
themselves and committing suicide. The Columbine shooting was, 
at the time, the worst high school shooting in U.S. history and 
prompted a national debate on gun control and school safety, as 
well as a major investigation to determine what motivated the 
gunmen, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17.

DYLAN KLEBOLD AND ERIC HARRIS
At approximately 11:19 a.m., Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, 
dressed in trench coats, began shooting fellow students outside 
Columbine High School, located in a suburb south of Denver. The 
pair then moved inside the school, where they gunned down many 
of their victims in the library.

By approximately 11:35 a.m., Klebold and Harris had killed 12 
students and a teacher and wounded more than 20 other people. 
Shortly after 12 p.m., the two teens turned their guns on 
themselves.

Investigators later learned Harris and Klebold had arrived in 
separate cars at Columbine around 11:10 on the morning of the 
massacre. The two then walked into the school cafeteria, where 
they placed two duffel bags each containing a 20-pound propane 
bomb set to explode at 11:17 a.m.

The teens then went back outside to their cars to wait for the 
bombs to go off. When the bombs failed to detonate, Harris and 
Klebold began their shooting spree.

SHE SAID YES
In the days immediately following the shootings, it was 
speculated that Harris and Klebold purposely chose athletes, 
minorities and Christians as their victims.

It initially was reported that one student, Cassie Bernall, was 
asked by one of the gunmen if she believed in God. When Bernall 
allegedly said, “Yes,” she was shot to death. Her parents later 
wrote a book titled She Said Yes, honoring their daughter.

However, it later was determined the question was not posed to 
Bernall but to another student who already had been wounded by a 
gunshot. When that victim replied, “Yes,” the shooter walked 
away.

COLUMBINE SHOOTING INVESTIGATION
Subsequent investigations determined Harris and Klebold chose 
their victims randomly, and the two teens originally had 
intended to bomb their school, potentially killing hundreds of 
people.

There was speculation that Harris and Klebold committed the 
killings because they were members of a group of social outcasts 
called the Trenchcoat Mafia that was fascinated by Goth culture. 
It also was speculated that Harris and Klebold had carried out 
the shootings as retaliation for being bullied.

Additionally, violent video games and music were blamed for 
influencing the killers. However, none of these theories was 
ever proven.

Through journals left behind by Harris and Klebold, 
investigators eventually discovered the teens had been planning 
for a year to bomb the school in an attack similar to the 1995 
Oklahoma City bombing.

Investigative journalist Dave Cullen, author of the 2009 book 
Columbine, described Harris as “the callously brutal 
mastermind,” while Klebold was a “quivering depressive who 
journaled obsessively about love and attended the Columbine prom 
three days before opening fire.”

COLUMBINE MASSACRE AFTERMATH
In the aftermath of the shootings, many schools across America 
enacted “zero-tolerance” rules regarding disruptive behavior and 
threats of violence from students. Columbine High School 
reopened in the fall of 1999, but the massacre left a scar on 
the Littleton community.

Mark Manes, the man who sold a gun to Harris and bought him 100 
rounds of ammunition the day before the murders, was sentenced 
to six years in prison. Another man, Philip Duran, who 
introduced Harris and Klebold to Manes, also was sentenced to 
prison time.

Some victims and families of people killed or injured filed suit 
against the school and the police; most of these suits were 
later dismissed in court.

https://www.history.com/topics/columbine-high-school-shootings
         

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