Columbine Shooting
By Hana KInder
What happened?
The Columbine Shooting was a high school massacre that happened around this time sixteen years ago in 1999 in Littleton, Colorado. The shooting was committed by two students that attended the school, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The act was premeditated and extremely planned out. Bombs were placed all over the school, included a fire bomb set off at a different location to distract firefighters. Propane bombs were placed in the lunch room, bombs were set up in cars, and ninety- nine additional explosive devices were hidden all over the school. Thirteen people died in the massacre and left 21 injured. After the shooting, Harris and Klebold committed double suicide. Their exact motives are still unknown to this day.
Facts About The Shooting
- Police suspected from Harris and Klebold's journals they wanted to "one-up" the Oklahoma City Bombing
- The attack began at 11:19 am
- The families of Harris and Klebold claimed that they had no idea how much the boys were troubled
- Both of the boys had been bullied throughout their school lives
- It only took the police three minutes to respond to the call
After Math
A total of 15 people died in this event. It wasn't quite so clear until up to this point just how easy it was to infiltrate something that seemed so safe. People began to realize that shooting and attacks can come from anyone, even your closest friend or your child. People began to take people with issues or who are troubled much more serious and schools became more strict and secure than they had previously.