This paper covers one of the most famous school shootings in American history; the massacre that occurred at Columbine high school. The events that happened that day, the thoughts of the killers and the reactions of the public are looked at greatly. The increase in security on school campuses and the severity of policies regarding intruders also is covered throughout this paper. Overall, the shooting that happened at Columbine High School changed the way people look at school shootings and the way people look at the security of schools today.
Before The Shooting.
April 20, 1999 was supposed to be a normal day for the students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the shooters of the incident, had this plan for 15 months that they were going to shoot down the school and everybody in it. In Eric's journal, he wrote that "he was left out of many activities, even when he tried to be involved" (Zero Hour). He even made a website that was looked at as a "hit list" of people he was planning on eventually killing. In his journal entries, he related everything to the NBK (standing for Natural Born Killers) which was the code name for the massacre that was about to occur. (Dylan Klebold pictured left, Eric Harris pictured right).
Dylan and Eric both thought of themselves as superior to everyone in the school and they hated not only the people at the school but the environment of the institution. They were both bullied and had severe anger issues. When people were asked about Dylan and Eric, many people said that the two boys didn't seem to be very angry, but Eric seemed to be very dominant over Dylan and forced him to do many dangerous actions, even if he didn't want to partake in such actions. Eric had severe depression issues that he had to take medicine for. Reports said he took Zoloft for his depression, but he was said to be having homicidal and suicidal thoughts.
