Columbine High School massacre

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Columbine High School, FBI photo

Columbine High School massacre was a massacre that occurred on April 20, 1999, in Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado, United States. In a shooting spree, 25 people died and at least 15 were injured. The perpetrators of the notorious slaughter were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two student attending the high school. They both committed suicide during the bloody incident.

The massacre took place, coincidentally or planned, on the 110th birthday of the infamous German dictator Adolf Hitler. It resulted one of the highest casualties in school shootings ever happened in the United States. Its ramifications include nationwide debate on a various of issues such as media violence and gun control.


Columbine High School is a public secondary school in Jefferson County School District, Colorado. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were two juniors attending the school. According to the neighbors, Dylan Klebold was a talented student but had a minor criminal record. It is reported that the two students belonged to a small organization called "Trenchcoat Mafia" (but the group is not involved in the massacre). Also there are allegations that they supported racism.[1]


At 11 o'clock in the morning, hundreds of students went to lunch in the cafeteria or to the library. The two students, Harris and Klebold, entered the cafeteria through back door, wearing trench coats. They took out their semi-automatic guns and began shooting indiscriminately towards people in the cafeteria. Then the two proceeded to the library, during which the students inside the school fled around. At 11:21, a 911 dispatcher received report regarding to the shooting. The perpetrators continued to hunt down the students who were fleeing. The SWAT team entered the school and found explosives inside. The SWAT officers defused the explosives, and the two killers ended their own lives at noon. Students were escorted to evacuate. The school was declared secure at 4:00.





  1. Ros Taylor, Anatomy of assassins, Guardian Unlimited, April 21, 1999.

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Further reading