History UsefulNotes / Columbine

In regards to motive, the general consensus amongst investigators says the pair--particularly Harris--were [[StrawNihilist nothing short of nihilists]] who wanted to leave a mark on the world. Posthumously-conducted personality profiles of Harris stated that he was an anti-social, paranoid, [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]] with unrestrained aggression; Harris's journal reveals an {{Ubermensch}} mindset, with frequent references to [[TheSocialDarwinist "natural selection"]] (a slogan which happened to adorn the shirt he wore during the massacre). One entry in Harris's journal is a discussion on how he wanted to put everyone into a super-''Doom'' game and see to it that only the strong survive. Both boys also frequently played ''Doom'' and it is rumored that they used the game's level editor to plan the massacre.\\

In regards to motive, the general consensus amongst investigators says the pair--particularly Harris--were [[StrawNihilist nothing short of nihilists]] who wanted to leave a mark on the world. Posthumously-conducted personality profiles of Harris stated that he was an anti-social, paranoid, [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]] with unrestrained aggression; Harris's journal reveals an {{Ubermensch}} mindset, with frequent references to [[TheSocialDarwinist "natural selection"]] (a slogan which happened to adorn the shirt he wore during the massacre). One entry in Harris's journal is a discussion on how he wanted to put everyone into a super-''Doom'' game and see to it that only the strong survive.\\

The killers arrived at the school at 11:10 AM, and went to the cafeteria with the large duffel bags containing their bombs, each wired to detonate at 11:17 AM, shortly after the start of lunch. Arming and priming the bombs, the two rushed back to their cars to wait for them to detonate. [[WheresTheKaboom The bombs failed]] thanks in part to [[EpicFail their lack of finesse in the finer points of bomb-making.]][[note]]The "bombs" in question were really crudely-made amalgamations consisting of carbon dioxide canisters, galvanized pipe, and metal propane bottles that were to be primed via a lit match. The weekend prior to the massacre, the two reportedly spent upwards of a few hundred dollars at local hardware stores and gas stations, buying a good amount of their stock. The bombs set to detonate within the cafeteria specifically were made from one 20 lb. (9.1 kg) propane tank each, with a gallon gas can attached.[[/note]]. The only bomb that ended up detonating was a decoy that they had planted in a field near the school earlier that morning. Detonating at 11:14, it caused a small fire, but since the explosion and subsequent fire occurred so close to the time the shooting began, it did nothing more than vaguely alert local authorities that ''something'' wasn't right.\\

An even deadlier shooting two years later has a similar impact in Polly's world as Columbine did in reality. On the 14th of February 2001, [[spoiler:Christian Weston Chandler--yes, [[Webcomic/{{Sonichu}} Chris-chan]]--shoots up his high school in Midlothian, Virginia, killing eighteen classmates (fourteen of them female) and three faculty members, one of whom was Creator/ShondaRhimes (her Hollywood career fizzled out in Polly's world and [[RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman she became an English teacher]]).]] A similar backlash against video game violence erupts when people learn that [[spoiler:Chandler]] was a huge fan of games like ''Arbiter of Sin 2'', an [[UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 ultraviolent]] FirstPersonShooter about a soldier turned minion of {{Satan}} fighting the forces of Heaven that [[RatedMForMoney seemed like it was designed to cause outrage]]. Infamous Florida attorney Jack Thompson, joined by eight of the victims' families, sue both Creator/{{Nintendo}} and Creator/{{Sega}}. On an even more depressing note: Just as our world's Columbine massacre led to the widespread distrust of {{goth}}s and [[LonersAreFreaks other teen outcasts]], the "Valentine's Day Massacre" of Polly's world leads to the stigmatizing of people on the autism spectrum after early reports--later determined to be untrue--claim that [[spoiler:Chandler]] was autistic. The phrase "sperging out" enters the lexicon to describe going on a mass murder spree, similar to GoingPostal, while anti-vaccination activists claim that vaccines are responsible for turning [[spoiler:Chandler]] into a murderous psychopath.

The two boys were juvenile {{delinquents}} who had a history of trouble with the law. The year before the shooting, they had both been arrested for breaking into and stealing tools from a locked van. They made such a good impression on the police that, in exchange for having their criminal records expunged, they would go through a program that included community service, psychiatric treatment, and--for {{Ha|irTriggerTemper}}rris--anger management classes. For showing good behavior and making a good impression on their handlers, they were discharged from the program a few months early. In the memoirs they taped before the shooting, they bragged about how well they had [[ISurrenderSuckers fooled the police into thinking they had reformed]]. The two later made a video for a school project called ''[[http://www.acolumbinesite.com/hitmen.php Hitmen for Hire]]'', in which they played two {{Bully Hunter}}s, and Harris wrote a violent ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' FanFic for a creative writing project. Harris was also caught the year before making threats on his website to various students and teachers, and Klebold had a long history of cursing at teachers and getting into fights with his manager at the pizza place he worked at.\\

Harris and Klebold were victims of bullying, including homophobic remarks, but they gave as good as they got: They often wrote in their diaries about how they themselves had bullied underclassmen and "fags". (Ironically, Klebold identified as bisexual online, although he [[ButNotTooBi remained closeted]] in real life until he died.) In early reports, the two were said to be members of the "Trenchcoat Mafia," a clique of gamers and self-styled outcasts who all wore black trenchcoats. In reality, they were only friends with one member of the group, and most of the group's members had graduated before the massacre. The killers were also not quite the {{loners|AreFreaks}} that early reports described them as--they had a number of friends (friends who were unpopular, but friends nonetheless), and three days before the massacre, Klebold had taken female friend Robyn Anderson to the prom. The duo were avid gamers, particularly of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' (which Harris had even made [[GameMod mods]] for), and used the names "Reb" and "[=VoDKa=]" (Harris and Klebold, respectively) as both their online handles and their nicknames.\\

In regards to motive, the general consensus amongst investigators says the pair--particularly Harris--were [[StrawNihilist nothing short of nihilists]] who wanted to leave a mark on the world. Posthumous personality profiles of Harris stated that he was an anti-social, paranoid, [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]] with unrestrained aggression; Harris's journal reveals an {{Ubermensch}} mindset, with frequent references to [[TheSocialDarwinist "natural selection"]] (a slogan which happened to adorn the shirt he wore during the massacre). One entry in Harris's journal is a discussion on how he wanted to put everyone into a super-''Doom'' game and see to it that only the strong survive.\\

Klebold's diaries likewise talk about how he and Harris were [[EvolutionaryLevels more highly evolved]] than the rest of humanity, though overall his entries reveal that he, whilst still sociopathic, leaned more towards being self-loathing and suicidal, with a tendency to obsess over female classmates with whom he was barely acquainted. While gifted intellectually, he had a tendency to "snap" when confronted, desperately seeking affirmation from his friend. He was also was equally influenced by Harris's sociopathy and personal vengeance against "the world". The planning for the shooting was an act of cold, calm, and clear calculation rather than blind, impotent, and infernal rage, and attempting to tie the events to a singular incident oversimplifies the killers' psyches.\\

It's also worth mentioning, both diaries make frequent references to the Oklahoma City bombing which occurred four years prior, the 1993 Waco Siege, and other disasters and massacres, noting how they desired to "outdo" these events. Their collective codename for the massacre was "NBK"--an acronymic reference to one of their favorite films, ''Film/NaturalBornKillers'', in which the main characters go on a killing spree and become celebrities in the process.\\

Harris and Klebold started planning their attack a year well in advance. Their plan was to build a number of large bombs, which they would plant in the cafeteria, then detonate them at lunch time to destroy the cafeteria and the library above it. (Had this come to pass, they would have killed hundreds of students in what would have been the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history--which is why they thought they would "top" Oklahoma City.) After the explosion, they would pick off survivors outside as they fled the burning school. Notes in their journals also contain thoughts about heading to Denver International Airport, [[HarsherInHindsight hijacking a plane]], and [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror crashing it into a building]] in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, as well as [[RunForTheBorder fleeing to Mexico]]. The date of the massacre--April 20--coincides with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's birthday, which led some to speculate that the killers were neo-Nazis. But most evidence suggests they had originally planned to attack the school on Monday, April 19, the anniversary of both the Oklahoma City bombing they hoped to top and the end of the Waco Siege. They were forced to push it to the next day because a cache of ammunition they needed was delivered the night of the 19th. Others have speculated that they chose April 20 because it was the day that many of the school's [[TheStoner stoners]], whom they were generally apathetic towards, would be cutting class to get high ("4/20" and all).\\

The killers arrived at the school at 11:10 AM and went to the cafeteria with the large duffel bags containing their bombs, each wired to detonate at 11:17 AM, shortly after the start of lunch. Arming and planting the bombs, the two headed back to their cars to wait for them to detonate. [[WheresTheKaboom The bombs failed]] thanks to [[EpicFail their lack of finesse in the finer points of bomb-making]][[note]]The "bombs" in question were really crudely-made amalgamations of carbon dioxide canisters, galvanized pipe, and metal propane bottles that were to be primed via a lit match. The weekend prior to the massacre, the two reportedly spent upwards of a few hundred dollars at local hardware stores and gas stations, buying a good amount of their stock. The bombs set to detonate within the cafeteria specifically were made from one 20 lb. (9.1 kg) propane tank each, with a gallon gas can attached.[[/note]]. The only bomb that ended up detonating was a decoy that they had planted in a field near the school earlier that morning. Detonating at 11:14, it caused a small fire, but since the explosion and subsequent fire occurred so close to the time the shooting began, it did nothing more than vaguely alert local authorities that ''something'' wasn't right.\\

Klebold's diaries likewise talk about how he and Harris were [[EvolutionaryLevels more highly evolved]] than the rest of humanity, though overall his entries reveal that he, whilst still sociopathic, was more lenient towards self-loathing and suicidal, with a tendency to obsess over female classmates with whom he was barely acquainted. While gifted intellectually, he had a tendency to "snap" when confronted, desperately seeking affirmation from his friend. He was also was equally influenced by Harris's sociopathy and personal vengeance against "the world". The planning for the shooting was an act of cold, calm, and clear calculation rather than blind, impotent, and infernal rage, and attempting to tie the events to a singular incident oversimplifies the killers' psyches.\\

The image of the psychotic, sycophant BadassLongcoat spree killer took off, not helped by the fact that films such as ''Film/TheMatrix'' having been released three weeks prior to the shooting. In reality, the killers had [[TheCoatsAreOff taken their trenchcoats off]] as soon as the shooting began; they wore ball caps, T-shirts, and jeans, leading many to believe that the coats were more about projecting a scary, iconic image to the victims and the media than anything. (If so, then it largely worked.) The change of clothes also succeeded in confusing early reports on how many shooters took part in the killing.\\

The image of the psychotic, sycophant BadassLongcoat spree killer took off, not helped by the fact that films such as ''Film/Blade'' and ''Film/TheMatrix'' had been released a year and three weeks prior to the shooting, respectively. In reality, the killers had [[TheCoatsAreOff taken their trenchcoats off]] as soon as the shooting began; they wore ball caps, T-shirts, and jeans, leading many to believe that the coats were more about projecting a scary, iconic image to the victims and the media than anything. (If so, then it largely worked.) The change of clothes also succeeded in confusing early reports on how many shooters took part in the killing.\\

On the 20th of April 1999, Eric Harris (age 18) and Dylan Klebold (age 17) entered Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado and opened fire on their fellow students. By the end of their violent rampage, fifteen people were dead--twelve students, one teacher, and the killers themselves--and another 24 were injured. Following the shooting, everybody in America, from politicians to reporters, ran around like headless chickens in attempts to recount what had happened. This page is [[Wiki/TVTropes our]] attempt.

The two boys were juvenile {{delinquents}} who had a history of trouble with the law. The year before the shooting, they had both been arrested for breaking into and stealing tools from a locked van. They made such a good impression on the police that, in exchange for having their criminal records expunged, they would go through a program that included community service, psychiatric treatment, and--for {{Ha|irTriggerTemper}}rris--anger management classes. For showing good behavior and making a good impression on their handlers, they were discharged from the program a few months early. In the memoirs they taped before the shooting, they bragged about how well they had [[ISurrenderSuckers fooled the police into thinking they had reformed]]. The two later made a video for a school project called ''[[http://www.acolumbinesite.com/hitmen.php Hitmen for Hire]]'', in which they played two {{Bully Hunter}}s, and Harris wrote a violent ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' FanFic for a creative writing project. Harris was also caught the year before making threats on his website to various students and teachers, and Klebold had a long history of cursing at teachers and getting into fights with his boss at the pizza place he worked at.\\

In regards to motive, the general consensus amongst investigators says the pair--particularly Harris--were [[StrawNihilist diehard nihilists]] who wanted to leave a mark on the world. A personality profile of Harris said he was an anti-social, paranoid, [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]] with unrestrained aggression; Harris's journal reveals an {{Ubermensch}} mindset, with frequent references to [[TheSocialDarwinist "natural selection"]] (a slogan which adorned the shirt he wore during the massacre). One entry in Harris's journal is a discussion on how he wanted to put everyone into a super-''Doom'' game and see to it that only the strong survive.\\

Klebold's diaries likewise talk about how he and Harris were [[EvolutionaryLevels more highly evolved]] than the rest of humanity, though overall his entries reveal that he was self-loathing and suicidal, with a tendency to obsess over female classmates with whom he was barely acquainted. He was gifted intellectually but had a tendency to "snap" when confronted, he desperately sought affirmation from his friend, and he was equally influenced by Harris's sociopathy and personal vengeance against "the world". The planning for the shooting was an act of cold calculation rather than blind rage, and attempting to tie the events to a singular incident oversimplifies the killers' psyches.\\

Both diaries make frequent reference to the Oklahoma City bombing, the Waco Siege, and other disasters and massacres, noting how they wished to "outdo" these events. Their codename for the massacre was "NBK"--a reference to one of their favorite films, ''Film/NaturalBornKillers'', in which the main characters go on a killing spree and become celebrities in the process.\\

The location and timing of their massacre was no coincidence, and it emphasizes their lack of specific targets. If jocks or the school's social elite were the targets, presumably the killers would have attacked a school sporting event or the prom, the latter of which happened three days earlier. Eric's journal specifically mentions wanting a [[IfItBleedsItLeads media-friendly killing]] that would shock all of America in their everyday routine, not something [[HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday tied to a specific event]]. No experience could be more universal than a normal day at school.

Harris and Klebold started planning their attack a year in advance. Their plan was to build a number of large bombs, which they would plant in the cafeteria, then detonate them at lunch time to destroy the cafeteria and the library above it. (Had this come to pass, they would have killed hundreds of students in what would have been the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history--which is why they thought they would "top" Oklahoma City.) After the explosion, they would pick off survivors outside as they fled the burning school. Notes in their journals also contain thoughts about heading to Denver International Airport, [[HarsherInHindsight hijacking a plane]], and [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror crashing it into a building]] in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, as well as [[RunForTheBorder fleeing to Mexico]]. The date of the massacre--April 20--coincides with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's birthday, which led some to speculate that the killers were neo-Nazis. But most evidence suggests they had originally planned to attack the school on April 19, the anniversary of both the Oklahoma City bombing they hoped to top and the end of the Waco Siege. They were forced to push it back a day because a cache of ammo they needed was only delivered the night of the 19th. Others have speculated that they chose April 20 because it was the day that many of the school's [[TheStoner stoners]], whom they had never had much of a problem with, would be cutting class to get high ("4/20" and all).\\

The killers arrived at the school at 11:10 AM and went to the cafeteria with the large duffel bags containing their bombs, each wired to detonate at 11:17 AM, shortly after the start of lunch. They headed back to their cars to wait for the bombs to go off. [[WheresTheKaboom The bombs failed]] thanks to [[EpicFail their lack of finesse in the finer points of bomb-making]][[note]]The "bombs" in question were really crudely-made amalgamations of carbon dioxide canisters, galvanized pipe, and metal propane bottles that were to be primed via a lit match. The weekend prior to the massacre, the two reportedly spent upwards of a few hundred dollars at local hardware stores and gas stations, buying a good amount of their stock. The bombs set to detonate within the cafeteria were made from one 20 lb. (9.1 kg) propane tank each, with a gallon gas can attached.[[/note]]. The only bomb that ended up detonating was a ''decoy'' that they had placed in a field near the school earlier that morning. Set to explode at 11:14, it caused a small fire, but since its detonation occurred so close to the time the shooting began, it did nothing more than vaguely alert local authorities that ''something'' was going on.\\

After realizing that their bombs were duds, the killers drew their firearms (a Hi-Point 995 9mm Carbine and [[SawedOffShotgun a Savage 67H sawed-off pump shotgun]] for Harris, and a [[GoodGunsBadGuns Intratec TEC-9 Mini]] and a Stevens 311D sawed-off double-barrel shotgun for Klebold) and headed to the school's west entrance. Here, they took off their trenchcoats, killed two students and a teacher, and wounded nine others as they made their way towards the library. At 11:29, they arrived at the library, where the main body of the massacre took place. When they walked in, Harris told everybody wearing a white baseball cap -- a tradition amongst school athletes -- to stand up. Harris and Klebold then killed ten people, and wounded twelve others.\\

The killers left the library at 11:42 AM, then spent the next twenty minutes wandering the now-empty halls and cafeteria, shooting and throwing pipe bombs seemingly at random. They went back into the now-emptied-out library at 12:02 PM and briefly exchanged fire with the policemen who had surrounded the school, with the killers failing to hit any targets. At approximately 12:08PM, Harris [[AteHisGun fired his shotgun into his mouth]] and Klebold shot himself with his TEC-9 through his left temple.\\

Early speculation said an anonymous third man had been involved in the shootings, based on reports that a strange man had been seen on the roof on the school (in actuality, he was a repairman who had locked himself up on the roof after he heard gunshots). Others claimed that the two killers could not have hauled all of the bombs, especially the ones tailor-made to detonate within the cafeteria, by themselves. All known evidence points to Harris and Klebold as the only culprits behind the massacre, but this has not stopped countless {{conspiracy theorist}}s from speculating otherwise.

Although school shootings are a relatively--some would say distressingly--common occurrence in the United States (there had been one almost every year [[OlderThanTheyThink since 1966]])[[note]]Although, in a grim irony, the worst-ever attack on a school in the US remains [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster the bombing of an elementary school]] in Bath Township, Michigan, which happened in 1927.[[/note]], the Columbine massacre quickly entered the halls of infamy for both its then-unprecedented scale and being the first major shooting spree to happen in the age of {{cell phone}}s and [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks the 24-hour news cycle]]. The massacre was covered on national news as it was happening, in a way that previous ones never were. Future school shootings, including those with far higher body counts like Virginia Tech (33 dead, 23 injured), Sandy Hook (28 dead, 2 injured), and Stoneman Douglas (17 dead, 17 injured), would always find themselves in Columbine's shadow. The {{irony}} of all this media attention is that [[ThanatosGambit it gave Harris and Klebold exactly what they wanted]]: their names [[FameThroughInfamy burned into the history books]].\\

The image of the BadassLongcoat spree killer took off, not helped by the fact that ''Film/TheMatrix'' had been released just three weeks prior to the shooting. In reality, the killers had [[TheCoatsAreOff taken their trenchcoats off]] as soon as the shooting began; they wore ball caps, T-shirts, and jeans, leading many to believe that the coats were more about projecting a scary, iconic image to the victims and the media than anything. (It largely worked.) The change of clothes also succeeded in confusing early reports on how many shooters took part in the killing.\\

** "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampimreSlayerS3E18Earshot Earshot]]", which was set to air just four days after the shooting took place, was quickly pulled because the story was an AxesAtSchool plot about Buffy gaining telepathy and overhearing somebody thinking about killing students. It also featured a student climbing up into the school's bell tower with a sniper rifle [[spoiler:(he was actually trying to kill ''himself'', not the other students, but Buffy stopped him anyway)]].\\

* Officially, Creator/ToeiCompany took so long to give ''Film/BattleRoyale'' [[NoExportForYou a proper release]] in the United States because of their demands that it get a national theatrical release and a marketing campaign on par with the average SummerBlockbuster. But many fans of the film feel that lingering squeamishness over the film's subject matter--high school kids being forced to kill each other--also played a role in the 13(!)-year delay.

With so many claims about them coming from every direction, what we do know about the killers, and their motivations, deserves to be discussed. This is easier for Harris and Klebold than with most spree killers--the two left behind a treasure trove of home videos, diaries, and other records that detailed their thought processes, attitudes, and plans for the massacre. This mountain of information is also largely responsible for the mystique that built up around the two and their crimes, especially in comparison to massacres with higher body counts. Psychologists, cultural critics, and the killers' fandom have spent years examining and picking apart Harris and Klebold's personal artifacts.\\

Although school shootings are a relatively--some would say distressingly--common occurrence in the United States (there had been one almost every year [[OlderThanTheyThink since 1966]])[[note]]Although, in a grim irony, the worst-ever attack on a school in the US remains [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster the bombing of an elementary school]] in Bath Township, Michigan, which happened in 1927.[[/note]], the Columbine massacre quickly entered the halls of infamy for both its then-unprecedented scale and being the first major shooting spree to happen in the age of {{cell phone}}s and [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks the 24-hour news cycle]]. The massacre was covered on national news as it was happening, in a way that previous ones never were. Future school shootings, including those with far higher body counts like Virginia Tech (33 dead, 23 injured), Sandy Hook (28 dead, 2 injured), and Stoneman Douglas (17 dead, 17 injured), would always find themselves in Columbine's shadow. The {{irony}} of all this media attention is that [[ThanatosGambit it gave Harris and Klebold exactly what they wanted]]: their names burned into the history books.\\

The two boys were juvenile {{delinquents}} who had a history of trouble with the law. The year before the shooting, they had both been arrested for breaking into and stealing tools from a locked van. They made such a good impression on the police that, in exchange for having their criminal records expunged, they would go through a program that included community service, psychiatric treatment, and--for {{Ha|irTriggerTemper}}rris--anger management classes. For showing good behavior and making a good impression on their handlers, they were discharged from the program a few months early. In the memoirs they taped before the shooting, they bragged about how well they had [[ISurrenderSuckers fooled the police into thinking they had reformed]]. The two later made a video for a school project called ''[[http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2259303/eric_and_dylan_hitmen_for_hire/ Hitmen for Hire]]'', in which they played two {{Bully Hunter}}s, and Harris wrote a violent ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' FanFic for a creative writing project. Harris was also caught the year before making threats on his website to various students and teachers, and Klebold had a long history of cursing at teachers and getting into fights with his boss at the pizza place he worked at.\\

With so many claims about them coming from every direction, what we do know about the killers, and their motivations, deserves to be discussed. This is easier for Harris and Klebold than with most spree killers--the two left behind a treasure trove of home videos, diaries, and other records that detailed their thought processes, attitudes, and plans for the massacre. This mountain of information is also largely responsible for the mystique that built up around the two and their crimes, especially in comparison to massacres with higher body counts. Psychologists, cultural critics, and the killers' fandom have spent years examining and picking apart Harris and Klebold's personal artifacts.

The two boys were juvenile {{delinquents}} who had a history of trouble with the law. The year before the shooting, they had both been arrested for breaking into and stealing tools from a locked van. They made such a good impression on the police that, in exchange for having their criminal records expunged, they would go through a program that included community service, psychiatric treatment, and--for {{Ha|irTriggerTemper}}rris--anger management classes. For showing good behavior and making a good impression on their handlers, they were discharged from the program a few months early. In the memoirs they taped before the shooting, they bragged about how well they had [[ISurrenderSuckers fooled the police into thinking they had reformed]]. The two later made a video for a school project called ''[[http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2259303/eric_and_dylan_hitmen_for_hire/ Hitmen for Hire]]'', in which they played two {{Bully Hunter}}s, and Harris wrote a violent ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' FanFic for a creative writing project. Harris was also caught the year before making threats on his website to various students and teachers, and Klebold had a long history of cursing at teachers and getting into fights with his boss at the pizza place he worked at.

Harris and Klebold were victims of bullying, including homophobic remarks, but they gave as good as they got: They often wrote in their diaries about how they themselves had bullied underclassmen and "fags". (Ironically, Klebold identified as bisexual online, although he [[ButNotTooBi remained closeted]] in real life until he died.) In early reports, the two were said to be members of the "Trenchcoat Mafia," a clique of gamers and self-styled outcasts who all wore black trenchcoats. In reality, they were only friends with one member of the group, and most of the group's members had graduated before the massacre. The killers were also not quite the {{loners|AreFreaks}} that early reports described them as--they had a number of friends (friends who were unpopular, but friends nonetheless), and three days before the massacre, Klebold had taken female friend Robyn Anderson to the prom. The duo were avid gamers, particularly of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' (which Harris had even made [[GameMod mods]] for), and used the names "Reb" and "[=VoDKa=]" (Harris and Klebold, respectively) as both their online handles and their nicknames.

In regards to motive, the general consensus amongst investigators says the pair--particularly Harris--were [[StrawNihilist diehard nihilists]] who wanted to leave a mark on the world. A personality profile of Harris said he was an anti-social, paranoid, [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]] with unrestrained aggression; Harris's journal reveals an {{Ubermensch}} mindset, with frequent references to [[TheSocialDarwinist "natural selection"]] (a slogan which adorned the shirt he wore during the massacre). One entry in Harris's journal is a discussion on how he wanted to put everyone into a super-''Doom'' game and see to it that only the strong survive.

Klebold's diaries likewise talk about how he and Harris were [[EvolutionaryLevels more highly evolved]] than the rest of humanity, though overall his entries reveal that he was self-loathing and suicidal, with a tendency to obsess over female classmates with whom he was barely acquainted. He was gifted intellectually but had a tendency to "snap" when confronted, he desperately sought affirmation from his friend, and he was equally influenced by Harris's sociopathy and personal vengeance against "the world". The planning for the shooting was an act of cold calculation rather than blind rage, and attempting to tie the events to a singular incident oversimplifies the killers' psyches.

Both diaries make frequent reference to the Oklahoma City bombing, the Waco Siege, and other disasters and massacres, noting how they wished to "outdo" these events. Their codename for the massacre was "NBK"--a reference to one of their favorite films, ''Film/NaturalBornKillers'', in which the main characters go on a killing spree and become celebrities in the process.

Harris and Klebold started planning their attack a year in advance. Their plan was to build a number of large bombs, which they would plant in the cafeteria, then detonate them at lunch time to destroy the cafeteria and the library above it. (Had this come to pass, they would have killed hundreds of students in what would have been the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history--which is why they thought they would "top" Oklahoma City.) After the explosion, they would pick off survivors outside as they fled the burning school. Notes in their journals also contain thoughts about heading to Denver International Airport, [[HarsherInHindsight hijacking a plane]], and [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror crashing it into a building]] in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, as well as [[RunForTheBorder fleeing to Mexico]]. The date of the massacre--April 20--coincides with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's birthday, which led some to speculate that the killers were neo-Nazis. But most evidence suggests they had originally planned to attack the school on April 19, the anniversary of both the Oklahoma City bombing they hoped to top and the end of the Waco Siege. They were forced to push it back a day because a cache of ammo they needed was only delivered the night of the 19th. Others have speculated that they chose April 20 because it was the day that many of the school's [[TheStoner stoners]], whom they had never had much of a problem with, would be cutting class to get high ("4/20" and all).

The killers arrived at the school at 11:10 AM and went to the cafeteria with the large duffel bags containing their bombs, each wired to detonate at 11:17 AM, shortly after the start of lunch. They headed back to their cars to wait for the bombs to go off. [[WheresTheKaboom The bombs failed]] thanks to [[EpicFail their lack of finesse in the finer points of bomb-making]][[note]]The "bombs" in question were really crudely-made amalgamations of carbon dioxide canisters, galvanized pipe, and metal propane bottles that were to be primed via a lit match. The weekend prior to the massacre, the two reportedly spent upwards of a few hundred dollars at local hardware stores and gas stations, buying a good amount of their stock. The bombs set to detonate within the cafeteria were made from one 20 lb. (9.1 kg) propane tank each, with a gallon gas can attached.[[/note]]. The only bomb that ended up detonating was a ''decoy'' that they had placed in a field near the school earlier that morning. Set to explode at 11:14, it caused a small fire, but since its detonation occurred so close to the time the shooting began, it did nothing more than vaguely alert local authorities that ''something'' was going on.

After realizing that their bombs were duds, the killers drew their firearms (a Hi-Point 995 9mm Carbine and [[SawedOffShotgun a Savage 67H sawed-off pump shotgun]] for Harris, and a [[GoodGunsBadGuns Intratec TEC-9 Mini]] and a Stevens 311D sawed-off double-barrel shotgun for Klebold) and headed to the school's west entrance. Here, they took off their trenchcoats, killed two students and a teacher, and wounded nine others as they made their way towards the library. At 11:29, they arrived at the library, where the main body of the massacre took place. When they walked in, Harris told everybody wearing a white baseball cap -- a tradition amongst school athletes -- to stand up. Harris and Klebold then killed ten people, and wounded twelve others.

The killers left the library at 11:42 AM, then spent the next twenty minutes wandering the now-empty halls and cafeteria, shooting and throwing pipe bombs seemingly at random. They went back into the now-emptied-out library at 12:02 PM and briefly exchanged fire with the policemen who had surrounded the school, with the killers failing to hit any targets. At approximately 12:08PM, Harris [[AteHisGun fired his shotgun into his mouth]] and Klebold shot himself with his TEC-9 through his left temple.

Although school shootings are a relatively--some would say distressingly--common occurrence in the United States (there had been one almost every year [[OlderThanTheyThink since 1966]])[[note]]Although, in a grim irony, the worst-ever attack on a school in the US remains [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster the bombing of an elementary school]] in Bath Township, Michigan, which happened in 1927.[[/note]], the Columbine massacre quickly entered the halls of infamy for both its then-unprecedented scale and being the first major shooting spree to happen in the age of {{cell phone}}s and [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks the 24-hour news cycle]]. The massacre was covered on national news as it was happening, in a way that previous ones never were. Future school shootings, including those with far higher body counts like Virginia Tech (33 dead, 23 injured), Sandy Hook (28 dead, 2 injured), and Stoneman Douglas (17 dead, 17 injured), would always find themselves in Columbine's shadow. The {{irony}} of all this media attention is that [[ThanatosGambit it gave Harris and Klebold exactly what they wanted]]: their names burned into the history books.

The immediate aftermath of the massacre saw an untold number of [[UrbanLegends apocryphal events]] finding their way into the PopularHistory version of the shooting. MoralGuardians of all stripes used Columbine as an excuse to rant about whatever they felt was evil (or whatever would get them [[MoneyDearBoy the best book deals]]), everybody else was searching for answers, and American high schools came under the thrall of a number of Columbine-related concepts, some of which had never happened. The word "columbine", once the name of the state flower of Colorado, entered the vernacular as a euphemism for a school shooting; many future school shooting plots made reference to "pulling a columbine" and a desire to "top" Harris and Klebold. Police forces, having witnessed firsthand how ineffective their traditional tactics were against spree killers who [[KillEmAll had no interest in taking hostages]], began developing new responses to such threats.

The image of the BadassLongcoat spree killer took off, not helped by the fact that ''Film/TheMatrix'' had been released just three weeks prior to the shooting. In reality, the killers had [[TheCoatsAreOff taken their trenchcoats off]] as soon as the shooting began; they wore ball caps, T-shirts, and jeans, leading many to believe that the coats were more about projecting a scary, iconic image to the victims and the media than anything. (It largely worked.) The change of clothes also succeeded in confusing early reports on how many shooters took part in the killing.

Thanks to the media's early rush to judgment, students who were [[LonersAreFreaks socially isolated or seen as "outcasts"]] suddenly became viewed as potential mass murderers in waiting, even though Harris and Klebold weren't outcasts or a particular target of bullying. A pair of heavily-publicized school shootings in the two years prior--one in Paducah, Kentucky and one in Springfield, Oregon--had killers who did fit the profile of the "lonely outcast", so the media automatically assumed that the Columbine killers were loners as well. And despite early reports of the spree being a vengeance killing with a particular targeting of jocks, Christians, and minorities, all facts point to [[AxeCrazy a random killing spree with no specific category of victim]]. (Of the aforementioned shootings, the only one in which the killer targeted a specific category of victim was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_High_School_shooting the Kentucky shooting]], in which the killer fired upon a Christian prayer group.)

In particular, the {{goth}} subculture suffered a huge backlash because of the shooting; their outcast status and "dark" personas made everyone else suspicious. No evidence suggests either Klebold or Harris embraced the goth subculture, preferring a more militaristic vibe in their personal style. (And goths generally tend to be passive and pacifistic, with the old stereotype being that they are violent towards [[SelfHarm themselves]] rather than others.) In any case, numerous schools modified their dress codes to ban trenchcoats and band merchandise as well as restrict the amount of black clothing a student could wear.

One of the worst consequences of the shooting was how many schools began assuming that all school shooters fell under a certain list of stereotypes and could therefore be identified before they killed (similar to a terrorist watchlist). In a Congress-mandated study, the UsefulNotes/{{FBI}} found that this idea was both untrue and a dangerous line of thought: If schools focused on trying to find students who fit a predetermined list of traits, real potential shooters could go unnoticed. Even so, if a school shooter is portrayed in the media, he--and [[AlwaysMale it is usually a "he"]]--will always be a shy, bullied student who keeps to himself, and this happens almost entirely because of this misconception.

[[MurderSimulators Violent video games]] became one of the most popular scapegoats for the massacre after the media learned that Harris and Klebold were fans of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D''. Armchair psychologists claimed that the killers had become desensitized to, and obsessed with, realistic violence as a result of playing such games. Infamous attorney Jack Thompson entered the public consciousness as an anti-video game activist because of the massacre, which began a career trajectory that would ultimately lead to his disbarrment. Once people learned that Harris had made [[GameMod various levels]] for the game, the media almost immediately began claiming that those levels had been based on Columbine High School, with the demons replaced with students and teachers. Neither of those claims held true. The most elaborate of the so-called "Harris levels", titled "UAC Labs", can be downloaded [[http://www.doomworld.com/10years/bestwads/infamous.php at doomworld.com]] (third down the list) alongside commentary on the massacre and its effect on the gaming community.

Certain popular movies either liked by or seemingly connected to the killers also became targets for the ire of media watchdogs and concerned parents alike. ''Film/TheMatrix'' topped this list thanks to its heavily-stylized action scenes, a story about our reality being a lie, a proliferation of BadassLongcoat heroes, and the fact that it had been released three weeks prior to the killings (and was still a box office hit). ''Film/TheBasketballDiaries'' was another major target due to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sfAZYmMig4 a fantasy sequence]] in which Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio's character shoots up his school while wearing a trenchcoat. ''Film/NaturalBornKillers'', which both of the killers were huge fans of, came under fire for a plot that eerily mirrored the aftermath of the shooting. Less associated with the massacre, but a strong influence--particularly for Klebold--was the David Lynch film ''Film/LostHighway''.

The massacre also re-ignited the debate on [[UsefulNotes/AmericanGunPolitics gun control]], with each side repeating its talking points. Gun control advocates said the tragedy could have been averted had there been more restrictions on the purchase of firearms, noting that Harris and Klebold had acquired their weapons through (mostly) legal means, specifically counting on the lack of background checks at gun shows.[[note]]By "legal", we mean in the sense that they did not steal their guns or go through the black market to get them; instead, they had Klebold's friend, Robyn Anderson, purchase the guns for them (a straw purchase), which is a felony offense in the US. Ever see one of those "Don't Lie for the Other Guy" posters at gun stores? This is why.[[/note]] On the other side, gun rights advocates claimed that gun control--particularly the "gun-free" zones around schools--had left the students and teachers defenseless, which made the situation worse than it had to be. While Colorado would soon close the "gun show loophole" in-state, no significant federal gun control legislation was passed as a result of the shooting; five years later, the federal Assault Weapons Ban would expire without being renewed.

As for schools themselves, they began taking security into their own hands. Schools across the nation installed metal detectors at entrances, hired security guards, mandated see-through backpacks, ran "intruder drills" (similar to fire drills) in order to practice what to do in case of a "active shooter event", and crafted "zero tolerance" policies regarding violence, the threat of violence, or even the perception of a threat. Those policies soon became controversial as many people, particularly students and social scientists, felt they had grown out of control and infringed upon the rights of students. A report by the Secret Service said that schools were taking false hope in such security measures--that not only would they do nothing to deter another massacre, but might push an unstable student [[DisproportionateRetribution suspended or expelled for a minor infraction]] over the edge and ''cause'' another massacre. Minority students were almost always disproportionately targeted by "zero tolerance" policies, too. But to this day, many schools still have "zero tolerance" policies in place, since the criticism received for punishing the relatively innocent is far easier to deal with than the perceived culpability for letting a violent situation escalate.

Various conservative Christian groups claimed the massacre was a result of the secularization of society, the [[ScienceIsBad teaching of evolution]] and sex education, and a lack of religion in public schools. People within these groups--not all, but many--were more inclined to accept initial accounts that said two of the victims, Cassie Bernall and Rachel Scott, had been killed because of their Christian faith. The stories go that the victims were asked if they believed in God; when the two girls said "yes", Harris and Klebold killed them. Most authoritative investigations of the massacre concluded that such stories of how Bernall and Scott died were both [[UrbanLegends apocryphal]] and based on the experience of Valeen Schnurr, a survivor who confirmed that the killers asked her if she believed in God. Despite this debunking, many religious groups still consider Bernall and Scott to be martyrs and symbols of faith in the face of death; a number of Columbine-inspired works created since their deaths have portrayed their killers as specifically targeting Christians. At least two future spree killers, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umpqua_Community_College_shooting Umpqua Community College]] shooter Christopher Harper-Mercer and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Lake_shootings Red Lake High School]] shooter Jeff Weise, asked at least one of their victims if they believed in God--likely as a sick homage to this urban legend.

One of the most popular targets of social backlash was [[TheNewRockAndRoll shock rock, metal, and other "Satanic", "unhealthy", or "violent" music]]; shock rock musician and provocateur Music/MarilynManson became the lightning rod for those genres. In reality, Harris viewed Manson as a sellout and a poser, while Klebold was only a casual fan at best. According to Klebold's mother, he had a Marilyn Manson poster in his room, but when asked about it, he said he paid more attention to the music than the words. The facts did not stop people from claiming that Manson's music had somehow influenced the two to shoot up their school. This ultimately became a case of NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity for Manson, as the massacre greatly increased his pop culture profile; his interview with Michael Moore about the shooting--which contains the quote found at the top of this page--may have been his SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.

Thanks to the date of the massacre, rumors emerged that the killers were either [[ThoseWackyNazis neo-Nazis]] or had a fascination with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany his regime]]. Supporters of this theory point to the date of the massacre--April 20, Hitler's birthday--and the fact that the killers were fans of Music/{{Rammstein}} and Music/{{KMFDM}}, two bands often hit with accusations of being MusicToInvadePolandTo. Robyn Anderson and Devon Adams, who were close friends with Klebold, denied that either of the boys were neo-Nazis. Additionally, Klebold's mother was Jewish (although his father was Lutheran), and videotapes recorded by both boys before the massacre referred to it being planned for a following Monday, not Tuesday. Klebold's mother [[http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/333862/columbine-shooter-had-jewish-roots-dreaded-passover-seder/ later described]] an incident a few weeks before the shooting where Dylan refused to attend the family's Passover seder, saying that Harris learning of Klebold being Jewish created a temporarily tense moment between them. Most likely, the killers considered the Nazi regime's [[TheSocialDarwinist social Darwinism]] and policy of genocide and extermination as philosophically appealing, but viewed [[MisanthropeSupreme all of humanity]], rather than any specific ethnic group, as "the enemy". Harris in particular had a distinct tendency for PuttingOnTheReich with Nazi salutes and quotations, if apparently mainly for [[{{Troll}} shock value]].

Harris had been taking the anti-depressants Luvox and, before that, Zoloft; this was a point of note for many people critical of the perceived over-prescription of psychiatric medication in today's society, particularly amongst teenagers. Later investigations discovered that Harris had been rejected for military service due to his use of these medications. People then speculated that this rejection either drove him over the edge or led to him going off his medication in an attempt to be accepted. In truth, Harris had not received news of his rejection by the time of the massacre, and both he and Klebold were planning the shooting long before the recruiter had cold-called him.

The media also tossed allegations of [[AdultsAreUseless neglectful parenting]] at the killers' parents, as people claimed that, had they been paying any attention to their kids, they could have stepped in and stopped it. In the so-called "Basement Tapes" recorded before the killing, Harris and Klebold absolved their parents of responsibility and joked at how adept they were at fooling them; this is especially true for Klebold, since all the weaponry and tools for the massacre were stored at Harris's house. At the very least, the killers wanted the shooting to be perceived as an act carried out by them and them alone.

Ultimately, one of the most popular culprits for the shootings was [[SocietyIsToBlame society in general]]. For the first time, there was genuine examination and criticism of the [[PopularityFoodChain social hierarchy]] of high school--particularly the high status that athletes enjoy within it. Schools began to crack down on bullying within their halls, and most people who were of school age soon after Columbine will most likely recall all of the assemblies calling for tolerance and respect for fellow classmates. The fact that we still have the PopularityFoodChain shows that such efforts were futile, and 1999 became ancient history for a new generation of high school students who were only in elementary school when the shooting took place. It took [[HereWeGoAgain another cycle]] of bullying-related suicides a decade later before people started asking these questions again.

And before anybody asks: yes, there are UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories claiming that Harris and Klebold had been {{brainwashed}} by TheIlluminati, serving as patsies to advance draconian new gun control laws. Even if this were true--which it is not--the plan was a failure, since (as noted above) no serious gun legislation passed in the wake of the shooting.

In the aftermath of the massacre, an aura developed around Harris and Klebold, with many students on the bottom of the high school food chain calling them [[HeroicSacrifice heroes and martyrs]] who stood up to the [[JerkJock privileged jocks]] and [[TheBully bullies]] that ruled high schools across the nation. Trenchcoats became [[TheRedStapler a popular fashion accessory]] among such students; schools responded by banning such coats under their dress codes. A series of [[JackTheRipoff copycat shootings]] took place, carried out mostly by people who wanted to get revenge on their classmates and, like Harris and Klebold, leave their mark on the world. Even a decade and a half later, a quick search will find a surprisingly large number of tribute sites and videos for "Reb and [=VoDKa=]". The vast majority of these sites condemn the shooting but express the sentiment that Klebold and, to a lesser extent, Harris were kind, intelligent boys before suffering mental illness and (in Klebold's case) falling in with perhaps the worst influence possible, and that people should see this side of them as well. You know, with a healthy bit of [[TheInternetIsForPorn Rule 34]], too.

* Music/{{Wheatus}}'s 2000 hit "Teenage Dirtbag," written a year after the tragedy, originally included the lyric "Her boyfriend's a dick / And he brings a gun to school." Most releases of the song {{bowdlerize}} the lyric, as the label felt it was still "too soon". Tellingly, while the song is from the perspective of a [[LonersAreFreaks teenaged social outcast]] and largely [[WriteWhatYouKnow based on frontman Brandon Brown's own experiences being one]], the gun-wielder is described as [[EveryoneHasStandards unambiguously villainous]].

The killers arrived at the school at 11:10 AM and went to the cafeteria with the large duffel bags containing their bombs, each wired to detonate at 11:17, shortly after the start of lunch. They headed back to their cars to wait for the bombs to go off. [[WheresTheKaboom The bombs failed]] thanks to [[EpicFail their lack of finesse in the finer points of bomb-making]][[note]]The bombs in question were crudely-made manifestations of carbon dioxide canisters, galvanized pipe, and metal propane bottles that were be primed via a lit match. The weekend prior, Harris and Klebold reportedly spent upwards of a few hundred dollars at a local hardware store, buying a good amount of their stock.[[/note]]. The only bomb to detonate was a ''decoy'' that they had placed in a nearby field earlier that morning. Set to explode at 11:14, it caused a small fire, but since its detonation occurred so close to the time the shooting began, it did nothing more than vaguely alert the authorities that ''something'' was going on.

After realizing that their bombs were duds, the killers broke out their guns (a 9mm carbine and [[SawedOffShotgun sawed-off pump shotgun]] for Harris, and a [[GoodGunsBadGuns TEC-9]] and sawed-off double-barrel shotgun for Klebold) and headed to the school's west entrance. Here, they took off their trenchcoats, killed two students and a teacher, and wounded nine others as they went through the halls. At 11:29, they headed to the library, where the main body of the massacre took place. When they walked in, Harris told everybody wearing a white baseball cap -- a tradition amongst school athletes -- to stand up. Harris and Klebold then killed ten people and wounded twelve others.

The killers left the library at 11:42, then spent the next twenty minutes wandering the now-empty halls and cafeteria, shooting and throwing pipe bombs seemingly at random. They went back into the now-emptied-out library at 12:02 PM and briefly exchanged fire with the policemen who had surrounded the school, with the killers failing to hit any targets. At approximately 12:08PM, Harris [[AteHisGun fired his shotgun into his mouth]] and Klebold shot himself with his handgun in his left temple.

Early speculation said a third man had been involved in the shootings, based on reports that a strange man had been seen on the roof on the school (he was a repairman who had locked himself up on the roof after he heard gunshots). Others claimed that the two killers could not have hauled all of the bombs into the cafeteria by themselves. All known evidence points to Harris and Klebold as the only culprits behind the massacre, but this has not stopped countless {{conspiracy theorist}}s from speculating otherwise.

Although school shootings are a relatively--some would say distressingly--common occurrence in the United States (there had been one almost every year [[OlderThanTheyThink since 1966]])[[note]]Although, in a grim irony, the worst-ever attack on a school in the US remains [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster the bombing of an elementary school]] in Bath Township, Michigan, which happened in 1927.[[/note]], the Columbine massacre quickly entered the halls of infamy for both its then-unprecedented scale and being the first major shooting spree to happen in the age of {{cell phone}}s and [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks the 24-hour news cycle]]. The massacre was covered on national news as it was happening, in a way that previous ones never were. Future school shootings, including those with far greater body counts like Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and Stoneman Douglas, would always find themselves in Columbine's shadow. The {{irony}} of all this media attention is that [[ThanatosGambit it gave Harris and Klebold exactly what they wanted]]: their names burned into the history books.

* The 2016 film ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Not_Ashamed I'm Not Ashamed]]'' is based around Columbine victim Rachel Scott, including the apocryphal story about the killers asking her if she believed in God.

The killers arrived at the school at 11:10 AM and went to the cafeteria with the large duffel bags containing their bombs, each wired to detonate at 11:17, shortly after the start of lunch. They headed back to their cars to wait for the bombs to go off. [[WheresTheKaboom The bombs failed]] thanks to [[EpicFail their lack of finesse in the finer points of bomb-making]][[note]]The bombs in question were crudely-made manifestations of carbon dioxide canisters, galvanized pipe, and metal propane bottles that were be primed via a lit match. The weekend prior, Harris and Klebold reportedly spent upwards of a few hundred dollars at a local hardware store.[[/note]]. The only bomb to detonate was a ''decoy'' that they had placed in a nearby field earlier that morning. Set to explode at 11:14, it caused a small fire, but since its detonation occurred so close to the time the shooting began, it did nothing more than vaguely alert the authorities that ''something'' was going on.

The killers arrived at the school at 11:10 AM and went to the cafeteria with the large duffel bags containing their bombs, each wired to detonate at 11:17, shortly after the start of lunch. They headed back to their cars to wait for the bombs to go off. [[WheresTheKaboom The bombs failed]] thanks to [[EpicFail their lack of finesse in the finer points of bomb-making]]. The only bomb to detonate was a ''decoy'' that they had placed in a nearby field earlier that morning. Set to explode at 11:14, it caused a small fire, but since its detonation occurred so close to the time the shooting began, it did nothing more than vaguely alert the authorities that ''something'' was going on.

On the 20th of April 1999, teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado and opened fire on their fellow students. By the end of their violent rampage, fifteen people were dead--twelve students, one teacher, and the killers themselves--and another 24 were injured. After the shooting, everybody in America ran around like a decapitated chicken while they tried to explain it. This page is [[Wiki/TVTropes our]] attempt.

But perhaps the most important effect of the massacre was the way that it shaped American popular culture for years to come. The most noticeable and immediate change was a trend of [[MediaWatchdog stiffer censorship]] against violence in movies and TV shows that lasted into the early TurnOfTheMillennium. The teen {{horror}} genre, popularized by the likes of ''Film/Scream1996'', slowly died out as depictions of young people being brutally murdered suddenly became [[TooSoon too unsettling]] for both the MoralGuardians and the target audiences of such media. After a period of TooSoon, school shootings became [[AxesAtSchool popular subject matter]] for RippedFromTheHeadlines programs, with the canonical example being the ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "School Daze", which was one of the first episodes of television to be advertised with such a slogan. The Columbine massacre, together with Woodstock '99 a few months later, arguably marked the beginning of the end for the viewpoints and culture of TheNineties, almost as much as the [[Film/GimmeShelter Altamont]] [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels disaster]] and the [[UsefulNotes/CharlesManson Manson Family murders]] are said to have killed TheSixties, with the time between April 20, 1999 and [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror September 11, 2001]] marking [[EndOfAnEra a period of transition]] between TheNineties and the TurnOfTheMillennium.

!!Media that is about, references, or was affected by the Columbine shooting by FunnyAneurysmMoment, HarsherInHindsight, and TooSoon:

* The unpublished September 1999 issue of ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'', entitled "Shoot", depicted a study of a series of fictional school shootings. Since it was set to come out just five months after Columbine, one can imagine [[TooSoon why DC withheld it from publication]].

"Earshot" also featured Xander musing "who hasn't idly dreamed of gunning down their fellow students" and Oz remarking how school shootings were "bordering on trendy". Those lines would have almost certainly evoked the [[TooSoon wrong]] reaction had it been shown on the original airdate.\\

* Music/{{Wheatus}}'s 2000 hit "Teenage Dirtbag," written a year after the tragedy, originally included the lyric "Her boyfriend's a dick / And he brings a gun to school." Most releases of the song {{bowdlerize}} the lyric, as the label felt it was still TooSoon. Tellingly, while the song is from the perspective of a [[LonersAreFreaks teenaged social outcast]] and largely [[WriteWhatYouKnow based on frontman Brandon Brown's own experiences being one]], the gun-wielder is described as [[EveryoneHasStandards unambiguously villainous]].

* ''VideoGame/KingpinLifeOfCrime'' [[TooSoon had the unfortunate timing of being released in June 1999]], just two months after the massacre. The developers, Xatrix Entertainment, became aware of the massacre and implemented a "safe" version[[note]]a password-protected game mode that featured low violence and bleeped out expletives[[/note]] in response to criticism in the National Institute on Media and the Family's 1999 report on violent video games. Drew Markham, the CEO of Xatrix, stated that the game was never meant for children anyway. MoralGuardians and {{Media Watchdog}}s still asked various retail stores--except for Electronics Boutique--to stop stocking the game.

Harris and Klebold started planning their attack a year in advance. Their plan was to build a number of large bombs, which they would plant in the cafeteria, then detonate them at lunch time to destroy the cafeteria and the library above it. (Had this come to pass, they would have killed hundreds of students in what would have been the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history--which is why they thought they would "top" Oklahoma City.) After the explosion, they would pick off survivors outside as they fled the burning school. Notes in their journals also contain thoughts about heading to Denver International Airport, [[HarsherInHindsight hijacking a plane]], and [[TheWarOnTerror crashing it into a building]] in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, as well as [[RunForTheBorder fleeing to Mexico]]. The date of the massacre--April 20--coincides with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's birthday, which led some to speculate that the killers were neo-Nazis. But most evidence suggests they had originally planned to attack the school on April 19, the anniversary of both the Oklahoma City bombing they hoped to top and the end of the Waco Siege. They were forced to push it back a day because a cache of ammo they needed was only delivered the night of the 19th. Others have speculated that they chose April 20 because it was the day that many of the school's [[TheStoner stoners]], whom they had never had much of a problem with, would be cutting class to get high ("4/20" and all).

But perhaps the most important effect of the massacre was the way that it shaped American popular culture for years to come. The most noticeable and immediate change was a trend of [[MediaWatchdog stiffer censorship]] against violence in movies and TV shows that lasted into the early TurnOfTheMillennium. The teen {{horror}} genre, popularized by the likes of ''Film/Scream1996'', slowly died out as depictions of young people being brutally murdered suddenly became [[TooSoon too unsettling]] for both the MoralGuardians and the target audiences of such media. After a period of TooSoon, school shootings became [[AxesAtSchool popular subject matter]] for RippedFromTheHeadlines programs, with the canonical example being the ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "School Daze", which was one of the first episodes of television to be advertised with such a slogan. The Columbine massacre, together with Woodstock '99 a few months later, arguably marked the beginning of the end for the viewpoints and culture of TheNineties, almost as much as the [[Film/GimmeShelter Altamont]] [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels disaster]] and the [[UsefulNotes/CharlesManson Manson Family murders]] are said to have killed TheSixties, with the time between April 20, 1999 and [[TheWarOnTerror September 11, 2001]] marking [[EndOfAnEra a period of transition]] between TheNineties and the TurnOfTheMillennium.

** He also sharply criticizes [[StrawmanNewsMedia the American media]] for doing nothing but broadcasting [[IfItBleedsItLeads sensationalized stories]] and ramping up [[YouCanPanicNow national paranoia and fear]] to the point where, rather than being a warning sign screaming for societal re-address, the massacre fuelled terror and finger-pointing by MoralGuardians that wouldn't be seen again until [[TheWarOnTerror 9/11 made terror into a war]].

** ''Heart Of America'' is Uwe Boll's version of the concept.

Harris and Klebold were victims of bullying, including homophobic remarks, but they gave as good as they got: They often wrote in their diaries about how they themselves had bullied underclassmen and "fags". (Ironically, Klebold identified as [[BiTheWay bisexual]] online, although he [[ButNotTooBi remained closeted]] in real life until he died.) In early reports, the two were said to be members of the "Trenchcoat Mafia," a clique of gamers and self-styled outcasts who all wore black trenchcoats. In reality, they were only friends with one member of the group, and most of the group's members had graduated before the massacre. The killers were also not quite the {{loners|AreFreaks}} that early reports described them as--they had a number of friends (friends who were unpopular, but friends nonetheless), and three days before the massacre, Klebold had taken female friend Robyn Anderson to the prom. The duo were avid gamers, particularly of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' (which Harris had even made [[GameMod mods]] for), and used the names "Reb" and "[=VoDKa=]" (Harris and Klebold, respectively) as both their online handles and their nicknames.

--> ''And they blame it on [[Music/MarilynManson Marilyn]] and the [[DrugsAreBad heroin]]''
--> ''[[ParentalNeglect where were the parents at]], and look where it's at''

* The [[WebOriginal freeware]] game ''VideoGame/SuperColumbineMassacreRPG'', made using VideoGame/RPGMaker, is based on the events of the shooting. The first half of the game follows Harris and Klebold through the massacre--from their morning preparations to their suicides--with occasional flashbacks to past events. MIDI [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong versions]] of Music/MarilynManson, Music/{{Rammstein}}, and Music/{{Nirvana}} songs serve as the game's soundtrack. The second half follows the two after they are [[PlanetHeck sent to]] [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Hell]], which turns out to be remarkably like ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''; it ends with the two killing a Cyberdemon and becoming minions of Satan.\\

* The protagonist, Celeste, in ''Film/VoxLux'', narrowly survives a massacre that somewhat resembles Columbine, in both the year (1999), notoriety, a trench coat wearing killer, and a conversation between a shooter and a young teenage girl who talks to the protagonist about God before being killed.