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| Rachel Scott |
It was an average spring morning in 1999. Students were arriving at Columbine High School, ready to begin another typical day. Among these students were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who parked their cars in the parking lot but did not enter the school. Where they were parked, the two had a perfect view into the school cafeteria, as well as the school entrance. They waited there until the bell rang for the A lunch period to begin. At that point, they entered the school, leaving duffel bags containing home-made bombs in the cafeteria. They went unnoticed. These bombs were failures, however, and never went off. Harris and Klebold armed themselves and walked back to the school entrance. Rachel Scott and her friend Richard Castaldo were sitting outside, and were the first to be shot; Scott was killed, and Castaldo was injured badly. It's said that Harris and Klebold asked Rachel if she was a Christian, and killed her after she said yes. This has not been confirmed. Klebold and Harris entered the school, weapons at the ready, and began firing at students in the hallway, wounding many. Daniel Rourbough was the next to be killed, struggling down a staircase after being previously shot. Teacher Patti Nielsen saw what was going on and raced to the library to warn students to get under tables and stay out of sight. In the hallway, the shooters met Dave Sanders, who was running to warn students as well. He was shot, and dragged into a nearby classroom where he eventually bled to death. Harris and Klebold went to the library next; it was there that the worst part of the massacre occurred. Students were cowering under desks, and the shooters began firing under them. Most students in the library were injured, and Kylie Velasquez, Steven Curnow, Cassie Bernall, Isaiah Shoels, Matthew Kecher, Lauren Townsend, John Tomlin, Kelly Fleming, Daniel Mauser, and Corey DePooter were killed. It is also said that Klebold asked Cassie Bernall the same question that he asked Scott, and shot her when her answer was affirmative. This has also never been confirmed. Harris and Klebold proceeded to go back to the cafeteria, where they both committed suicide. The shooting ended, and the SWAT team arrived around 12:00. Students were evacuated from the building. In all, 15 people died (including the killers), and 25 were injured. It is considered the 2nd worst school massacre in history.
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| Columbine High School Library |
