90-472: Location: Columbine High School ( Columbine, Colorado ) The Columbine High School massacre , often simply referred to as Columbine , was a school shooting and attempted bombing that occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado , United States. The perpetrators, twelfth-grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold , murdered twelve students and one teacher. Ten of
180-479: A Lutheran church with their children. Both Dylan and his older brother, Byron, attended confirmation classes in accordance with the Lutheran tradition . As had been the case with his older brother, Klebold was named after a renowned poet—in his case, the playwright Dylan Thomas . Klebold attended Normandy Elementary for first and second grade before transferring to Governor's Ranch Elementary, and became part of
270-521: A Savage-Springfield 67H pump shotgun . Klebold used a 9mm Intratec TEC-DC9 semi-automatic handgun with one 52-, one 32-, and one 28-round magazine and a Stevens 311D double-barreled shotgun . Harris' shotgun was sawed-off to around 26 inches (0.66 m) and Klebold shortened his shotgun's length to 23 inches (0.58 m), a felony under the National Firearms Act . On November 22, 1998, their friend Robyn Anderson purchased
360-459: A micro cassette labeled "Nixon" on the kitchen table. On it Harris said "It is less than nine hours now," placing the recording at some time around 2:30 a.m. He went on to say "People will die because of me," and "It will be a day that will be remembered forever." In the months prior to the attacks, Harris and Klebold acquired two 9mm firearms and two 12-gauge shotguns. Harris had a Hi-Point 995 carbine with thirteen 10-round magazines and
450-605: A pump-action shotgun and ammunition from a dealer she had previously been in contact with. On April 16, the captain of the Miami Beach Police Department alerted agents with the FBI field office in Miami about a "potential school shooter who is infatuated with Columbine shooter Eric Harris ". Shortly after Pais was reported missing, investigators gained access to Pais' email, which revealed information for
540-542: A "green rifle case" with a "bird hunting gun". Pais apparently committed suicide by gunshot to the head later that night. Its attendance zone includes the Columbine CDP. Lakewood, Colorado Lakewood is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado , United States. The city population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. Census , making Lakewood
630-549: A 13-block area along Colfax Avenue west of Denver in eastern Jefferson County. Loveland, the former president of the Colorado Central Railroad , retired to the new community of Lakewood after many years of living in Golden . Until 1969, the area known as Lakewood had no municipal government, relying instead on several water districts , several fire districts, and the government of Jefferson County. Lakewood
720-484: A TEC-9 handgun from Mark Manes for $ 500 at another gun show on January 23. Manes, Manes' girlfriend, and Duran are all in the Rampart Range video. After the massacre, Manes and Duran were both prosecuted. Each was charged with supplying a handgun to a minor and possession of a sawed-off shotgun. Manes and Duran were sentenced to a total of six years and four-and-a-half years, respectively, in prison. In addition to
810-529: A blog post detailing murderous fantasies with "All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you as I can, especially a few people. Like Brooks Brown." Brown was a classmate of his. After Brown's parents viewed the site, they contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office on August 7, 1997. An investigator wrote a draft affidavit to request a search warrant for the Harris household, but it
900-647: A business, he and Klebold made a video called Hitmen for Hire on December 8, 1998, which was released in February 2004. It depicts them as part of the Trench Coat Mafia , a clique in the school who wore black trench coats and opposed jocks, extorting money for protecting preps from bullies. Klebold and Harris themselves were apparently not a part of the Trench Coat Mafia but were friends with some of its members. They wore black trench coats on
990-536: A carbine rifle and the two shotguns for the pair at the Tanner Gun Show , as they were too young to legally purchase the guns themselves. After the attack, she told investigators that she had believed the pair wanted the weapons for target shooting and denied that she had prior knowledge of their plans. Anderson was not charged. Harris and Klebold both held part-time jobs at a local Blackjack Pizza . Through Philip Duran, one of their coworkers, Klebold bought
SECTION 10
#17327929385091080-604: A class test. Harris, a good student, was unlikely to miss school days with important academic obligation. Brown berated Harris for missing the test. Harris, acting unconcerned, replied "It doesn't matter anymore." Harris went on: "Brooks, I like you now. Get out of here. Go home." Brown, feeling uneasy and already prepared to skip his next class, walked away down South Pierce Street. Meanwhile, Harris and Klebold armed themselves, using straps and webbing to conceal weapons beneath their trench coats . They lugged bags containing bombs and ammunition. Harris had concealed his shotgun in one of
1170-444: A custodian called Deputy Neil Gardner, the assigned resource officer to Columbine, on the school radio, requesting assistance in the senior parking lot. The only paved route took him around the school to the east and south on Pierce Street, where at 11:23 a.m., he heard on his police radio that a female was down, and assumed she had been struck by a car. While exiting his patrol car in the senior lot at 11:24, he heard another call on
1260-477: A diversion. For ignition, they used storm matches, cannon fuses, and model rocket igniters as well as timing devices built from mechanical alarm clocks for the propane bombs. During the massacre, they carried match strikers taped to their forearms for easy ignition of the pipe bombs and CO 2 bombs. Harris also experimented with napalm , and envisioned a kind of backpack and flamethrower . They both attempted to get another friend and coworker, Chris Morris, who
1350-430: A field about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of CHS, and 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the fire station. The bombs were intended as a diversion to draw firefighters and emergency personnel away from the school. Only the pipe bombs and one of the aerosol canisters detonated, causing a small fire, which was quickly extinguished by the fire department. It went off after first having been moved. Bomb technicians immediately examined
1440-402: A foot fetish, & bondage exteme (sic) liking. I try to thwart it..." Harris described his desire for sex with women, especially his desire of raping and torturing women in his bedroom. Harris also expressed interest in cannibalism , stating that he would like to dismember a woman with whom he could have "animalistic sex" and eat her flesh. Harris and Klebold's schoolwork also foreshadowed
1530-450: A hardware store. They bought six propane tanks on the morning of the attack. Harris was caught on a Texaco gas station security camera at 9:12 a.m. buying a Blue Rhino propane tank. Both cafeteria bombs included a single 20-pound tank, attached pipe bombs, and supporting gasoline canisters alongside. Both car bombs were made from two 20-pound propane tanks, pipe bombs, and various containers filled with gasoline were spread throughout
1620-451: A paper on Nazi Germany and Klebold wrote a paper on Charles Manson . In a psychology class, Harris wrote he dreamed of going on a shooting spree with Klebold. Harris's journals described several experimental bomb detonations. Nearly a year before the massacre, Klebold wrote a message in Harris's 1998 yearbook: "killing enemies, blowing up stuff, killing cops!! My wrath for January's incident will be godlike. Not to mention our revenge in
1710-533: A pipe bomb into work. They would give various nicknames to their pipe bombs. After the massacre, two pipe bombs had been left in Klebold's bedroom, one named "Vengeance" and another " Atlanta ", presumably after the Olympic Park bombing . They had in their possession eight propane tanks all converted into bombs. The weekend before the shooting, Harris and Klebold bought two propane tanks and other supplies from
1800-457: A reservoir fed by Bear Creek and Turkey Creek. Clustered near each other in central Lakewood are Main Reservoir, East Reservoir, Smith Reservoir, Kendrick Lake, and Cottonwood Lake. Northeast of them lies Kountze Lake. In the northwestern part of the city, Lena Gulch both feeds and drains Maple Grove Reservoir. In the extreme southern part of the city lies Bowles Reservoir No. 1 and, just outside
1890-459: A result, select victim families and journalists were allowed to view them, though the tapes were then withheld from the public and, in 2011, destroyed for fear of inspiring future massacres. Transcripts of some of the dialogue and a short clip recorded surreptitiously by a victim's father still exist. The pair claimed they were going to make copies of the tapes to send to news stations but never did so. When an economics class had Harris make an ad for
SECTION 20
#17327929385091980-406: A vote by students at Ken Caryl Junior High School and Bear Creek High School , who were the first to attend Columbine High School when it opened in 1973. The school has undergone significant renovations since it first opened: in 1995, with the addition of a new cafeteria and library; in 1999–2000, with interior renovations to the corridors, cafeteria, and former library; and in the early 2000s, with
2070-602: Is located at the junction of U.S. Route 6 and Colorado State Highway 121 in central Colorado, the city lies immediately west of Denver and 62 miles (100 km) north-northwest of Colorado Springs. Lakewood lies in the Colorado Piedmont on the western edge of the Great Plains just east of the Front Range of the southern Rocky Mountains . Green Mountain , a 6,854-foot-tall (2,089 m) mesa,
2160-468: Is located in the far west-central part of the city. The city is located in the watershed of the South Platte River , and several small tributaries of the river flow generally east through it. From north to south, these include Lakewood Gulch , Weir Gulch, Sanderson Gulch, and Bear Creek . Two tributaries of Lakewood Gulch, Dry Gulch, and McIntyre Gulch flow east through the northern part of
2250-746: Is represented by Jacob LaBure and Paula Nystrom. The City of Lakewood falls into Colorado House District 26, parts of House District 24, and House District 23. Lakewood is represented in the state house by Reps. Chris Kennedy , Kerry Tipper , and Monica Duran . Lakewood is within Jefferson County School District R-1 . Lakewood also houses Lakewood High School , Green Mountain High School , Bear Creek High School , Brady Exploration High School, Alameda International High School, and International Baccalaureate schools in Jefferson County , as well as
2340-487: Is used in active-shooter situations, and an increased emphasis on school security with zero-tolerance policies. Debates were sparked over American gun culture and gun control laws , high school cliques, subcultures (e.g. goths ), outcasts, and school bullying , as well as teenage use of pharmaceutical antidepressants, the Internet, and violence in video games and film . Many makeshift memorials were created after
2430-609: The Columbine effect , including many deadlier shootings across the world. Eric David Harris (April 9, 1981 – April 20, 1999) was born in Wichita, Kansas . The Harris family relocated often, as Harris's father was a U.S. Air Force transport pilot. His mother was a homemaker . The family moved from Plattsburgh, New York , to Littleton, Colorado, in July 1993, when his father retired from military service. The Harris family lived in rented accommodations for their first three years in
2520-585: The Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS) for tuberculosis patients, the small, frame Methodist Church, and telephone exchange, by the 1950s grocery and drug stores, gas stations, restaurants and taverns, several motels, branch banks, a movie theater, a roller rink, a bowling alley, and used car lots emerged there. Several multiple-business "shopping centers" developed followed by much larger centers at JCRS and Westland. The Villa Italia Mall on West Alameda Avenue, 20 blocks south of Colfax, reflected
2610-686: The fifth most populous city in Colorado and the 167th most populous city in the United States. Lakewood is a suburb of Denver and is a principal city of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and a major city of the Front Range Urban Corridor . The urban and suburban development of the community known as Lakewood was started in 1889 by Charles Welch and W.A.H. Loveland , who platted
2700-413: The 61,986 households, 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.1% were married couples living together, 5.0% had a male householder with no wife present, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% were not families. About 33.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size
2790-459: The CHIPS ("Challenging High Intellectual Potential Students") program. In 1996, 15-year-old Eric Harris created a private website on America Online ( AOL ). It was initially to host levels (also known as WADs ) Harris created for use in the first-person shooter video games Doom , Doom II , and Quake . On the site, Harris began a blog , which included details about Harris sneaking out of
Columbine High School massacre - Misplaced Pages Continue
2880-608: The Littleton area. During this time, Harris attended Ken Caryl Middle School, where he met Klebold. In 1996, the Harris family purchased a house south of CHS. Harris's older brother attended college at the University of Colorado Boulder . Dylan Bennet Klebold ( / ˈ k l iː b oʊ l d / KLEE -bohld ; September 11, 1981 – April 20, 1999) was born in Lakewood, Colorado . His parents were pacifists and attended
2970-427: The addition of the new HOPE Columbine Memorial Library and a memorial on the site. Columbine High School was the site of one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern United States history. The shootings occurred on April 20, 1999, when senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire and killed 12 students and a teacher, and wounded 24 others, 21 of them by gunfire, before they both committed suicide in
3060-438: The attack to primarily be a bombing and only secondarily a shooting. But when several homemade bombs they planted in the school failed to detonate, the pair launched a shooting attack. Their motive remains inconclusive. The police were slow to enter the school and were heavily criticized for not intervening during the shooting. The incident resulted in the introduction of the immediate action rapid deployment (IARD) tactic, which
3150-547: The attack. In both their journals, Harris and Klebold would later plot the attack. Soon after beginning his journal, Harris typed out a plan for an attack which included possibly escaping to a foreign country after the massacre, or hijacking an aircraft at Denver International Airport and crashing it into New York City . Klebold and Harris both made entries in their journals on topics related to sexuality . Klebold expressed shame for his sexual interests, which included bondage and foot fetishism , stating that, "My humanity has
3240-409: The bags. Beneath the trench coats, Harris wore a military bandolier and a white T-shirt with the inscription " Natural Selection " in black letters, a mantra he had adopted; Klebold wore a black T-shirt with "Wrath" in red letters. The cafeteria bombs failed to detonate. Had these explosives detonated as intended, they would have killed or severely wounded the 488 students in the cafeteria and damaged
3330-582: The belief that it would be confused with existing communities in Colorado and Missouri. At the time of incorporation, the city population was already over 90,000. Lakewood never had a traditional downtown area. West Colfax Avenue served the metropolitan area as U.S. Route 40 and the main route joining Denver with the Rocky Mountains . As such, Colfax from Harlan west to Kipling and beyond had mostly commercial establishments. In addition to
3420-412: The bombs and relayed to police at the school the possibility of devices with motion activators. Harris and Klebold changed clothes and returned separately to CHS. Harris parked his vehicle in the junior student parking lot, and Klebold parked in the adjoining senior student parking lot. The school cafeteria was their primary bomb target; the cafeteria had a long outside window-wall, ground-level doors, and
3510-422: The cafeteria and went back up the stairs to join Harris. They each shot once at students standing close to a soccer field but did not hit anyone. They walked toward the west entrance, throwing pipe bombs in several directions, including onto the roof; only a few of these pipe bombs detonated. Witnesses heard one of them say, "This is what we always wanted to do. This is awesome!" Meanwhile, art teacher Patti Nielson
3600-421: The cafeteria. Each bag contained propane bombs, set to detonate during the "A" lunch shift, which began at 11:15 a.m. No witness recalled seeing the duffel bags being added to the 400 or so backpacks that were already in the cafeteria. The security staff at CHS did not observe the bags being placed in the cafeteria; a custodian was replacing the school security videotape at around 11:14 a.m. Shortly after
3690-404: The city limits to the reservoir's northeast, Marston Lake. At the 2020 United States Census , the town had a total area of 28,574 acres (115.635 km ), including 751 acres (3.040 km ) of water. As a suburb of Denver, Lakewood is part of both the greater Denver metropolitan area and the Front Range Urban Corridor . It borders other communities on all sides, including Wheat Ridge to
Columbine High School massacre - Misplaced Pages Continue
3780-626: The city's five geographical wards. The mayor and the council members assert the policies for the operation of the city government. The current City Manager, Kathleen Hodgson, is the longest-tenured City Manager in the State of Colorado. The current mayor is Wendi Strom. The council members representing Ward 1 are Jeslin Shahrezaei and Glenda Sinks; Sophia Mayott-Guerrero and Isabel Cruz represent Ward 2; Roger Low and Rebekah Stewart represent Ward 3; Rich Olver and David Rein represent Ward 4; and Ward 5
3870-412: The city. The population density was 3,334.4 inhabitants per square mile (1,287.4/km ). Its 65,758 housing units averaged 1,533.5 per square mile (591.9/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 82.9% White , 3.1% Asian , 1.6% Black , 1.4% American Indian , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 7.7% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races. Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 22.0% of the population. Of
3960-465: The city. Turkey Creek, a tributary of Bear Creek, flows northeast through the far southwestern part of the city. In addition, Lena Gulch, a tributary of Clear Creek to the north, flows east then north through the extreme northwestern part of the city. Several small lakes and reservoirs are in Lakewood. The Soda Lakes lie in the extreme southwestern part of the city. East of them lies Bear Creek Lake,
4050-405: The commons"; "the commons" was slang for the school cafeteria. Harris and Klebold were both enrolled in video-production classes and kept five video tapes that were recorded with school video equipment. Only two of these, " Hitmen for Hire" and "Rampart Range", and part of a third known as " Radioactive Clothing", have been released. The remaining three tapes detailed their plans and reasons for
4140-468: The day of the massacre, and the Hitmen for Hire video seemed a kind of dress rehearsal , showing them walking the halls of the school, and shooting bullies outside with fake guns. On October 21, 2003, a video was released showing the pair doing target practice on March 6, 1999, in nearby foothills known as Rampart Range , with the weapons they would use in the massacre. Before the massacre, Harris left
4230-525: The day, keeping more than 500,000 students across the state home. According to Pais' autopsy, however, Pais was already deceased before the manhunt even started on April 15. She had taken about a 40-minute Uber drive from DIA to a mall, and then purchased a shotgun and ammunition from the dealer she had been in contact with previously, before taking another Uber ride from the gun shop "into the mountains" near Mount Evans . According to this Uber driver, Pais "had no food or water and only minimal clothing," and had
4320-419: The firearms, the complex and highly planned attack involved several improvised explosive devices . Harris and Klebold constructed a total of 99 bombs. These included pipe bombs , carbon-dioxide cartridges filled with gunpowder (called "crickets"), Molotov cocktails , and propane tanks converted to bombs . The propane bombs were used in the cafeteria, the shooters' cars, and in another location intended as
4410-465: The ground and was left paralyzed below the chest. After firing twice, Klebold's TEC-9 jammed, and he was forced to temporarily cease shooting to fix it, which he did by reloading a new magazine into his pistol. Meanwhile, Harris took off his trenchcoat and aimed his carbine down the west staircase in the direction of three students: Daniel Rohrbough, Sean Graves, and Lance Kirklin. The students presumed they were paintball guns , and were about to walk up
4500-423: The ground, weakly calling for help. Klebold said, "Sure. I'll help you," then shot Kirklin in the jaw with his shotgun. Although near-fatally injured, Kirklin would survive. Graves—paralyzed beneath the waist—had crawled into the doorway of the cafeteria's west entrance and collapsed. He rubbed his blood on his face and played dead. After shooting Kirklin, Klebold walked towards the cafeteria door. He then stepped over
4590-562: The gun sellers Pais had contacted in Florida. The FBI contacted Pais' Uber driver, who described Pais as cheerful and fluent in Spanish, and had "travelled to Colorado for recreation and was excited to see snow". At this point, the FBI decided to alert the public due to the danger of a copycat 20th anniversary shooting around April 20 at or near Columbine High School, although April 20 that year
SECTION 50
#17327929385094680-479: The house to cause mischief and vandalism, such as lighting fireworks with Klebold and others. These were known as "Rebel Missions", and Harris's blog primarily consisted of "mission logs". Beginning in early 1997, the blog postings began to show the first signs of Harris's anger against society. By the end of the year, the site contained instructions on how to make explosives. Harris's site attracted few visitors and caused no concern until August 1997, after Harris ended
4770-430: The injured Graves to enter the cafeteria. Graves remembers Klebold saying, "Sorry, dude." Klebold only briefly entered the cafeteria and did not shoot at the several people still inside. Officials speculated that Klebold went to check on the propane bombs . Harris was still on top of the stairs shooting, and severely wounded and partially paralyzed 17-year-old Anne-Marie Hochhalter as she tried to flee. Klebold came out of
4860-403: The largest percentages of the working civilian labor force were educational services, health care, and social assistance (18.4%); professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (13.8%); and retail trade (11.9%). The cost of living index in Lakewood, compared to a U.S. average of 100, is 107.4. As of 2013, the median home value in the city was $ 238,500,
4950-494: The library and four times inside. Klebold fired the TEC-9 handgun 55 times: three shots outside, 31 shots inside, and 21 shots in the library. Klebold also fired 12 rounds from his double-barreled shotgun: twice outside, four times inside, and six times in the library. Law enforcement officers fired 141 rounds during exchanges of gunfire with the shooters. On Tuesday morning, April 20, 1999, Harris and Klebold placed two duffel bags in
5040-487: The library. The massacre made headlines both nationally and internationally, making Columbine a household name, and causing a moral panic in U.S. high schools. It was the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history until it was surpassed by the Parkland high school shooting on February 14, 2018, in which 17 people were killed. After the shooting, classes at Columbine were held at nearby Chatfield Senior High for
5130-481: The machete had a swastika on the sheath. Klebold had a "Cobra" knife mounted to his belt on the left side as well as a switchblade in his right pocket. According to the shooters' respective journals and video tapes, it is believed by investigators that the pair intended to detonate their propane bombs in the cafeteria at the busiest lunch hour, killing hundreds of students. After this, they would shoot and stab survivors, as well as lob bombs. Bombs set in their cars in
5220-633: The massacre, including ones employing victims Rachel Scott 's car and John Tomlin's truck. Fifteen crosses for the victims and the shooters were erected on top of a hill in Clement Park . The crosses for Harris and Klebold were later removed following controversy. Planning for a permanent memorial began in June 1999, and the resulting Columbine Memorial opened to the public in September 2007. The shooting has inspired dozens of copycat killings, dubbed
5310-548: The massacre, including the ways they hid their weapons and deceived their parents. Most were shot in the Harris family basement, and are thus known as the Basement Tapes. Thirty minutes before the attack, they made a final video saying goodbye and apologizing to their friends and families. In December 1999, before anyone besides investigators had seen them, Time magazine published an article on these tapes. The victims' family members threatened to sue Jefferson County. As
5400-446: The massacre, police speculated the bombs were placed during this "tape change". They also investigated whether the bombs were placed during the "after-prom" party held the prior weekend. Some Internet sleuths claim the bomb placement can be seen on the surveillance video at around 10:58 a.m. Harris and Klebold are seen in the tapes planting the bombs in casual school clothes separately. Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Neil Gardner
5490-475: The massacre. They both displayed themes of violence in their creative writing projects. In December 1997, Harris wrote a paper on school shootings titled "Guns in School", and a poem from the perspective of a bullet. Klebold wrote a short story about a man killing students which worried his teacher so much that she alerted his parents. Both had also actively researched war and murder. For one project, Harris wrote
SECTION 60
#17327929385095580-425: The median selected monthly owner cost was $ 1,546 for housing units with a mortgage and $ 442 for those without, and the median gross rent was $ 940. According to the city's 2023 annual report, the top employers in the city are: Lakewood maintains a council-manager form of government. Citizens elect a city council consisting of the mayor, who is elected at-large, and 10 city council members, 2 from each of
5670-425: The most infamous massacres in the U.S. for inspiring many other school shootings and bombings; the word "Columbine" has since become a byword for modern school shootings. As of 2024, Columbine is still the deadliest school shooting in Colorado and one of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States. Harris and Klebold, who planned for at least a year and hoped to have a large number of victims, intended for
5760-544: The north, Edgewater to the northeast, Denver to the east and southeast, Dakota Ridge to the south, Morrison to the southwest, and Golden , West Pleasant View , East Pleasant View , and Applewood to the northwest. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Lakewood has a cold semi-arid climate , abbreviated Bsk on climate maps. As of the 2010 census , 142,980 people, 61,986 households, and 35,882 families were residing in
5850-428: The pair committed suicide. Columbine High School opened in 1973 with a capacity for 1,652 students. It was named after the surrounding community of Columbine , which in turn was named after the state flower of Colorado: the columbine . The school's first principal was Gerald Difford. There was no senior class during the school's first year; its first graduating class was in 1975. The school colors were selected through
5940-406: The parking lot would also eventually detonate, killing more students as well as possibly any police officers, paramedics, firemen, or reporters who had come to the school. However, the bombs in the cafeteria and cars failed to detonate. Several official sources claim they planned to shoot the fleeing survivors from the parking lot but, when the bombs failed, they moved to the staircase on the hill at
6030-511: The population over the age of 16 was in the labor force. 0.1% were in the armed forces, and 67.3% were in the civilian labor force with 61.1% employed and 6.2% unemployed. The occupational composition of the employed civilian labor force was 38.6% in management, business, science, and arts; 25.9% in sales and office occupations; 16.9% in service occupations; 9.9% in production, transportation, and material moving; and 8.7% in natural resources, construction, and maintenance. The three industries employing
6120-635: The private Colorado Academy . Lakewood is home to several colleges and universities, including Colorado Christian University , Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design , Red Rocks Community College , and the Colorado School of Trades . The town is served by the Jefferson County Public Library . Nine highways run through the city of Lakewood: Bus and light rail service within the city, and to other areas in
6210-476: The program and put on probation . Shortly after the court hearing for the van break-in, Harris reverted his website back to just hosting user-created levels of Doom . He began to write his thoughts down in a journal. Klebold had already been keeping a personal journal since March 1997; as early as November of that year, Klebold had mentioned going on a killing spree. Klebold used his journal to vent about his personal problems as well as what he'd wear and use during
6300-419: The remaining three weeks of that school year. The school went through a major renovation in 1995, just four years before the massacre, adding a new library and cafeteria. After the shootings, Columbine completely demolished its library, located above the cafeteria, since it was the site where the majority of the deaths occurred. The site was then turned into a memorial ceiling and atrium ; a new, larger library
6390-667: The school radio, "Neil, there's a shooter in the school." Columbine High School Location: Columbine High School ( Columbine, Colorado ) Columbine High School ( CHS ) is a public high school in Columbine, Colorado , United States, in the Denver metropolitan area . It is part of the Jefferson County Public Schools district. In 1999, it became the scene of an infamous mass shooting , where 12 students and one teacher were murdered by senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before
6480-412: The school's structure, collapsing the library into the cafeteria and possibly killing more students and staff. At 11:19 a.m., 17-year-old Rachel Scott and her friend Richard Castaldo were having lunch and sitting on the grass next to the west entrance of the school. Klebold threw a pipe bomb towards the parking lot; the bomb only partially detonated, causing it to give off smoke. Castaldo thought it
6570-404: The school: Michael Johnson was hit in the face, leg, and arm but ran and escaped; Mark Taylor was shot in the chest, arms, and leg and fell to the ground, where he faked death; the other three escaped uninjured. Klebold walked down the steps toward the cafeteria. He first shot once at the body of Dan Rohrbough with his shotgun, and then came up to Lance Kirklin, who was already wounded and lying on
6660-401: The shoulder with shrapnel. Anderson and Nielson ran back down the hall into the library, and Nielson alerted the students inside to the danger, telling them to get under desks and keep silent. She dialed 9-1-1 and hid under the library's administrative counter. Anderson fell to the floor, bleeding from his injuries, then hid inside the magazine room adjacent to the library. At 11:22 a.m.,
6750-663: The southward expansion of the Lakewood settlement and housed a larger concentration of retail space. As the mall went into decline, the Lakewood City Council developed a plan to demolish the Villa Italia Mall and replace it with a new development called Belmar. In 2011, Lakewood was named an All-America City for the first time. On December 27, 2021, a Denver gunman killed three Denver residents and two Lakewood residents before being killed by seriously wounded Lakewood Police Agent Ashley Ferris. Lakewood
6840-414: The staircase directly below the shooters. Harris fired ten times, killing Rohrbough and injuring Graves and Kirklin. William David Sanders, a teacher and coach at the school, was in the cafeteria when he heard the gunfire and began warning students. Harris turned west and fired seven shots in the direction of five students sitting on the grassy hillside adjacent to the steps and opposite the west entrance of
6930-417: The twelve students killed were in the school library, where Harris and Klebold subsequently died by suicide . Twenty-one additional people were injured by gunshots, and gunfire was also exchanged with the police. Another three people were injured trying to escape. The Columbine massacre was the deadliest mass shooting at a K-12 school in U.S. history , until December 2012. Columbine is still considered one of
7020-404: The vehicles. Eight pipe bombs were placed in Klebold's car, and one in Harris'. Harris and Klebold were both equipped with knives, but investigators do not believe they ever utilized them during the massacre. Harris had a boot knife on his belt and a "Khyber-pass" machete bowie knife taped to the back of his ankle. Both had an "R", referencing Harris's alias "REB", etched into the handle, and
7110-455: The west side. Other sources claim the top of the staircase where the massacre began was their preferred spot to wait for the bombs to go off all along. A total of 188 rounds of ammunition were fired by the perpetrators during the massacre. Firing nearly twice as much as Klebold, Harris fired his carbine rifle a total of 96 times: 47 shots outside, 36 shots inside, and 13 shots in the library. Harris also discharged his shotgun 25 times: 21 times in
7200-530: Was $ 66,947. Males had a median income of $ 46,907 versus $ 41,476 for females. The city's per capita income was $ 30,027. About 9.1% of families and 11.7% of the population were below the poverty line , including 20.3% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over. Lakewood's economy is diverse, while the largest employers are the government. Companies based in Lakewood include Einstein Bros. Bagels , FirstBank , and The Integer Group . As of 2013, 67.3% of
7290-403: Was 2.27, and the average family size was 2.92. The distribution of the population by age was 20.8% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 28.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.2 years. The gender makeup of the city was 48.9% male and 51.1% female. The median income for a household in the city was $ 52,960, and for a family
7380-450: Was a Saturday. After the manhunt became public, it quickly made national headlines, and hundreds of people called the FBI claiming they had seen Pais panhandling, buying a gun or actually outside of Columbine High School. Columbine High School went on lockdown on the afternoon of April 16, and was dismissed normally at the end of the day. With the FBI finding no trace of Pais by the end of the day, Columbine and several dozen schools closed for
7470-443: Was a community with policing provided by the Jefferson County Sheriff, several volunteer-staffed fire districts, and some neighborhoods without street lights or sidewalks. However, the community had already existed for about 80 years. The City of Lakewood was incorporated in 1969 as Jefferson City. Soon after, an election was held and the city's name was changed to Lakewood, due to an overwhelming dislike of "Jefferson City" and
7560-454: Was a part of the Trench Coat Mafia, to keep the napalm at his house, but he refused. Harris also tried to recruit him to be a third shooter but played it off as a joke when rebuked. Harris's website contained instructions on making pipe bombs and Molotovs, and the extensive use of shrapnel . Harris's father once discovered one of his pipe bombs. Harris's journal logged the creation of 25 pipe bombs. Klebold scared his coworkers by once bringing
7650-531: Was assigned to the high school as a full-time school resource officer . Gardner usually ate lunch with students in the cafeteria, but on April 20 he was eating lunch in his patrol car at the northwest corner of the campus, watching students in the Smokers' Pit in Clement Park, a meadow adjacent to the school. Two backpacks filled with pipe bombs, aerosol canisters, and small propane bombs were also placed in
7740-634: Was built on the hill where the shooting began and dedicated to the memory of the victims. By 2019, the school remained a " macabre tourist attraction " for those fascinated by the massacre, with hundreds stopped annually caught trespassing on the grounds or trying to enter the buildings. In June 2019, the superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools proposed tearing down the school and rebuilding it more securely to lessen its "morbid fascination". On April 15, 2019, 18-year old Sol Pais bought three one-way tickets from Miami International Airport to Denver, Colorado . After arriving in Colorado, Pais bought
7830-400: Was inside the school; she had noticed the commotion and walked toward the west entrance with student Brian Anderson. Nielson had intended to walk outside to tell the two students, "Knock it off", thinking they were either filming a video or pulling a student prank. As Anderson opened the first set of double doors, the gunmen shot out the windows, injuring him with flying glass; Nielson was hit in
7920-427: Was just north of the senior parking lot. The library was located above the cafeteria in the second-story of the window-wall. Each car contained bombs. As Harris pulled into the parking lot, he encountered classmate Brooks Brown, with whom he had recently patched up a longstanding series of disputes. According to Brown, who was smoking a cigarette, he was surprised to see Harris, whom he earlier noted had been absent from
8010-569: Was never submitted to a judge. On January 30, 1998, Harris and Klebold were arrested for breaking into a white van parked near Littleton and stealing tools and computer equipment. They would subsequently attend a joint court hearing, where they pled guilty to the felony theft . The judge sentenced them to a juvenile diversion program . As a result, both delinquents attended mandatory classes such as anger management and talked with diversion officers. They both were eventually released from diversion several weeks early because of positive actions in
8100-476: Was no more than a crude senior prank. Likewise, several students during the incident first thought that they were watching a prank. The two allegedly returned to where Rachel Scott and Richard Castaldo lay on the ground injured. Scott was killed instantly when she was hit four times with rounds fired from Harris's carbine ; one shot was to the left temple . Castaldo was shot eight times in the chest, arm, and abdomen by both Harris and Klebold; he fell unconscious to
#508491