I just finished reading the excellent book written by Dave Cullen on the true story of what really happened at Columbine High School. On April 20th 1999 Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris entered Columbine High School and systematically executed 13 people. They then committed suicide. It was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history and shook school systems around the world.
After the shootings so much misinformation came out about the two killers such as they were devil worshippers, part of a trench coat mafia. That they were bullied and thats why they did this. It went on and on. None of that was true. The true story is that these were two pretty normal kids at least on the outside from two good families who for their own sick reasons decided to go on a shooting rampage. Just three days before the shootings the boys had attended their prom before graduation. Everything appeared normal and they seemed happy but little did people know they had been planning this for months. Led by Eric who definitely was the ring leader. They managed to get guns and built bombs. The author took almost ten years to finish the book and really got inside the minds of the two killers. He even had access to the tapes the boys left their parents as a good bye message
What I found so disturbing was the fact that they were so easily able to acquire weapons. While the shootings were horrible they could have been a lot worse if the bombs they built had gone off. Literally hundreds could have been killed.
Cullen's book is a very disturbing yet eye opening read and I really enjoyed it. I know as a parent after Columbine I never looked at school as a completely safe place for my kids again. I also felt sorry of course for the families who's kids were killed but I also found sympathy for the Klebolds and the Harris's. They not only lost their sons too but have to live with the horror of realizing what their kids did in their last day.
Thanks, DC.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you spreading the word.
It was a great Book Dave. I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteHaven't read the book, but it's the availability of guns - no question about it. If nuclear devices were available at WalMarts, they'd be setting them off, too. Again, haven't read the book, but some seriously bad parenting here - not much love in the home...
ReplyDeleteBefore I read the book thats what I thought Wolynski but this was two very normal families with both parents present and seemingly just a normal family relationship. The authour looked at the parents but these were just two kids that went astray. They could have been anyones kids.
ReplyDeleteOn Nov. 21, 2008, the Harris and Klebold parents were sent the same letter requesting cooperation. "Your stories have yet to be fully told, and I view your help as an issue of historical significance," it said. "In 10 years, there have been no major, mainstream books on Columbine. This will be the first, and it may be the only one." The letter came not from Mr. Cullen but from Jeff Kass, whose Columbine: A True Crime Story, published by the small Ghost Road Press, preceded Columbine by a couple of weeks.
ReplyDelete"Mr. Kass, whose tough account is made even sadder by the demise of The Rocky Mountain News in which his Columbine coverage appeared, has also delivered an intensive Columbine overview. Some of the issues he raises and information he digs up go unnoticed by Mr. Cullen." --Janet Maslin, New York Times
"A decade after the most dramatic school massacre in American history, Jeff Kass applies his considerable reporting talents to exploring the mystery of how two teens could have planned and carried out such gruesome acts without their own family and best friends knowing about it. Actually, there were important clues, but they were missed or downgraded both by those who knew the boys best and by public officials who came in contact with them. An engrossing and cautionary tale for everyone who cares about how to prevent kids from going bad." -----Ted Gest, President, Criminal Justice Journalists
GM Davis