Blog

Attack plan on school server:

One of the Columbine killers apparently downloaded plans for a spree of violence into a school computer the day before the shootings, possibly a final act of defiance that might have derailed the massacre if someone had checked the files.

At least 18 pages found in Eric Harris’ school computer files are dated April 19, 1999, about 8:30 a.m. Among the clearest indicators of the rampage that he and Dylan Klebold carried out the next day is a sort of crude list that mentions, “prepare explosives” and “shells.” Another sheet carries the notations “cannon fuse” and “napalm tests.” Drawings of battle gear and what appear to be a swastika are on other pages.

“Had myself or anyone in a position of authority seen these, there would have been a definite confrontation, immediately,” Richard Long, former head of technology for Columbine High School, said Friday. “We would have certainly talked to those individuals.”

But such a scenario was unlikely. The school did not routinely check student computer files partly because it would take so long, Long said. Such files were accessed by authorities only in response to suspicious activity.

Long was also familiar with Harris and Klebold. They were his student assistants for their first two and a half years at Columbine before they got busted for hacking into the computer system and stealing locker combinations.

Long saw the two boys change from “bright-eyed” freshmen to teens with darker attitudes. He believes that downloading the material the day before the shootings – if that is indeed what happened – may have been one way of thumbing their noses at authority.

“They carried propane bottles into the school,” he added. “How much more bold can you be?”

The last sign to go unheeded.

Some media reactions to the Columbine records…

NPR:

NPR reporter Jeff Brady has read through much of the material. He says it is sometimes difficult to tell who wrote what, but he says he believes that this line came from the journal of gunman Eric Harris:

“I am full of hate and I love it. I hate people and they better f—— fear me if they know what’s good for them.”

Jeff says the writings depict Harris as an emotional person whose “thought processes are really deep but really disturbing at the same time.”

Washington Post:

The newly released papers suggest that the two seniors dropped several clues about their plans in advance. But they were not enough to prompt intervention.

I disagree that they weren’t enough to prompt investigation. There was too much evidence for not one person to notice.

Scripps:

If we didn’t all know that in this case, it ended in bloody mayhem, this could be any parent agonizing over an adolescent’s serious misbehavior and trying to make certain the young person faces up to the consequences and learns better. Which Harris appeared to do, while he was in the program and conforming to its requirements, but secretly he was boiling with rage. He lied to everyone, he was proud of the lies and he fooled the people who were doing what they could to rescue him.

How can any parent read these lines and not wonder, “Could that be my child?”

Kotaku:

The video game references that I’ve read in excerpts (not having had time to consume the entire document yet) paint Harris more as an obsessive fanboy, period, than particularly driven by the game itself.

Time Magazine:

The parents of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold have often been portrayed as disengaged from the lives of their sons and unaware of the dark paths lying ahead. But 936 pages of evidence taken from the killers’ homes and cars were released by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office on Thursday, and a notebook kept by Eric’s father, Wayne, details a parent’s involvement in his child’s downward spiral.

But was still clueless to everything.

Denver Post:

In one passage, he foreshadows the blame game that would follow the shootings. “I know I could get shot by a cop after only killing a single person, but hey … I chose to kill that one person so get over it! It’s MY fault! Not my parents, not my brothers, not my friends, not my favorite bands, not computer games, not the media, it is MINE!”

Harris was right. It was his fault. But plenty of others failed along the way.

Here are my quick thoughts on the journals and other documents that were released today.

Wayne Harris definitely had the “not my kid” syndrome. Eric Harris broke Brooks Brown’s windshield, and yet, Wayne Harris claims that his family is being victimized and that Brooks Brown is a manipulative con man.

Eric Harris was definitely a racist and a homophobe, even though on his website he claimed he hated racism. Which would also make him a liar. I would almost say a pathological one.

Harris wrote reports about Charles Manson and The Third Reich that were almost favorable towards their subjects. Granted, hindsight is 20/20, but if I were a teacher, that definitely would have set off some red flags.

With all the references to killing and drawing of weapons and the like Harris made in his school work for at least a year, you would think that some adult in his life, be it teacher or parent, would have noticed his unhealthy obsession.

They got their guns in November 1998. That’s 6 months before the massacre. That should have given the parents ample opportunity to discover the guns. If my kids had records for theft and the like, they would have been under the proverbial microscope.

These documents should put the final nail in the coffin of the bullying myth. Harris talked about how he was excluded, not bullied. He was jealous of the popular kids. Like I’ve said before, the impression I got is that he wanted to be a prep or jock or whatever and was jealous that they didn’t accept him. They didn’t just snap. This was planned at least a year in advance. It was all about hate and egomania on the part of Harris and his Svengali-like hold over Klebold.

The most preventable tragedy in history.