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Had the propane bombs detonated, they would have incinerated most or all of the inhabitants of the commons. They would have killed five hundred people in the first few seconds. Four times the toll in Oklahoma City. More than the ten worst domestic terrorist attacks in U.S. history combined.
Everyone was supposed to die. Columbine was fundamentally different from the other school shootings. It had not really been intended as a shooting at all. Primarily, it had been a bombing that failed.
The department would eventually admit that it took more than twice that long, 47 minutes, for the first five-man team to enter.
A second team entered after nearly two hours.
The alarms and sprinklers continued until 4:04 P.M. The strobe light that flashed with the alarm continued for weeks.
Eric and Dylan had terrorized the country, but they offered an invaluable opportunity as well. Evangelical clergy would answer to God if they wasted it.
One thoughtful Evangelical pastor said he approved of using the massacre for recruitment, as long it was truly done for God.
On August 7, 1997, a “concerned citizen”—apparently Randy Brown—read Eric’s Web site and called the sheriff’s department. On that day—one year, eight months, and thirteen days before Columbine—the killers’ names permanently entered the law enforcement system.
Deputy Mark Burgess printed out Eric’s pages. He read through them and wrote up a report. “This Web page refers to ‘missions’ where possible criminal mischiefs have occurred,” he wrote. Curiously, Burgess made no mention of the pipe bombs, which seem far more serious.
Love was the most common word in Dylan’s journal. Eric was filling his Web site with hate.
“It is just as easy to bring a loaded handgun to school as it is to bring a calculator,” Eric wrote.
The NRA show went on. Four thousand attended. Three thousand protesters met them.
Stone and Undersheriff John Dunaway posed in their dress blues with white gloves, armed with the killers’ semiautomatics.
No significant national gun-control legislation was enacted in response to Columbine.
The transcripts would be sealed at the national archives for twenty years. The truth would come out in 2027, twenty-eight years after the massacre.
In 2003, it released “The Active Shooter Protocol.” The gist was simple: If the shooter seems active, storm the building. Move toward the sound of gunfire. Disregard even victims. There is one objective: Neutralize the shooters. Stop them or kill them.
These are the tactics the killers have turned on us so callously. They cracked the media code. Easily. If this is news to the media, we are the last to know. If we care about ending this, we in the media need to see our role as clearly as the perps have. We did not start this, nor have we pulled any triggers. But the killers have made us reliable partners. We supply the audience, they provide the show.
