BEFORE READING: I want to put out a huge trigger warning for people who are sensitive about this topic. There is blood mentioned, drugs, guns, school shootings, and racist comments. I did all my research on YouTube and the media. I am writing about this today for educational purposes and for teachers and staff to know we are unsafe and scared to come to school because things like this happen so much now. May god help us find peace through these.
Recently, A lot more shootings have been happening in America, the latest on September 4th 2024, at 10:20, when the first text went out about the Georgia school shooting. We lost 4 beautiful lives that day, causing grief around the state. We lost the lives of:
Mason Schermerhorn, a 14-year-old student
Christian Angulo, a 14-year-old student
Richard Aspinwall, a teacher
Christina Irimie, a teacher
Their stories have ended short due to a 14-year-old boy who had anger flooding in him, and also a gun in his house unsupervised. Colt Gray, 14-year-old sophomore, shot up his classroom killing his friends and teachers.
I’m a 16-year-old junior at Elsinore High School, and everyone knows about drills and all the staff telling you “This is a safe environment” until it’s our school next. The new phone policies being proposed have been scaring me a lot because what if something like this happens and I don’t have my phone to say my last goodbyes. Many kids have access to guns now because of parents, grandparents, or any sort of relative having one in the house. Some households could be unstable causing intrusive thoughts. Drugs can also cause these emotions to do such a thing.
“END GUN VIOLENCE.”
“IT WILL END HERE.”
The presidents and governments say this until it comes to enough kids and adults dying at schools where we kids are supposed to feel safe and learn.
Now, what if it’s a class mate? At Columbine High School in 1999, there was a failed bombing and a shooting. It’s your senior year almost about to be graduation! But two boys named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold decided to do something. 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. They were frequently bullied and teased for being the weird kids. Harris and Klebold, who planned for at least a year and hoped to have a large number of victims, intended for the attack to primarily be a bombing and only secondarily a shooting. They murdered twelve students and one teacher. Ten of the twelve students killed were in the school library, and 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 the library and four times inside.
Story of Columbine, Huge TW for this story.
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. Rachel 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 the ground and was left paralyzed below the chest.
Harris took off his trench coat and aimed his carbine down the west staircase in the direction of three students: Daniel Rohrbough, Sean Graves, and Lance Kirklin. They were about to walk up 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 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 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 the injured Graves to enter the cafeteria. Graves remembers Klebold saying, “Sorry, dude.”
Witnesses in the cafeteria heard one of them say, “This is what we always wanted to do. This is awesome!”
At 11:29 a.m., Harris and Klebold entered the library. Fifty-two students, two teachers and two librarians were inside.
They shouted “Get up! All athletes stand up!” and “Anybody with a white hat (part of the uniform of the athletes) or a sports emblem on it is dead. Today is your day to die.” When no one stood up, Harris said “Fine, then I’ll just start shooting.”
They targeted the athletes due to bullying and teasing through out their life.
The gunmen walked into the library, towards the two rows of computers. Sitting at the north row was disabled student Kyle Velasquez. Klebold fired his shotgun, fatally hitting him in the head and back.
Harris walked toward the lower row of computer desks with his shotgun and fired a single shot under the first desk while down on one knee. He hit 14-year-old Steven Curnow with a mortal wound to the neck. He then moved to the adjacent computer desk, injuring 17-year-old Kacey Ruegsegger with a shot which passed completely through her right shoulder, also grazing her neck and severing a major artery. When she started gasping in pain, Harris said, “Quit your b****ing.”
Harris then walked to a table south of the lower computer table, with two students underneath: Cassie Bernall and Emily Wyant. Harris slapped the surface of the table twice as he knelt, and said “Peek-a-boo” before shooting Bernall once in the head with the shotgun, killing her. Harris at this point held the gun with one hand, and the weapon hit his face in recoil, injuring his nose. He told Klebold he had done so, and Klebold responded “Why’d you do that?”
Harris laughed and responded “Everyone’s gonna die.” When Klebold said “shoot her,” Harris responded “No, we’re gonna blow up the school anyway.”
Klebold then walked toward another table, where he discovered 18-year-old Isaiah Shoels, 16-year-old Matthew Kechter, and 16-year-old Craig Scott (Rachel’s younger brother), hiding underneath. Klebold called out to Harris that he found a “N Word” and tried to pull Shoels out from under the table. Harris shot Shoels once in the chest, killing him, and Klebold shot and killed Kechter. Though Shoels was not shot in the head, Klebold said: “I didn’t know black brains could fly that far.”
At this point, the seriously injured Valeen Schnurr began screaming, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” In response, Klebold asked Schnurr if she believed in the existence of God; when Schnurr replied she did, Klebold asked “Why?” and commented “God is gay.” Klebold reloaded but walked away from the table.
Harris approached another table where two girls were hiding. He bent down to look at them and dismissed them as “pathetic.” Harris then moved to another table where he fired twice, injuring 16-year-olds Nicole Nowlen and John Tomlin. Tomlin moved out from under the table. Klebold shot him repeatedly, killing him.
Harris then walked back over to the other side of the table where Townsend lay dead. Behind the table, a 16-year-old girl named Kelly Fleming had, like Bree Pasquale, sat next to the table rather than beneath it due to a lack of space. Harris shot Fleming with his shotgun, hitting her in the back and killing her. He shot at the table behind Fleming, hitting Townsend, who was already dead; Kreutz again; and wounding 18-year-old Jeanna Park. The shooters moved to the center of the library, where they reloaded their weapons at a table. Harris then pointed his carbine under a table, but the student he was aiming at moved out of the way. Harris turned his gun back on the student and told him to identify himself. It was John Savage, an acquaintance of Klebold’s. He asked Klebold what they were doing, to which he shrugged and answered, “Oh, just killing people.” Savage asked if they were going to kill him. However, because of the background noise, Klebold said, “What?” Savage asked again whether they were going to kill him. Klebold said no, and told him to run. Savage fled, escaping through the library’s main entrance and through the cafeteria.
After Savage left, Harris turned and fired his carbine at the table directly north of where he had been, hitting the ear and hand of 15-year-old Daniel Mauser. Mauser retaliated by either shoving a chair at Harris or grabbing at his leg; Harris fired again and hit Mauser in the center of the face at close range, killing him. Harris then moved south and fired three shots under another table, critically injuring two 17-year-olds, Jennifer Doyle and Austin Eubanks. Klebold then shot once, fatally wounding 17-year-old Corey DePooter, at 11:35. Klebold pulled the chair out from the desk, then he pointed his TEC-9 at Todd, who was wearing a white hat. Klebold asked if he was a jock, and when Todd said no, Klebold responded “Well, that’s good. We don’t like jocks.” Klebold then demanded to see his face; Todd partly lifted his hat so his face would remain obscured. When Klebold asked Todd to give him one reason why he should not kill him, Todd said: “I don’t want trouble.” Klebold responded back angrily “Trouble? You don’t even know what f***ing trouble is!” Todd tried to correct himself: “That’s not what I meant! I mean, I don’t have a problem with you guys. I never will and I never did.” Klebold then told Harris he was going to let Todd live, but that Harris could kill him if he wanted. There were no further victims. They had killed 10 people in the library and wounded 12. The two walked out of the library at 11:36. Cautiously, fearing the shooters’ return, 10 injured and 29 uninjured survivors began to evacuate the library through the north emergency exit door, which led to the sidewalk adjacent to the west entrance. Kacey Ruegsegger was evacuated from the library by Craig Scott. Had she not been evacuated at this point, Ruegsegger would likely have bled to death from her injuries. Patrick Ireland, unconscious, and Lisa Kreutz, unable to move, remained in the building. Patti Nielson crawled into the exterior break room, into which Klebold had earlier fired shots, and hid in a cupboard. After leaving the library, Harris and Klebold entered the science area, where they caused a fire in an empty storage closet. It was extinguished by a teacher who had hidden in an adjacent room. The gunmen then proceeded toward the south hallway, where they shot into an empty science room. At 11:44 a.m., they were captured on the school security cameras as they re-entered the cafeteria. The recording shows Harris crouching against the rail on the staircase and firing toward the propane bombs left in the cafeteria, in an unsuccessful attempt to detonate them. As Klebold approached the propane bomb and examined it, Harris took a drink from one of the cups left behind. Klebold lit a Molotov cocktail and threw it at the propane bomb. About a minute later, the gallon of fuel attached to the bomb ignited, causing a fire that was extinguished by the fire sprinklers a few minutes later. They left the cafeteria at 11:46.
After leaving the cafeteria, they returned to the main north and south hallways of the school and fired several shots into walls and ceilings as students and teachers hid in rooms. They walked through the south hallway into the main office before returning to the north hallway. At 11:56, they returned to the cafeteria, and briefly entered the school kitchen. They returned up the staircase and into the south hallway at 12:00 p.m.
They re-entered the library, which was empty of survivors except for the unconscious Ireland and the injured Kreutz. Once inside, at 12:02 p.m., police were shot at again through the library windows and returned fire. Nobody was injured in the exchange. By 12:05, all gunfire from the school had ceased. By 12:08 p.m., both gunmen had killed themselves. Harris sat down with his back to a bookshelf and fired his shotgun through the roof of his mouth; Klebold went down on his knees and shot himself in the left temple with his TEC-9.
The beautiful people we lost that day:
Rachel Scott (aged 17), killed on grass outside west entrance by Harris
Daniel Rohrbough (aged 15), killed at bottom of stairs leading to west entrance by Harris
William David Sanders (aged 47), shot in hallway adjacent library by Harris; died of blood loss in a science classroom
Kyle Velasquez (aged 16), killed while sitting in a chair near the middle of the north computer table in the library by Klebold
Steven Curnow (aged 14), killed at the west end of the south computer table in the library by Harris
Cassie Bernall (aged 17), killed under library table No. 19 by Harris
Isaiah Shoels (aged 18), killed under library table No. 16 by Harris
Matthew Kechter (aged 16), killed under library table No. 16 by Klebold
Lauren Townsend (aged 18), killed under library table No. 2 by Klebold
John Tomlin (aged 16), killed next to library table No. 6 by Klebold; after being wounded by Harris
Kelly Fleming (aged 16), killed next to library table No. 2 by Harris
Daniel Mauser (aged 15), killed under library table No. 9 by Harris
Corey DePooter (aged 17), killed under library table No. 14 by Klebold
After taking a few weeks to write and finish this whole story, I realized I’m never safe. Even at school. Guns should be banned from households and should be gone in general. Never forget the victims of disasters like this. May all these victims Rest In Peace.
End Gun Violence.
