COLUMBINE MASSACRE

Columbine Massacre

Columbine Massacre

Introduction

Columbine High School is a high school located in Columbine, Colorado. The high school became popular due to its misfortune. A mass murder took place on the campus on 20th April, 1999. It is the fourth worst school killing in U.S. history after the Bath School bombing, the Slaughter of Virginia Tech, the slaughter at the University of Texas and one of the deadliest in a school. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a mass murder, killing 12 students and one teacher. They also injured 21 other students directly, and three people were injured while attempting to escape. The boys then committed suicide (LaFree, 1991).

The massacre diverted attention from all over the world and provoked debate on pressing issues including gun control laws, accessibility to firearms in the United States, and violence involving youngsters. The culture prevalent in different high schools of the U.S. were also brought forth in discussions and issues associated with subcultures, unions, bullying standards, as well as the societal role of violent movies and video games were also talked about far and wide. The shooting also resulted in an increased importance to school security, the gun culture, the use of anti-depressants and other drugs by teenagers, violent films and music, teenage internet use, and violent indoor games (LaFree, 1991).

It so happened that two teenagers, Eric Harris, aged eighteen and Dylan Klebold, aged seventeen entered the school carrying weapons and home-made explosives. They shot out numerous students in the cafeteria and library before eventually committing suicide. In total, twenty four students were wounded and fifteen students died on the spot. In total there were two shootings that took place. The first one occurred when the two of them killed a student Rachel Scott, who was having lunch with his partner Richard Castaldo (he was paralyzed after being shot in the spine) and then Daniel Rohrbough was shot while trying to flee the school. Finally Dave Sanders died from loss of blood after the shooting. The second was the deadliest shooting in which 10 students died and many others were injured. The murderers, after twenty minutes in the cafeteria shooting and burning, went back to the library where they released one last burst of gunfire to the police and committed suicide. Eric Harris, shot himself in the mouth, and Dylan Klebold shot himself in the face. Till this day, it is the deadliest shooting occurred at an institute in the history of the U.S. while the carnage ended the lives of many innocent human beings, it also revealed the state of terrorism prevailing among the youth at such a rapid pace. The tragedy brought forth some far-reaching problems and cultural mishaps to light and has been recorded as one of the most unfortunate days in the American history (Liska, 1991).

Early warning signs began to appear in 1996, when Eric Harris created a website on America Online (AOL). At first the website enabled people to download the maps of Doom ...