20-4-1999 [27th Anniversary]
Today marks the 27th anniversary of one of the most infamous school massacres in history.
On the 20th of April, 1999- two high school seniors, Eric H and Dylan K entered the Columb!ne High School in Littleton Colarado and killed 13 students and 1 teacher before committing suīcide. As of today, more than 70 copycat attacks have been directly inspired by the massacre.
Eric David H was born on the 9th of April, 1981 in Wichita, Kansas. His family consisted of 4 people, including him:
Wayne Nelson H (his father), A US. Air force transport pilot.
Katherine Ann Pool, also referred to as Kathy Harris (his mother).
Kevin H (his older brother), who was born on May 1978. Three years older than Eric. He too attended Columb!ne High School and graduated in 1996. He was described as a well known and popular varsity athelete.
The family moved often, Plattsburgh being the location they visited prior to settling in Littleton in July 1993.
Dylan Bennet K was born on 11th of September, 1981 in Lakewood, Colarado. His family too consisted of 4 people including him:
Susan/Sue Frances K (his mother), an American author who also advocates for Mental health and suicide prevention after the massacre.
Thomas K (his father), who worked as a Geophysicist.
Byron Jacob K (his older brother), was born on October 23, 1978. He was sent to a private school unlike Dylan and had already moved out their family home by the time of the 1999 massacre.
☆Interests of the two teens☆
Eric and Dylan shared common interests such as video games, computers and technology, video production, movies and music etc.
Some notable ones included:
1. First person sh00ter games such as DOOM, DOOM 2, Quake etc.
2. Industrial music and German rock music, specifically the well known industrial nihilistic band K-M-F-D-M. Other bands also included Nine Inch Nails and Rammstein.
3. Movies such as Natural Born K!llers were a mutual favourite between the two.
4. They made countless home videos for school projects since they were both enrolled in video production classes at the time. Well known videos made by them being Hitmen for Hire and Radioactive Clothing.
Though known as a school sh00ting, Eric and Dylan had initially planned for the attack to be a bombing. They had placed two large propane tanks in the cafeteria, timed to detonate during 11:17am- when the cafeteria was the busiest. This plan had failed which made them resort to their plan B- the plan being to sh00t using their firearms.
The attack began at 11:19 outside of the school. The first person to be k!lled was Rachel Scott- who was eating lunch with her friend Richard Castaldo. The sh00ting continued through the cafeteria before both Eric and Dylan moved through the hallways and into the library. Daniel Rohrbough was the second casualty. The duo went on to sh00t and kill 10 other students and 1 teacher. The duo exchanged gunfire with the police aswell.
The massacre came to an end at around 12:07 when the pair committed suicide by their respective firearms. Eric died by a shotgun bullet through the roof of his mouth and through his skull, Forensic reports noted that a piece of his brain matter was found under the shards of glass of a molotov cocktail that was thrown by Dylan and hence Eric may have been the one to perish first. Dylan died due to a bullet wound through his left temple, the bullet being from his Tec 9.
12 students and 1 teacher were killed during the initial massacre. The death toll had been changed to 14 after by the Jefferson County Coroner's Office as, Anne Marie Hochhalter- a survivor of the sh00ting who was paralyzed afterwards died due to complications of her past injuries on 16 February, 2025. It was ruled a homicide.
☆The Legacy and the Columb!ne effect☆
Following this massacre, the United States instituted many new security measures throughout the entire nation's schools. Despite it all- school sh00tings continued to take place in USA- some notable ones being V!rginia T3ch and Sandy H00k.
The Columb!ne effect is the impact of the Columb!ne High School massacre- not only in the United States but around the globe. It inspired numerous copycat crimes, with their respective criminals taking inspiration from Eric and Dylan. Media and News outlets also often reference this massacre whenever another school sh00ting occurs.
It has been 27 years since this specific date and yet people still remember this tragedy. Rest in peace to all the victims, aswell as Eric and Dylan🕊️. Their lives all came to a sad demise on April 20th, 1999.
