𝗖𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀

Harris, who with his friend Dylan Klebold gunned down a dozen fellow students and a teacher before killing themselves in an April 20 attack at their high school in Littleton, Colo., was a former middle school classmate of Abi Tenebaum and Jessica Sapel’s in Plattsburgh, N.Y. Although there have been reports that Harris and Klebold chose the date because it was Hitler's birthday and singled out a black student and athletes as victims for their savage attack, both teenagers said that when Harris lived in Plattsburgh, he never showed signs of any hatred toward those groups.

Harris was also an active athlete who played Little League in the town. Tenebaum said that Harris associated with "preps," but said he wasn’t "an annoying prick."

Sapel can’t imagine how this gentle middle schooler turned into a trench coat-toting criminal, but she thinks Harris began having problems after his family moved from New York to Colorado during their seventh-grade year. "It didn’t happen to him here (in Plattsburgh)," Sapel said. "None of us can imagine what happened."

Sarah Davis 🥛𝅗𝅥 ̥̥̥̟ 🥛🪡

Eric and I were in 6th grade when we first met, and I was so awkward then. And he was really quiet. We have an Air Force base in Plattsburgh, New York. So he was an Air Force base kid. I wouldn’t say we were close friends right away. But we became friends, and he was like a nice quiet kid. So he was one of my first boyfriends—well, it doesn’t really matter. I mean, it was like a 6th grade boyfriend.

"He was a shy kid, but he was a good kid," she recalled. "I never knew him to do anything wrong when he was here. We were in the same group of kids, and we always hung out together, both inside and out of school."

"It’s kind of funny to think back about things we did together. Like we went to the Clinton County Fair with two other kids. I don’t like certain rides very much. They were all about to go on one, and he came running out so I didn’t have to be by myself. He was just a sweetheart. He was a nice kid. I mean, he had friends. It wasn’t like he was a loner then. Maybe he was out in Colorado—actually I guess he was, ‘cause they wrote and talked about that in the media. But when he was in Plattsburgh, he wasn’t like that.

When we first kept in touch, we wrote letters. I have some of them, and it’s funny to look back and read them, because some of them are really silly. He said things like, 'I don’t want to see other girls.' And we also talked on the phone. There was a time when we lost touch for a little bit, but not that long. Then we got into the Internet.

It was every couple of weeks we’d e-mail or talk, and it was always a good thing. I’m a very quiet and not a very emotional person and tend to listen. He tried to be open and get me to talk about things that were going on in my life. I really liked that about him. He was compassionate.

Sarah said she seldom saw the anger that was building up inside Harris, though he let her know that he wasn’t happy in Littleton. "When he first moved there, he didn’t like it at all," she said. "I don’t remember if it was because he didn’t have any friends or if he didn’t like the environment." The Eric Harris she knew did not like violence, Sarah said.

"Obviously, things changed," she said. "If he had stayed here, I don’t think this ever would have happened."

The day of the shooting, I was outside playing street hockey with my friends. I was 18 then. My mom came to the door and said, 'There was another school shooting.' And your heart kind of drops. I later came inside with my friends. We were watching TV, flipping through the channels, and saw the school shooting thing. On the bottom of the TV, it says where they are, Littleton, Colorado. I just sat there and couldn’t move at first. Then I got up and I went in my room. I shut the door and I started bawling. It was awful. And then my mom came down and asked, 'What’s wrong?' And I couldn’t even get the words out. I finally told her, 'Littleton. Eric lives in Littleton. That’s where the school shooting was, and I’m really worried about him.'

When her friends left, Sarah went online to see if Harris might be online as well. He was not. She tried calling his house several times, but there was no answer.

The next morning I went to my softball practice and I didn’t take my sunglasses off. My eyes were beet red from crying the whole night. When I got home, my dad came out and his eyes were all puffy. He said, 'I have bad news. Your friend Eric was one of the shooters.' I pretty much broke down there in the driveway.

The tape stops again, and when it starts, Eric Harris is alone in a moving car. The camera seems to be mounted on the car’s dashboard. It’s dark out, and there are raindrops on the window. At one point he passes a street sign that reads "Federal." There’s music playing loudly, making it hard at times to understand what Eric is saying. At one point he mentions "The Black Jack Crew," specifically mentioning "Jason" and "Chris."

Eric: "You guys are very cool. Sorry, dudes. I had to do what I had to do. Bob is one of the coolest guys I’ve ever met in my life, except for being an alcoholic." Eric says he’s going to miss Bob. "It’s a weird feeling knowing you’re going to be dead in two and a half weeks."

Eric says he can’t decide if they should do it before or after prom. At the end of this section of the tape, Harris says he wishes he could have re-visited Michigan and "old friends." He falls silent then and appears to start crying, wiping a tear from the left side of his face. He shuts the camera off.