Columbine High School Massacre - Preliminary Activities and Intent

Preliminary Activities and Intent

For Greater information regarding the background of the perpetrators, see Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

Early warning signs began to surface in 1996, when Eric Harris first created a private website on America Online. Harris had initially created the site to host gaming levels of the video game Doom which he and his friend, Dylan Klebold, had created, primarily for friends. Upon this site, Harris began a blog, which included jokes and small journal entries concerning his thoughts on parents, school, and friends. By the end of the year, the site contained instructions on how to cause mischief, as well as instructions on how to make explosives and logs in which he described as the trouble he and Klebold were causing. Beginning in early 1997, the blog postings began to show the first signs of Harris's ever-growing anger against society.

Harris's site attracted few visitors, and caused no concern until late 1997, when Klebold gave the web address to Brooks Brown, a former friend of Harris. Brown's mother had filed numerous complaints with the Jefferson County Sheriff's office concerning Harris, thinking of him as being dangerous. The website contained numerous death threats directed against Brown: Klebold somehow knew that if Brooks accessed the address, he would discover the content and inform his parents, with their subsequent actions leading to the authorities being notified. Brown's parents subsequently viewed the content of the site and contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and an investigator named Michael Guerra was subsequently notified of the site's existence. Upon accessing Harris's website site, Guerra discovered numerous violent threats directed against the students and teachers of Columbine High School. Other material included blurbs Harris had written concerning his general hatred of society, and his desire to kill those who annoyed him. Harris had begun noting the completion of construction of pipe bombs upon his site. In addition, he had mentioned a gun count and compiled a hit list of individuals he wished to target (although no overall plan detailing how he intended to attack targets he had specified was ever posted upon the site). As Harris had stated upon his website that he was in possession of explosives, Guerra wrote a draft affidavit, requesting a search warrant of the Harris household, but the document was never filed.

On January 30, 1998, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold committed an act of theft in which both stole tools and other equipment from a van parked near the city of Littleton, Colorado. Both youths were arrested and subsequently attended a joint court hearing, where they pleaded guilty to the felony theft. The judge sentenced the duo to attend a juvenile diversion program.

Within the juvenile diversion program, both boys attended mandated classes and conversed with diversion officers. One of the classes the pair attended focused upon anger management. Harris also began attending therapy classes with a psychologist. However, despite Klebold having a history of drinking and having failed a dilute urine test, neither he nor Harris attended any substance abuse classes.

Harris and Klebold were eventually released from diversion several weeks early because of their good actions upon the program, though both youths still remained on probation. Harris wrote an ingratiating letter to the owner of the equipment they stole, offering apologies and feigned empathy to the owner for his and Klebold's actions. Harris would continue to attend scheduled appointments with his psychologist until a few months before he and Klebold were to commit the Columbine High School massacre.

Shortly after his and Klebold's court hearing, Harris's online blog disappeared, and his website was reverted to its original purpose of posting user-created levels of the online video game Doom. Harris began to write a paper journal, where he documented his thoughts and plans. He also boasted in these journal entries that he had faked his previously written letter of regret to the owner of the van from which he and Klebold had stolen items and applauded himself as to his deception skills.

Despite having reverted his website to its initially created purpose of hosting video game trivia, Harris continued to dedicate a section of his website to posting information regarding his and Klebold's progress regarding their collection of guns and building of the bombs they subsequently used in the attack upon their school. (After the existence of this website was made public, AOL permanently deleted the website from its servers.)