Eric Harris was born in Wichita, Kansas on April 9th 1981 to parents Wayne and Kathy Harris. His father was in the US Airforce and the family traveled extensively before settling in Littleton, Colorado in 1996. Eric enrolled at the Caryl Middle School and it was here that he met a new friend Dylan Klebold.

Dylan Klebold was born in Denver, Colorado on September 11th 1981 to Thomas and Susan Klebold. He had a brother Byron who was 3 years older. A gifted student he was enrolled at the Grovenor Ranch Elementary, his move to the Caryl Middle school was difficult for the shy teenager.

The two boys quickly became firm friends and both found a shared love of computers. They connected their PC’s together to play games over the internet. Both boys came from stable middle class families and outwardly showed no signs of the violence building within them.

In 1998 the boys joined a group calling themselves “The Trenchcoat Mafia”. These kids were considered outsiders by their peers. Eric was know to be bullied by the Jocks at school. They quickly embraced the Goth culture of the group, the Columbine yearbook for 1998 has a photo of the Trenchcoat Mafia with the words “Who says were different, Insanity’s healthy”

In early 1998 Eric Harris was maintaining his own website, it was here that he vented his anger on the people he hated, primarily the teachers and students of Columbine High School. The website also featured results of Pipe Bombs constructed and detonated by Harris and Klebold. The website would show that the boys had been planning the attack for well over a year.

By the end of 1998 Eric Harris already legally owned 2 shotgun’s and a rifle. A friend of the boy’s Robyn Anderson aged 18 brought further guns for them at a Denver gun show. Now they had a Hi Point 9mm Carbine rifle and 2 further shotguns. A month later Eric and Dylan went to another gun show and met up with Philip Duran and Mark Manes. Mark later sold them his Tec DC9 Semi automatic Pistil for $500. The boys took their weapons into Pike National Forest for target practice, they videotaped the event.

On the morning of Tuesday April 20th 1999 Eric and Dylan arrived at the school loaded with weapons and bombs ready to perform their carefully planned attack. As they approached the building a friend Brooks Brown passed them by, Eric said to him “I like you Brooks, Get out of here”

At 11.21am they entered the cafeteria and opened fire on their classmates with a huge amount of fire power. As the SWAT team arrived outside they could hear the sounds of gunfire and explosives. Many bombs were planted around the school, most of which failed to explode. By the end they would leave 12 students and 1 teacher dead and many more injured. At some point they realised that there was no escape, in the library they turned the guns on themselves.

In the aftermath it would take police several hours to secure the school, they found between 30 and 50 unexploded devices hidden around the building. The school became a major crime scene and was cordoned off. The victims would lay where they fell until the following night.

The victims were - Cassie Bernall, Steven Curnow, Corey DePooter, Kelly Fleming, Matthew Kechter, Daniel Mauser, Daniel Rohrborough, Dave Sanders (Teacher), Rachel Scott, Isaiah Shoels, John Tomlin, Lauren Townsend and Kyle Velasquez.

Over the next few days the residents of Littleton began to hold services in remembrance of the victims. Many people would face blame for the tragedy including the parents. Blame also lay with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, many felt they took too long in securing the building, when victims lay dying.

Blame must lay with the society which nurtured these two boys. The warnings signs were there as far back as 1997, but lack of communication between the school, police and parents left the anger inside, which in turn allowed them to plan their ultimate revenge on society.

In October 2002 4 video tapes which showed Eric and Dylan brandishing their weapons in the combat clothes they wore were discovered. The parents fought to keep the tapes private but were overruled.

Michael Moore’s film “Bowling for Columbine” delves into the reasons behind the increase in school violence and gun crime generally in the US.