...Running head: SERIAL KILLER PAPER Serial Killer Paper: The Columbine Tragedy Carsyn Ehlinger DMACC Abstract The Columbine Massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 20th, 1999, in Littleton, Colorado. Shooters Eric Harris, and Dylan Klebold killed 13 in what was then the biggest school shooting. The Columbine massacre is a topic of interest because it was one of the first heavily reported mass shootings, and had been handled poorly by law enforcement. Today Columbine stands as an example for law enforcement, and is one of the most popular copy-cat murders. On April 20th, 1999, only seventeen days before senior graduation, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered Columbine High School and killing twelve students, one teacher, and injuring many more before taking their own lives....
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...Dr. Luciano English 1301-169 October 9, 2013 Going Out in Flames Imagine this, you're in class at school and you hear what you think is firecrackers. All of the sudden your teacher comes running in the room and is telling everyone to hide under their desk and not to make a sound. That is what happened to hundreds of students at Columbine High School in Colorado. The two boys killed 12 students, 1 teacher and injured 21 others. Even though 34 people were physically affected by the boys, many others were emotionally effected. The Columbine Shooting on April 20, 1999, brought forth many issues that needed to be handled; school safety and anti-bullying were the first things brought forth by the police. According to the New York Times, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had planned this attack a year in advance. The two watched over the cafeteria crowds to determine the best time for their attack. “The bottom line of this thing is they wanted to do as much damage as they could possibly do, and destroy the school and destroy as many children as they could, and go out in flames,” Sheriff Stone said. On April 20, Adolf Hitler’s birthday, the two students made history for the deadliest school shooting ever recorded. In total, there were 15 deaths including Harris and Klebold, with an additional 21 injured. They had an assortment of guns and bombs, which included a propane tank bomb, which made investigators believe they had help. Even though there were no additional suspects, detectives...
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... April 20, 1999, the small town Columbine witnessed a terrible incident where two boys committed a massacre on their school. Columbine High School. The two boys, Dylan Klebold,17, and Eric Harris, 18, single handedly murdered 12 people and injured another 21. The number of casualties could easily have exceeded, considering that their plan didn't worked out exactly as they had planned, even though it was very thought through. Their original plan was that the bombs they had planted in the school cafeteria was to explode, and the survives would exit the school through the two main doors, of which Dylan and Eric covered one each. Luckily the bombs didn't go off. Which saved many lives, since it was to go off at the time where there would be the highest number of people at the location. The shooting began at 11:19 a.m. at the west entrance of the school. Their first victim was Rachel Scott who died of shots to the head and torso. Before entering the school and continuing the shooting, they managed to shoot 9 people. The whole incident lasted 43 minutes, where they had managed to kill 12 people and injure 21. A witness who had locked herself inside a room overhead Eric and Dylan count to 3 in unison, which was followed by two gunshots. They committed suicide. On April 20, 1999, the small town Columbine witnessed a terrible incident where two boys committed a massacre on their school. Columbine High School. The two boys, Dylan Klebold,17, and Eric Harris, 18, single...
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...How would you feel if someone you love so dearly went to school one day, a place you thought was safe, and never came back? Well, this happened to many. One day the parents of children sent their children to school and never got to say, “goodbye” or “I love you”. Most likely regretting everything they had done or said to their loved one the day before, or what they did not tell them. Although the Columbine High School Shooting was a tragic event in history, society has benefitted by bringing about school security, practicing evacuation procedures during school, and brought awareness to the issue of gun control. The Columbine High School Shooting was a tragic event within United States history that occurred on April 20, 1999. The traumatizing...
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...have been cases of school shootings. In particular the Columbine High School Shooting and Virginia Tech Massacre were both influenced by violent video games. In the Columbine High School shooting, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed thirteen people and then killed themselves. At Virginia Tech, Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed thirty-three people, including himself, and injured twenty-three others (School 1). Violent video games played a major role in these school shootings because the games were tools used to practice there plan and give them the ideas for the weapons they would use and how they would use them. Harris and Klebold attended Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. When the two teens had planned the attack it was intended for propane tanks to detonate that they left in the cafeteria in duffle bags. “According to the report released by the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office, the tanks contained sufficient explosives power to ‘kill the majority of students’ who would be in the cafeteria for lunch” (Columbine 1). The tanks did not discharge as the boys anticipated. When they came back to the school they soon realized things were not going the way Miller 2 they wanted so they pulled out there guns. The two boys went on a rampage, taunting students and killing without any hesitation. Similar to the Columbine Shooting, Cho...
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...The Columbine High School massacre or simply Columbine was a school shooting that occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine,[2][3] an unincorporated area of Jefferson County in the state of Colorado. In addition to the shootings, the complex and highly planned attack involved a fire bomb to divert firefighters, propane tanks converted to bombs placed in the cafeteria, 99 explosive devices, and bombs rigged in cars. The perpetrators, two senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered a total of 12 students and one teacher. They injured 21 additional people, with three others being injured while attempting to escape the school. The pair then committed suicide.[4][5] Although their motives remain unclear, the personal journals of the perpetrators document that they wished their actions to rival the Oklahoma City bombing, as well as other deadly incidents that occurred in the United States in the 1990s. The attack has been referred to by USA Today as a "suicidal attack [that was] planned as a grand—if badly implemented—terrorist bombing."[6] The massacre is reported as being "the deadliest high school shooting in US history."[7] The massacre sparked debate over gun control laws, the availability of firearms within the United States and gun violence involving youths. Much discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques, subcultures and bullying, in addition to the influence of violent movies and video games in American society. The...
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...their place in history. The following is an expert from Harris’s Journal, mastermind behind the Columbine Shooting: “Sometime in April next year, me and “V” will get revenge, kick natural selection up a few notches. If we’ve learned anything about the art of making pipe bombs, we’ll set hundreds of them around roads, bridges, buildings, and gas stations; anything that will cause damage and chaos. It will be like the L.A. riots, Oklahoma City bombings, WWII, Vietnam, Duke and Doom all mixed together. I want to leave a lasting impression on the world.” One year later on April the 20th 1999, Eric Harris and another Columbine student, Dylan Klebold, committed the worst High School massacre in American history. They killed twelve students and one teacher; injured twenty three others and then turned the guns on themselves (Avila, 2000). Immediately following the mass shootings, media, sociologists and criminologists set about the difficult task of discovering the motives of the killers and answering the question of whether or not problems within society allowed this to happen. As early as the day after the shootings, blame had been pointed at gun availability (Etheridge 1999). The subject remains controversial today. FBI psychologists concluded in 1999 that the shooters were respectively “the depressive and the psychopath” (Cullen 2004). There is consensus that Harris and Klebold were deeply disturbed, but few can agree as to who is to blame and what could be done...
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...head: CAMPUS VIOLENCE 1 Campus Violence has escalated since the Massacre at UT Berketa L. Livingston Liberty University Online ENGL-104 April 3, 2013 CAMPUS VIOLENCE 2 Abstract America’s first encounter with campus violence was in 1966, which occurred at the University of Texas. The U.S. had not seen the last of campus violence, because the next outbreak was in 1999, 33 years later when the Columbine massacre occurred. This tragedy was an eye opener for America, to rethink the safety of its schools and campuses. As tragic as these events were and devastating to the American people, safety of its schools and campuses had not happened. In addition to these two tragic events, another deadly massacre happened on America’s campuses. The massacre of Virginia Tech, this tragic event was one of the U.S. most deadly campus violence that had occurred in America’s history of campus violence. If these tragic events did not really make...
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...Is it ethical? Mary Ashley Badgett Communication Ethics November 6, 2013 Violent Video Game Advertising: Is it ethical? Section I: Summary Controversy over violent video games resurfaced in 1999, when two armed high school students instantly became killers of their peers. On April 20, 1999, at a Colorado high school, known as Columbine High, two students Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris opened fire, shooting 20 people and killing 13. The media revealed that Harris and Klebold constantly played violent video games, including “Wolfenstein 3D,” “Doom,” and “Mortal Combat.” Following the allegations of the Columbine case, it was announced that the rapid use of violent video games perhaps caused the tragedy to occur (Columbine Massacre). Is it ethical to advertise video games that display violence and encourage violent behaviors, specifically on television networks such as Nick and Cartoon Network, channels subjected to children? According to the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, advertising has a pervasive influence on children and adolescents. Per year, young people on an average view more than 40,000 ads on television alone, not including the types of advertising one could be exposed to in magazines, on the internet, or in school. “Video games carry ratings, and supposedly no one under 16 is able to buy a "mature" game, but the Federal Trade Commission found more than two-thirds of underage teens could buy such violent video games (The Christian...
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...April Hope The Significance of the Columbine High School Events CRJU 2110 Assignment #2 Introduction: The Columbine High School Shooting Event occurred at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999. At the time of the shooting, I was in the seventh grade of junior high school. I can remember thinking for months after this that it could occur anywhere and I was afraid to go to school. This shooting was the most significant shooting in a school in the history of the United States of America. During this incident, two high school seniors planned and carried out a massacre. These two students were Eric Harris (eighteen years old) and Dylan Klebold (seventeen years old). After all was said and done, thirteen people plus Harris and Klebold were dead and twenty-three people were injured. These events showed this nation that schools are no longer safe and that incidents that occur in schools should be dealt with swiftly and harshly. Schools now focus on security, bullying, and response to these type incidents. Topic I – Security A. Zero Tolerance in Schools B. Preventive Measures Topic II- Bullying A. Profiling B. Communication C. Anti-Bullying Laws Topic III- Incident Response A. School System Response B. Emergency Responder Response C. Post Response I. Security A. Zero Tolerance in Schools Schools in this country have adopted a zero tolerance policy. This means that the school deals with any infraction basically the...
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...Failures in the Media During Columbine Shooting Lauren Barber History of U.S. Mass Media Professor Todd Schack November 10, 2009 Judgment Day April 20, 1999 marks the day of one of the bloodiest and most horrific school shootings in American history. Until the 2007 shooting at Virginia Technical Institute, it was the worst school shooting to date. On this day, two seniors, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, entered Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado and went on a killing spree for approximately 49 minutes, leaving 24 injured and 15 dead, including themselves. The two students had been planning this attack on the school for over a year. Had their plan gone accordingly, the carnage would have been far more severe. The boys skipped their first period that day, arriving just before the lunch hour dressed in black trench coats carrying “several CO2 bombs, one semi-automatic 9mm handgun, a 9mm carbine rifle, a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun, and a sawed-off 12-gauge pump shotgun” (“Columbine”). They were also each carrying a duffel bag containing a twenty-pound propane bomb (“Columbine”). They placed a bomb in the cafeteria, set to explode at 11:17 a.m., the time when the most students would be in one concentrated area. The homemade bomb was strategically placed in the cafeteria to blow the ceiling of the room out, bringing the library crashing down upon explosion, killing another room full of students and faculty simultaneously. The two boys would...
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...Bowling for Columbine This movie is a documentary of what the narrator Michael Moore believes is the cause for the Massacre in Columbine high school in 1999. This movie was written and released in 2002. The Massacre in Columbine high school was committed by two students: Dyan Klebold and Eric Harris. These two students attended classes for bowling and were absent from school the day they murdered 12 students and a teacher. This also left 21 people injured at the scene. The narrator Moore starts off the documentary talking about “bowling” in Massachusetts could be a big factor in these two seniors’ students committing this crime. “Bowling” is when shooters use bowling pins as their targets and helps target vital points on the human body in case you ever had to shoot one. Furthermore, Moore went through out the documentary assuming that anger and being in the suburban environment when bomb making etc. is very popular could have caused the very shocking murder act. Therefore, Moore believes the problem in America’s society is that guns and weapons are too easy assessable, shown early on in the documentary by the use of a skit from Chris Rocks standup comedy saying “the price of bullets should be increased because there would be a smaller killing rate and less innocent by standers”. This quote reveals that Moore agrees with Chris rocks point and it conveys messages that if you are going to keep guns so easily accessed then at least have the decent to increase the prices. Although...
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...tall fat kid who goes around terrorizing the other ten year olds. The new aged bully no longer steals your lunch money, pushes you around and calls you names, now it’s far more psychological than it appears. But what are the affects that a bully has on the person that they harass and push around. The story we always hear is the bully will eventually get what’s coming to them and the defenseless kid rides happily off into the sunset. Is that true and is that what really happens? Reports have shown that 77% of students have reported being bullied in school and in fact an estimated 160,000 students miss school each day for the fear of being bullied. When your child comes running home from school upset that one of the bullies at school has been picking on him, as a parent your first initial react could be that your child may just need to ignore him or your other reaction to the situation could be that you’d like to go up to the school and talk with the teacher or principal. The proper way psychologist say you should react to speaking with your child is to try to be empathetic and ask them, “What do you think might help?” This will help make your child feel that everything is fine and that the problem will be addressed and give them a feeling of reassurance. This is the proper way to handle a situation where someone is being bullied, but it’s not always the most likely situation to happen. The majority of kids who are being bullied do not tell anyone that someone is making fun of...
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...Youth violence in America is an ongoing discussion that has been in the news for quite some time now. Kids are so easily influenced that it is normal to see them in some type of negativity. This matter causes children in our society to engage into violent crimes in school and in their communities. Some say the reason for this is because lack of attention in the homes or parents just not being available for their children. Are these reasonable excuses and why do our kids act in such violent behavior? For many years we try to get our youth involved into extra-curricular activities to stay out of troubles. Sports teams, educational activities, and tutorials can keep children busy when they are not in school. Many factors are mentioned when the media discuss youth violence including: video game interaction, trouble in our schools, and dysfunctional communities. Parents should be aware of signs that their child can be in danger of either committing a crime or being a victim. Something should be done to convince the kids that trouble is so easy to get into but so hard to get out of. The research will continue to grow in the upcoming years to investigate the youth violence and to find ways to keep our children out of trouble. During the teenage years of a child’s life, they are exposed to quite some violence in the media. The main source is video games. Every child loves to play these fast-paced games that contains three-dimensional graphics. The parents do not know if they are safe...
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...This paper will seek to determine why have school shootings become familiar media events. On April 20th 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, two students of Columbine High School, equipped with multiple firearms including explosives went on a killing spree, before committing suicide (Kohn, 2001). Wounding more than 20 people and causing the death of 13 people, the Columbine High School shooting is considered as one of the most important school shootings in history. School shooting is the action in which ‘multiple intentional killings’ are carried out in ‘educational institutions’ by one or more perpetrators (Böckler et al., 2013, p.3). The devastating event not only appeared on newspapers but it has since been adapted into an Oscar-winning...
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