Science and Medicine

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold

Eric David Harris (April 9, 1981 – April 20, 1999) and Dylan Bennet Klebold ( KLEE-bohld; September 11, 1981 – April 20, 1999) were an American mass murder duo who perpetrated the Columbine High School massacre, where they killed 13 students and one teacher, and wounded 23 others. After killing most of their victims in the school library, the two died from suicide by gunshot. At the time, the attack was the deadliest high school shooting in United States history. The ensuing media frenzy and moral panic turned "Columbine" into a byword for school shootings, and the event into one of the most infamous mass shootings. Harris and Klebold met while attending middle school and gradually became close. By their junior year of high school, they were described as best friends who were dependent on one another. Early reports characterized them as unpopular and frequent targets of bullying; however, many peers later stated that the two were not near the bottom of the school's social hierarchy, as both had numerous friends and active social lives. Columbine High School was alleged to have an intense "jock culture", in which popular students—primarily athletes—received preferential treatment from faculty and peers. Harris and Klebold often wore black trench coats in their everyday attire; as a result, it was initially believed that they were members of a school clique known as the "Trenchcoat Mafia", a group of students who were said to rebel against the school's norms. This was later found to be unsubstantiated, as Harris and Klebold had little to no affiliation with the group. According to their writings, Harris and Klebold appear to have begun planning the attack by May 1998, nearly a year beforehand, although each had previously made references to a shooting. Over the following eleven months, they secretly built explosives and amassed an arsenal of weapons, planning to attack in April 1999, just weeks before their graduation. Both left behind journals and video recordings, created individually and together, that foreshadowed the massacre and provided insight into their rationale for the shooting. They intended for this material to be widely viewed and to inspire followers, although much of it has never been released by authorities.

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See also

• ▸Barry Zuckerman
• ▸Epsilon1 Arae
• ▸Benjamin Cornwell

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