GOLDEN, Colo. – Police have released 946 pages of diaries, personal writings and school papers belonging to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two youths responsible for the Columbine massacre.
Harris and Klebold, who were 18 and 17, respectively, at the time of the April 20, 1999 attack, killed 13 people and then themselves using guns and bombs. The Columbine tragedy was the worst U.S. high school attack in history.
The released documents included accounts of violent daydreams, hit lists, drawings, maps, lists of supplies, swastikas, pages from gun catalogues and gun-rights organization membership applications. In addition to the rants against the world were declarations of unrequited love and other evidence of normal teenagers’ lives.
According to the Denver Post, Klebold was depressed and suicidal. “All people I ever might have loved have abandoned me. I have no money, no happiness, no friends… I’ll go on my killing spree…”
Harris was fascinated with firearms, listing in his diary items like a double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun, a pump-action 12-gauge shotgun, 9mm carbine, 250 9mm rounds and other preparations for the attack. According to the Denver Post, Harris wrote, “I am (expletive deleted) armed now. I feel more confident, stronger, more God-like.”
The New York Times reported that six months before the massacre, Harris wrote, “I have a goal to destroy as much as possible, and I must not be sidetracked by my feelings of sympathy, mercy or any of that.”
Despite these private rants, Klebold and Harris were rather cooperative at school, deceiving teachers and parents. They did, however, write term papers about Nazi Germany, gun control and Charles Manson.
Harris and Klebold’s documents were released by the Jefferson County sheriff as a result of an order by the Colorado Supreme Court. Videos and audiotapes made by the pair were not released due to concerns that they could spark copycat killings.
