Students flee as bullets fly in Columbine High School, Death arrived at Columbine High School yesterday wearing a black trench coat and ski mask. The hallways were brimming with students heading to classrooms. The library was packed.
It was shaping up to be just another day at the suburban Denver school.
Then the shots rang out.Students screamed and ducked for cover as two trench coat-clad gunmen with masks hiding their faces unleashed a bloodbath.
Bullets pinged off lockers, shredded textbooks and shattered windows as the laughing gunmen hunted for students with dark skin or who appeared to be jocks, witnesses said.
Many couldn't believe what was happening as the gunmen fired off round after round.
"They'd shoot somebody, they'd laugh, they'd giggle," sophomore Joshua Lapp said. "You'd hear a shot go off, you'd hear somebody yell and scream, another shot go off, and they'd yell and scream, another shot, and there would be silence."
"These guys were killing just to kill," said senior Nick Foss. "They didn't care."
While some students tried to drag their wounded friends out of the line of fire, others sat shaking under their desks, frantically punching numbers on their cell phones.
Then someone pulled the fire alarm. Over the din came loud booms as the executioners detonated a series of explosions."I know they had pipe bombs," said student Jonathan Ladd, who was in the library typing a report when the shooting started. "They were letting them off outside, in the library."
Ladd said what happened next unfolded like something out of a police drama. "I was heading toward the rest room, saw a whole bunch of teachers and students running down the hallways toward me," he said. "Gunfire was going off, bullets were ricocheting off lockers."
The executioners started their spree at one end of the school and, as panicked students scattered, marched through the hallways.
"I was serving lunch, and someone came in from outside yelling, 'Get down!' " said cafeteria worker Karen Nielson.
Those able to escape ran into the arms of shrieking parents and frantic police who cordoned off the school and struggled to move the panicked people away to safety.
As more officers arrived, heavily armed SWAT police commandeered golf carts from a nearby course and circled the school. Ambulances gathered up wounded students and raced to area hospitals with sirens blaring.
At the adjacent Clement Park, students held one another and cried.
While police helicopters whirred overhead and investigators grilled students trying to pinpoint the location of the gunmen inside, three youths wearing black nylon jackets were stopped by cops in a field near the school.
Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone said they were friends of the two gunmen inside and it remained unclear what their intentions were.
Just after 2 p.m., about a dozen SWAT cops crept inside the school. Moving carefully from classroom to classroom, they searched for the gunmen and more survivors.
"We believe there are a few more victims," said sheriff's spokesman Steve Davis. "We're hearing from deputies who can see from their vantage points more victims."
Within minutes, police found pockets of survivors hiding in rest rooms, in broom closets and in classrooms.About 60 students escaped through a shattered window some with their shirts off and all with their hands over their heads to waiting police officers who patted them down to make sure they weren't armed.
One of them, 16-year-old Jonathan Vandermark, brought with him the news that everyone had been dreading there were bodies in the stairwell.
A short while later, a wounded student, his right arm limp and bloody, flopped out of a shattered second-floor window into the arms of police officers below.
Meanwhile, a few windows away, another terrified student held up a sign that read, "Help, I'm bleeding to death."
Teachers tried to protect their students, even as they lay wounded.
"I saw [a teacher] on the floor bleeding from everywhere," said Rachel Erbert, a 17-year-old senior. "He was trying to direct kids, but he couldn't talk."
Less than a mile away, the first busloads of frightened students fell into the arms of relieved parents waiting in a parking lot. Other parents continued to wait and worry.
Just before 4 p.m., deputies were seen leading a bespectacled young man dressed in a black T-shirt, black pants and boots in handcuffs to an unmarked police car.
Student Chris Wisher recognized him. "He's one of the ones who shot at us," he said, but police did not confirm that.
A few minutes later, the sheriff confirmed that two suspects were found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in the library and that as many as 25 of their victims were scattered around the school.
The day's drama was over. Another American nightmare was just beginning.
Then the shots rang out.Students screamed and ducked for cover as two trench coat-clad gunmen with masks hiding their faces unleashed a bloodbath.
Bullets pinged off lockers, shredded textbooks and shattered windows as the laughing gunmen hunted for students with dark skin or who appeared to be jocks, witnesses said.
Many couldn't believe what was happening as the gunmen fired off round after round.
"They'd shoot somebody, they'd laugh, they'd giggle," sophomore Joshua Lapp said. "You'd hear a shot go off, you'd hear somebody yell and scream, another shot go off, and they'd yell and scream, another shot, and there would be silence."
"These guys were killing just to kill," said senior Nick Foss. "They didn't care."
While some students tried to drag their wounded friends out of the line of fire, others sat shaking under their desks, frantically punching numbers on their cell phones.
Then someone pulled the fire alarm. Over the din came loud booms as the executioners detonated a series of explosions."I know they had pipe bombs," said student Jonathan Ladd, who was in the library typing a report when the shooting started. "They were letting them off outside, in the library."
Ladd said what happened next unfolded like something out of a police drama. "I was heading toward the rest room, saw a whole bunch of teachers and students running down the hallways toward me," he said. "Gunfire was going off, bullets were ricocheting off lockers."
The executioners started their spree at one end of the school and, as panicked students scattered, marched through the hallways.
"I was serving lunch, and someone came in from outside yelling, 'Get down!' " said cafeteria worker Karen Nielson.
Those able to escape ran into the arms of shrieking parents and frantic police who cordoned off the school and struggled to move the panicked people away to safety.
As more officers arrived, heavily armed SWAT police commandeered golf carts from a nearby course and circled the school. Ambulances gathered up wounded students and raced to area hospitals with sirens blaring.
At the adjacent Clement Park, students held one another and cried.
While police helicopters whirred overhead and investigators grilled students trying to pinpoint the location of the gunmen inside, three youths wearing black nylon jackets were stopped by cops in a field near the school.
Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone said they were friends of the two gunmen inside and it remained unclear what their intentions were.
Just after 2 p.m., about a dozen SWAT cops crept inside the school. Moving carefully from classroom to classroom, they searched for the gunmen and more survivors.
"We believe there are a few more victims," said sheriff's spokesman Steve Davis. "We're hearing from deputies who can see from their vantage points more victims."
Within minutes, police found pockets of survivors hiding in rest rooms, in broom closets and in classrooms.About 60 students escaped through a shattered window some with their shirts off and all with their hands over their heads to waiting police officers who patted them down to make sure they weren't armed.
One of them, 16-year-old Jonathan Vandermark, brought with him the news that everyone had been dreading there were bodies in the stairwell.
A short while later, a wounded student, his right arm limp and bloody, flopped out of a shattered second-floor window into the arms of police officers below.
Meanwhile, a few windows away, another terrified student held up a sign that read, "Help, I'm bleeding to death."
Teachers tried to protect their students, even as they lay wounded.
"I saw [a teacher] on the floor bleeding from everywhere," said Rachel Erbert, a 17-year-old senior. "He was trying to direct kids, but he couldn't talk."
Less than a mile away, the first busloads of frightened students fell into the arms of relieved parents waiting in a parking lot. Other parents continued to wait and worry.
Just before 4 p.m., deputies were seen leading a bespectacled young man dressed in a black T-shirt, black pants and boots in handcuffs to an unmarked police car.
Student Chris Wisher recognized him. "He's one of the ones who shot at us," he said, but police did not confirm that.
A few minutes later, the sheriff confirmed that two suspects were found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in the library and that as many as 25 of their victims were scattered around the school.
The day's drama was over. Another American nightmare was just beginning.
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