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Columbine High School Event Maps
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The following is an assortment of maps that were produced by various news agencies shortly following the shootings. The diagrams detail out what happened where, during the Columbine High shootings, to the best of their knowledge at the time. Because all of the maps on this page were made immediately following the massacre of April 20, 1999 they may have errors and/or inconsistencies compared with what's known today. You can see a more accurate minute-by-minute collection of event maps and diagrams in greater detail at CNN's Columbine diagrams page (offsite link).

Columbine High School shooting course of events as mapped by the Denver Post

(Image has been scaled down - click for the larger image)

Version of the events of the Columbine High School shooting, as reported by the Denver Post. Though there were 15 deaths, at the time very little was known about what had actually happened inside the school. The Denver Post and many other news sources were reporting "as many as 25 dead" until they got a solid number from Jefferson County. This is just one of several details about the shootings that weren't accurate.

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Jefferson County's map of events at Columbine High School
Map of events of the Columbine High from Jefferson County Schools


MSNBC's version of events

Columbine High School shooting course of events map

  1. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, wearing fatigues and trench coats, open fire in the school's parking lot around 11:20 a.m. after the bombs they set didn't detonate. Two students are killed before the killers even enter the school.

  2. The two shooters continue firing as they walk through the hallway leading from the entrance to the cafeteria.

  3. The gunmen enter the cafeteria with two sawed-off shotguns, a 9mm semiautomatic carbine rifle and a 9mm Tec-9 semiautomatic pistol. They fire randomly into the panicked swarm of running students and ignite pipe bombs. Students scramble from the cafeteria to closets, bathrooms and other areas, some running right out of their shoes to get away.

  4. The gunmen, still shooting, head upstairs. Teacher Dave Sanders is shot, but tries to move students down the hall away from danger, managing to get them into a science lab.
    Klebold and Harris enter the science lab right next to the one where Sanders and the students hide. They turn on all the gas spigots and drop lit pipe bombs, proceeding to head for the library.

  5. Bleeding from wounds, Teacher Dave Sanders makes his way into this science classroom with several students, where he dies about three hours later from blood loss.

  6. In the library a teacher places a 911 call after she's shot in the shoulder when the sounds of the pipe bombs draw her out to see what's going on. Loudly laughing, Harris and Klebold enter the library minutes after she does, and yell "All jocks stand up!" before opening fire. One student athlete is saved when a female student covers the baseball slogan on his shirt. The two gunmen and 10 others are later found dead in the library.

  7. Choir room: A group of students rehearsing have to seek cover when their teacher gets wind of the gunfire. Some move into the auditorium, others waiting several minutes before making a break for the main hall and freedom. One boy, panicked, climbs into the ceiling where he waits out the enitre 7 hours in the cramped confines above the front exit, till the ceiling gives way beneath him, allowing him to scramble outside.

  8. Auditorium: Students lie down between the seats as teachers warn them to be silent. The janitor finally tells them to leave, ushering them out. The killers take pot-shots at the fleeing students.

  9. Weight room: Several students hide in the weight room.

  10. Gymnasium: An administrator moves students in gym class into an equipment room. Students remain in the room for about 15 minutes before being moved outside.

  11. Bathroom: Senior Nick Foss and a friend push two teachers a cook and one other into a bathroom. They can hear the gunmen yell, "We know you're in there!" as they prowl the halls and check on the propane bomb left in the kitchen.

    At this time the cafeteria surveillance tapes caught the two shooters wandering about, drinking from cups left behind and checking the positions of the armed forces out the windows, verbally frustrated that the bombs outside didn't go off as planned.

  12. Cafeteria Kitchen: Two days after the shooting, police find a 20-pound propane bomb, which they say had nails and other items taped to it to create shrapnel.


Outside Columbine High School - aerial map of the school grounds
Aerial map of Columbine High School and surrounding grounds, including student and staff parking lots.



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