Officials at Columbine | SWAT teams, police, and medical
The presence of the Denver SWAT team and other officials at Columbine High School on April 20,1999 when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold launched their attack has been one of the most controversial topics of this tragedy. The biggest point of contention was: Did the SWAT team react quickly enough?


The Denver SWAT took a lot of heat from various sources. From news media to local law enforcement, people were accusing them of not moving in quicker and not approaching the situation more aggressively. They wanted to secure the perimeter, those in charge said; they weren't sure what was going on. So, they did not mobilize until it was far too late to do anything to stop the massacre.

Local police who arrived on the scene first sprang into action immediately. Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Neil Gardner, a community resource officer at Columbine High School and member of the bike patrol, was closest to the school and the first to arrive on scene. As soon as he stepped out of his patrol car, Eric Harris fired ten shots at him. Gardner had been in active shooter situations twice before, but had never returned fire. That day he did. He fired four shots at the gunman. Eric's gun jammed and he retreated into the school's upper level.

Gardner's backup arrived in the forms of Deputy Paul Magor and Deputy Paul Smoker. Deputy Scott Taborsky and Deputy Rick Searle arrived shortly after. Gardner and the additional officers continued to exchange fire. At 11:27 am, Gardner radioed in requesting emergency and medical assistance.

He and the other officers continued to keep radio communications going, reporting what they saw and heard as they battled the two shooters. They did their best to shield students and faculty from the gunfire as they fled the school, forming a chain of patrol cars for the evacuated to hide behind as they escaped.

By 11:30 there were six deputies on the scene when reporters began to show up at the school. In their haste to get the "scoop" some of the media vehicles hopped curbs and parked on the grass. About that time the shooters had made it to the library and, killing Kyle Velasquez on their way to the west windows, they began shooting out at the deputies from there. The paramedics arrived on-scene next. Medical workers leapt into the fray; despite the fact that they were being shot at, they dragged students out of the line of fire so they could be transported away from the scene where they could be treated. Deputies provided cover fire for them and eventually the shooters ceased fire and retreated.

Lieutenant Terry Manwaring was the first of the SWAT personnel to arrive. He was on-scene at 11:38 a.m. Jefferson County Sheriff's Department set up a staging area at Pierce Ave and Leawood near the school. When they arrived, Undersheriff John Dunaway appointed Lt. David Walcher as incident commander. They sent out a call for any available SWAT to come to the scene.

The first Jefferson County SWAT team to assemble was a group of 12 officers from three different agencies who were thrown together during the crisis under the command of Manwaring. Many had never met before that moment. Most didn't even have their tactical gear or equipment with them. Denver SWAT Captain Vincent DiManna arrived on the scene with four other SWAT members. His son was a student at Columbine High and possibly still trapped inside. SWAT sniper Sean Dugan had a daughter who attended the school as well. She wasn't responding to his texts. They had clearance from incident commander Lt. Walcher to enter the school as soon as they were ready.

The confusion of conflicting reports they were receiving contributed to their slow reaction. They couldn't figure out how many shooters there were or where they were. All they knew for sure was that there were shooters in the school and people - children - were being shot at. It was nearly 12:00 PM - an hour after they were called to the scene - before they were ready to approach the school. Several lacked bullet-proof vests and they only had two riot shields with them. They were relying on a hastily-drawn map that a student sketched for them. The team used a fire truck to provide cover while they moved in close to the building.

A request was radioed in for an armored vehicle to be sent down to rescue the injured as the officials now in charge pronounced the area unsafe for medical. Despite restrictions, Littleton paramedics braved the unsafe conditions to rescue victims Sean Graves, Lance Kirklin, and Anne Marie Hochhalter, who had been gunned down outside the school.

Manwaring split his team in two, appointing SWAT member Allen Simmons as leader of the other team. Manwaring's group provided cover while Simmons' group headed to the school's east entrance, though though there had not been any gunshots or explosions heard from inside the school for nearly an hour. They inched closer to the building, alert to the possibility of a sniper on the roof or a hostage situation inside. At 12:06, Simmons' team entered the far east side of the school. They systematically broke down doors and searched each room, evacuating anyone hiding there before moving on to the next room.

Deputy Del Kleinschmidt drove the fire truck around to the school's west side where they saw two students prone in the grass, a girl and a boy. The boy was waving one of his arms. The SWAT team approached them behind the cover of the fire truck. They could only take the truck as far as the sidewalk. Capt. DiManna and Lt. Pat Phelan rescued Richard Castaldo, putting him on the front bumper of the fire truck before returning for Rachel Scott. They got her to the fire truck before they realized she was dead, at which time they left her in the grass. Richard was moved to Deputy Taborsky's car while the SWAT team went to rescue Dan Rohrbough. Discover he, too, was dead, they relayed the information to the deputy. Taborsky left to take Castaldo to triage. At around 12:30 Sergeant Barry Williams's team of 10 SWAT members arrived on-scene. At 12:50 they borrowed a front-end loader from a nearby construction company and used it as a makeshift armored vehicle to approach the school. Two SWAT members were deployed to take to the nearby neighborhood rooftops to keep watch on the southern parking lot, library, and cafeteria. A "live bomb" outside the cafeteria prevented them from entering the school that way. The west entry was considered a "hot zone". So, the team entered the building through the broken window that led to the teacher's lounge next to the commons. It was 1:09 p.m.

Half of Williams' team stayed by the cafeteria exits just in case the suspects tried to escape that way. The other half proceeded to investigate the kitchen and storage areas, again going door by locked door, breaking in and evacuating traumatized people. It would be hours before they made it to the area where the shooters were last active.

From the sidelines, news cameras could easily pick up the sign one student held up desperately pleading for aid for a dying Coach William "Dave" Sanders. He had been shot around 11:30 AM and students had been calling 911 repeatedly from that time for help. They were promised by dispatchers that help was on the way. But it wasn't. Coach Sanders bled to death on the floor of one Columbine's Science classroom. He was the last individual to die in the school and his family later maintained that he would not have died if the SWAT hadn't taken so long getting to him.

The SWAT was forced into decisive action at 2:30 when, to save himself from the same fate Coach Sanders was enduring, Patrick Ireland rolled himself out of the library window. He would have fallen head-first two stories onto a concrete sidewalk if the mobile armored unit hadn't rolled in to catch him. However, if he had waited in the library for help to arrive he likely would have died there waiting.

The SWAT team finally reached the critically injured Coach Dave Sanders at around 2:40, over three hours after Sanders was shot. When they arrived, students had put together a make-shift gurney with the intent to move the Coach out themselves as they'd given up hope on a rescue. The SWAT refused to let them use the gurney and made the students leave the building at that time. Two SWAT team members stayed with Sanders to wait for the paramedics.