6:15 AM local time (1315 BST) Klebold and Harris show up
for school as per the norm, Harris in a t-shirt with the words Natural Selection.
11:AM local time (1800 BST) Harris and Klebold are wearing
wraparound shades and black trenchcoats as they arrive back on campus and
head toward the Columbine High cafeteria.
At 11:15 AM local time (1815 BST) reports began to come in
of two or three masked gunmen entering the school, which has about 2,000
students. Matthew Depew, son of one of the officers, made the first call
from the kitchen, hidden so close to the killers he could hear them
reloading their guns.
The *two* gunmen began firing in the parking
lot, killing Rachel Scott with a bullet to the head. Danny Rohrbough was
the next to fall, just outside the entrance. From there they closed in on
the cafeteria where they threw pipe bombs as well as shot at fleeing
students, and then up to the library, bombing in their wake.. Later
reports suggested they picked on ethnic minorities and "jocks", a slang
term for athletic types.
An hour after the shooting began, television cameramen
were on the scene, relaying images nationwide and then worldwide.
SWAT teams, in black fatigues, were on the scene at 12:30
PM, over an hour after the shooting began. They initially believed they
were dealing with a hostage-taking situation. The first team (of five
people) begin a sweep of the upper level, stopping at the closed doors in
the halls that seperated them from the Science Rooms, Choir Room and
library, afraid of booby traps. About 20 students were freed. At this
point they were unsure whether the gunmen were alive and in the building.
At around 1:30 (2030 BST) an armoured car was brought to
the main school entrance for cover as dozens more students fled the
building.
Around 2:00 PM (2100 BST), three youths wearing black
clothes - but not trenchcoats - were apprehended by armed police in a
field near the school. The trio were later described as "friends of the
gunmen". They were questioned later and released.
2:30 PM local time two SWAT teams enter the teachers'
lounge next to the kitchen and begin securing lower the lower level by
freeing kids in the kitchen and bathrooms, searching them before the
uninjured were released to parents care (at Leawood Elementary School).
Casualties began arriving at two local hospitals. Five people, suffering
from serious gunshot wounds were taken to the Swedish Medical Centre in
Denver.
SWAT team moves on past a sign pasted in the window reading:
"1 BLEEDING TO DEATH" (later found to be made by Deidra Kucera in an
attempt to get help for the dying Coach Sanders) to assist Patrick Ireland
(17). Ireland, shot twice in the head, pulled himself out a second floor window and dangled there till the team pulled him to safety.
Parents wandered about at the nearby Clement Park
hospital, trying to find their children while students stood shaking and
crying.
Police helicopters whirled overhead and hundreds of police
officers patrolled the school as confusion reigned.
Steve Davis, a spokesman for Jefferson County Sheriff's
department, announced police were looking for two suspects, but said it
was not clear where they were in the building.
At around 4:30 PM (2330 BST) police found two suspects
shot dead in the library. Wounds were apparently self-inflicted and their
bodies were close enough to touch. One of the two was found laying on the
pistol, both still covered in ammunition and explosives. They were
surrounded by the other ten students they killed.
At around the same time Sheriff John Stone said the death
toll appeared to be up to 25. Police declare the site secure.
At around 4:30 PM (2330 BST) the Swat team began a slow
sweep of the building looking for survivors.
6:15 PM Authorities find and disarm several carbombs in
the school parking lot.
10:30 PM (0530 BST) Bomb on a timer blows up. No-one
injured.
Wednesday morning - Police revise death toll to 15, based
on a count of bodies. Discovered that several bodies were booby-trapped.
Information gleaned from the Denver Post, BBC news,
Arizona news, CBS, NBC and Newsweek.
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