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WHO
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Although they weren't actually involved in the crime, the Trenchcoat Mafia underwent a lot of finger-pointing and the name is now nearly synonymous with the attack. The group: social outcasts from Columbine High School who banded together in a sea of pecking orders and cliques. They were the gamers and 'weird' kids; the ones who didn't fit in, whether by accident or design While they weren't popular, however, they weren't the ones behind the guns.
The two shooters were Dylan Klebold (aka VoDKa) and Eric Harris (aka REB). Take a look at the yearbook pictures . Below you can see the Trenchcoat Mafia picture that flashed on the news all the time, back then. The two shooters are not in that photo, nor are they listed as being a part of 'Who We Are' in the text.
Toward the end of 1999 I heard from more than one of the TCM members that the young men were never actually part of the group, but were instead friends of Chris Morris, a Trenchcoater who had attended Columbine previously. These claims were in later years corroberated by independent in-depth probes by news organizations such as the Pulitzer-winning Denver Post .
As for Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, they were friends since junior high school -- they met sometime around the 7th or 8th grade at Ken Caryl Middle School. They shared many interests, including making and testing explosives, German industrial music and playing first-person shooter games such as Doom on their computers. They also shared a few friends in common before even meeting, including Brooks Brown , Dylan's friend since first grade and a neighbor who happened to ride Eric's schoolbus, and Nathan "Nate" Dykeman , another boy from Ken Caryl. All four would later attend Columbine High School together.
Eric had a more developed internet presence than Dylan did and created several webpages that were the subject of much controversy after the tragedy, as was the content of both boys' notebooks and journals . Over the years of investigation that have followed 4-20-1999, other names have surfaced as well in connection with the event -- individuals who share responsibility for what transpired due to their part in arming the boys: Mark Manes , a co-worker of theirs at Blackjack Pizza who sold Dylan the TEC-DC9 and even went shooting with them at Rampart Range ; Philip Duran , who introduced Dylan and Eric to Mark in order to make the gun deal; Robyn Anderson , a friend of Dylan's who purchased the shotguns and rifle for the shooters at a gun show. Of the three, she was the only one NOT to serve jail time for her actions.
And what of the victims of the worst school shooting in U.S. history? The SWAT team eventually rescued the few survivors who couldn't save themselves -- they were too late to save 13 of them. Those who were injured but alive and those who survived the day without physical injury have walked the road to mental and physical recovery as best they can. Families have tried to heal, some more successfully than others, and residents of Littleton struggle to move on with life . Memorials were erected in honor of those who died and the funerals have all been held. Life goes on, as it has to, though things have forever changed in that Denver suburb.
The repercussions are far from over and never will truly end. December 1999, a disturbing email sent to a student of Columbine High warned the student not to go to school that day; the incident resulted in canceled classes. The same year one of the survivor's parents committed suicide , as did a Columbine basketball player one year later. Several surviving students couldn't cope with returning to school at all, much less Columbine, though several did try - some even managed to graduate, with honors.
Copycat shootings and conspiracies to commit similar kinds of crimes flare up like an angry rash all over the world even still, prompting reporters to point to the Littleton shooting by way of comparison, insuring in a grim way that Columbine will never be forgotten... just as the shooters had hoped .
Eric Harris was 18 years old and a senior at Columbine High, less than two weeks away from graduating when cooperatively shot and killed 13 people and injure 25 more. He was known to have anger management issues for which he was prescribed medication, though he was very intelligent and creative, as well as internet-savvy . He wanted to join the Marines after graduation. After the rampage he shot himself in the school's library.
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Dylan Klebold was also a senior at Columbine, 17 years old and just about to graduate. He had been planning to attend the University of Arizona. Smart and a 'quiet type', his involvement in the shootings was a shock to many who knew him, though his creative writing hinted at this hidden, dark side. Following his suicide in the school library his body was cremated , his funeral presided over by the Klebolds' former pastor, Don Marxhausen (read the eulogy ).
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Robyn K. Anderson, friend of Dylan's, purchased 2 shotguns and a rifle for the shooters at a gun show, all of which were later used in the assault. There was no law that prohibited the purchase of a long gun from a private individual, to give to whomever she wished. Denying prior knowledge of what the shooters planned to do, she could not be charged with a crime due to a loophole in the law. House Bill 1243 was dubbed the Robyn Anderson Bill as it proposed making the act of giving firearms to minors without parental consent a punishable crime.
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Mark Manes was arrested for selling his Intratec model TEC-9 9mm to Dylan Klebold for $500 - a gun that is banned by the Brady Bill. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison, 6 months after the shootings. He served roughly 19 months before he was released in 2001 to a halfway house. He was denied parole three times but has been living on his own, monitored by an electronic ankle band since 2002.
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Philip Duran, a graduate of Columbine who worked at Blackjack Pizza with Dylan and Eric, intro'd the shooters to Mark so they could get the gun. His younger siblings were at in the school during the shootings. He later pleaded guilty to charges for doing just that and willingly accepted a 4 1/2 year prison sentence in 2000. He was parolled after 3 1/2 years.
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Chris Morris: close friend of shooters and a fellow classmate at Columbine who was also a co-worker of theirs at Blackjack Pizza. He was handcuffed at the scene and detained for questioning. He was later released. Very vocal about his hate of Columbine before the incident occurred, Chris was a member of the Trenchcoat Mafia - one of the only suspects who was.
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