Chris Morris
Christopher Richard Morris
Born: 6-9-1981
6 feet 4 inches, 175 lbs.

Christopher "Chris" Morris was a 17-year-old senior at Columbine High when the shootings occurred. Brown haired and blue eyed, he is a former friend (offsite link) of both Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. He was close to both, though some described him as one of Dylan's best friends. Along with Nate Dykeman, Chris was a member of Harris and Klebold's bowling team in the class at Columbine. Chris, Eric, and Dylan also worked at Blackjack Pizza together for several months. Chris was eventually made a manager there.

In his freshman year in 1996, Morris was picked on due to his size. Tad Boles, a friend of Chris', got a new trench coat (offsite link) for Christmas. Roughly a week later, Chris got one, too. They started wearing their coats at school. A couple of kids there teasingly referred to them as the "Trenchcoat Mafia" and the name stuck. Rather than be hazed by the term, the boys claimed it and wore it proudly. Soon, most of Tad's friends were wearing similar coats, including Joseph "Joe" Stair. Neither Harris nor Klebold wore the coats at that time. Morris regularly wore his trench coat along with a green beret so dark it appeared black, chains, combat boots, and sunglasses. He also carried a gold butterfly knife.

Morris grew a lot between his freshman and sophomore years. Between his size, the way he dressed, and his bad temper, he got into fights and was known to pull his knife on people—even TCM member Robert Perry. He worked on his temper and had it largely under control by his junior year (1997-1998), when he met Harris and Klebold in Video Production class. They three boys quickly become close friends, playing computer and video games, and bowling together.

Despite this, in 1998 Morris (AOL username GRUNT257) still went out and did "missions" with Klebold (VoDkA), Harris (REB), and Zach Heckler (KiBBz). He also played pool with Klebold and Harris at their mutual friend Cory Friesen's house as late as 1999.

Chris worked at Blackjack Pizza starting in October 1996. By Fall of 1998, Harris, Klebold, Nate Dykeman, and Philip Duran all worked for the restaurant. Around the end of 1998, Eric and Dylan started wearing trench coats, which was about the same time Chris stopped wearing his. He felt the look had gotten too popular and was no longer a statement of individuality.

During one shift at the pizza place in November, 1998, Chris had to reprimand Dylan for bringing a pipe bomb into the kitchen. Roughly one month before the shootings, Eric brought a CO2 cartridge bomb he'd made to the restaurant and showed it to Morris. It was around that time that Chris started spending less time with Klebold and Harris, and more time with Cory Friesen, a Trench Coat Mafia member who had already graduated. Chris also started dating Nicole Markham, who was a year younger than him, and spent most of his free time with her instead of his old friends.

In the weeks preceding the shootings, Morris noticed that Harris seemed more aggressive than normal. He was picking fights with other people and seemed to expect Chris to back him up, which irritated him. Approximately a month before the shootings, Eric brought a CO2 cartridge filled with gunpowder to Blackjack Pizza and told Chris it was a "trip bomb" that he intended to rig to the fence so people couldn't crawl through it. The cartridge was wrapped in duct tap and fused with matches and a string. When Morris said it was extreme, Harris tried to assure him by saying it was just meant to scare the people.

Chris told investigators that in the month before the attack on Columbine, he didn't see the shooters much outside of work and school as he was spending most of his time with his girlfriend Nicole Markham and with friend Cory Friesen. He did go to Eric's 18th birthday party at the Draft Bar. He also went to prom on April 17th with his girlfriend, where he saw Dyland with Robyn Anderson. He also saw both Harris and Klebold at the after-prom party where the gunmen played at the poker tables and seemed to have a good time.

Chris' girlfriend was in the school at the time of the shootings. Morris had been off campus playing a video game with Cory at the Friesen residence. Cory's dad, Kent, was a teacher at the school. When they heard about the shooting, both teens tried to go to Columbine to locate their loved ones. Chris called 911 and told them that he thought Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold might be involved. Afterward, he went to Clement Park where police arrested him (offsite link) and took him away for questioning.

According to the Columbine Report (JC-001-009823), Morris told investigators four different stories about how he learned who the shooters were and where he met up with his girlfriend Nicole during the shootings. On April 20, 19999, at 2:50 p.m. he told police he caught up with her at Arby's. In a separate interview the same day at 7:49 p.m. Morris had a lawyer with him and told the investigators he and Cory searched for her at IHOP before finding her at her house (JC-001-010894). Despite these and other inconsistencies in his story, investigators cleared him of any wrongdoing. Chris offered to help the investigation in any way he could. Police took him up on the offer and had him call Philip Duran about the sale of one of the guns the shooters used. This phone call helped lead to Duran's arrest and imprisonment for selling a weapon to a minor.