Introduction

On April 20th, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 people and injured 20 others at Columbine High School. The Columbine shooting is considered one of the worst mass shootings in US history, but it is not the first, or the last. Originally, the shooters planned the attack as a bombing, but faulty equipment caused their plan to fail which greatly lowered the death count. Unlike many other school shooters, Harris and Klebold planned this attack for months and often made fun of other school shooters who did not plan out their attack well beforehand. It is considered one of the most important school shootings in history because of the influence it had on other school shooters even though there has not been another school shooting involving more than one perpetrator since Columbine. The two Columbine shooters got their inspiration from the Oklahoma City Bombing which was influenced by the Waco Texas siege and are seen praising Timothy McVeigh in their journals (Larkin, 2007, p.155). This shows how one event can have devastating impacts beyond what is seen in the original death count. This also helps prove that contrary to popular belief, the Columbine shooting was not caused by bullying at the school. The artifacts in this exhibit showcase the events that led up to, and possibly caused, the shooting. They give an inside look at the psychology of the perpetrators through journals and videos curated by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold themselves.