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Bodies lie where they fell as officers check for booby trapsNearly 30 explosives found at school
By Robert Weller, Associated Press, 04/21/99
Background
-Map of shooting area
Wednesday's Coverage
MASS. SCHOOL SAFETY
RAMPAGE RECONSTRUCTION
GUN LAWS
QUESTIONS
INTERNET HOAXES
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
WORLD REACTION
In today's Globe
VIOLENCE THREAT
TV COVERAGE
LITTLETON, Colo. - Working around bodies still lying where they fell more than a day earlier, bomb squad officers checked lockers and backpacks for booby traps Wednesday as investigators tried to piece together one of the deadliest school massacres in U.S. history.
Hurling bombs and blasting away with guns, two students in black trench coats killed 12 schoolmates and a teacher Tuesday at Columbine High School, most of them in the library. The gunmen, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, then apparently killed themselves.
Officials were trying to determine if others were involved, and they questioned other members of the boys' dark group of outcasts, the "Trenchcoat Mafia.''
Authorities on Wednesday removed the bodies of two victims who died outside the building. Also, more than 24 hours after the attack, parents finally received official word of their children's fate. Police hoped to remove the other bodies later in the day.
Investigators left the corpses in place overnight so that they could check for explosives and record the details of the crime scene, which SWAT members described as something from "Dante's Inferno.''
Many bodies were sprawled on the floor, slumped in desks or crouched beneath tables, boxes and cubicles where they apparently tried to hide. Police found a handgun under one of the killers, and a semiautomatic rifle and two sawed-off shotguns elsewhere.
"It was a different sort of chaos inside,'' SWAT Sgt. George Hinkle said. "There were fire alarms going off, strobe lights, four inches of water in the cafeteria. We had been told there were bombs in backpacks and there were backpacks everywhere. It was the toughest tactical problem I've ever seen.''
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Davis said 30 explosive devices had been found at Columbine, in the killers' vehicles and at their homes. Late Tuesday, more than 10 hours after the shootings, a time bomb blew up, but no one was hurt.
"Some of these devices are on timing devices, some are incendiary devices and some are pipe bombs,'' Sheriff John Stone told ABC's "Good Morning America.'' "Some are like hand grenades that have got shrapnel in them wrapped around butane containers.''
Eleven of the victims were male and four were female. District Attorney Dave Thomas said there was no evidence that the killers targeted minorities, as some students claimed. Only one of the 13 victims was black.
"I've only seen the photographs, but it appears to me that most of the victims were victims because of where they were at a particular time, not that they were sought out,'' Thomas said. "Most of the victims were in the library, and that's where these two persons ended up. ... I don't know what the motive was other than anger.
Sixteen people remained hospitalized, 11 in critical or serious condition.
The gunmen's families would not speak to reporters, but both issued statements Wednesday.
"Our thoughts, prayers and heartfelt apologies go out to the victims, their families, friends, and the entire community,'' the Klebold family said. "Like the rest of the country, we are struggling to understand why this happened, and ask that you please respect our privacy during this painful grieving period.''
Harris' parents said: "We want to express our heartfelt sympathy to the families of all the victims and to all the community for this senseless tragedy. Please say prayers for everyone touched by these terrible events.''
Witnesses said Harris and Klebold targeted athletes and minorities, laughing at their victims and using a racial epithet to describe the black victim. "All jocks stand up!'' one of the boys yelled during Tuesday's attack. "We're going to kill every one of you.''
Some students lay still and quiet on the floor, listening as the gunmen finished off the wounded.
Classmates said the boys were outcasts who wore black, played war games and sometimes wore Nazi symbols. According to classmates, the boys admired Adolf Hitler and apparently picked his birthday for the attack.
Columbine student Brooks Brown, 18, said Harris had once threatened to kill him, but later had resumed their friendship. Brown said he saw Harris carrying a duffel bag as he walked into the school on Tuesday.
"I was walking out for a cigarette and I told him, `Hey, man,' and he said, `Brooks, I like you. Now, get out of here. Go home.''' Brown said. "And so I didn't think twice about it.''
Harris and Klebold had a juvenile record, but not for anything violent - they were caught breaking into a car. They completed a program that allowed them to clear their record, Thomas said.
While investigators continued their work, memorial services were held across the city Wednesday, and dozens of counselors offered support to grieving students, parents, friends and family.
Several hundred students from around the Denver area gathered at a park near the school Wednesday, many with their parents. Bouquets were scattered around the grounds. Students placed flowers and other mementos on a car driven to school Tuesday by one of the students believed to be killed.
A poster on a wall in the park near the school contained messages of condolence and scorn.
"These flowers and prayers are for the innocent victims and their families, not for the two monsters that committed these selfish and violent acts,'' the poster said. "Who were you two to decide what should happen to these people? We're here for you, Columbine High School. Love, Arvada West.''
Red-eyed students, including one girl wearing a T-shirt listing the names of Columbine's '99 senior class, streamed into the Light of the World Church for a memorial service and a noon prayer vigil.
"How can you reassure someone who has just seen devastation?'' said Rochelle Brunsdon of the Jefferson Center for Mental Health. "We're going to talk to people about the experience they've had, how they can go on.''
Outside the church, visitors placed flowers and cards at the base of a weathered 12-foot cross leaning sideways against a tree.
Thomas, the district attorney, said that during the rampage, a representative of Klebold's father called authorities and said the father was willing to help negotiate, but the offer was rejected because officials felt there was little he could do.
The massacre forced the closing of all schools in the Jefferson County school district, which has 89,000 students and is Colorado's largest. Rick Kaufman, a district spokesman, said all schools except Columbine would open again Thursday.
Officials were examining ways to get Columbine students into other schools, because it was uncertain the school would open again before the end of the school year.
In response to the massacre, the National Rifle Association scaled back its annual meeting in Denver next week from three days to one as a show of sympathy.
Hockey's Colorado Avalanche postponed two playoff games in Denver this week, and baseball's Colorado Rockies on Wednesday called off their game for the second night in a row. Rockies players and coaches will wear a Columbine High patch on their sleeves for the rest of the season.
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Two students weep next to the car of Rachel Scott, a Columbine High School student who is missing and believed to be dead. 
Ashley and Staci Prinzi lay flowers at the perimeter of the Columbine High School grounds April 21, as security remained tight around the school after yesterdays shootings. (Reuters Photo)