Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold
No one knows exactly what went wrong when it comes to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. It was been reported that just a few years ago, the two boys were interesting in things like Little League and Boy Scouts. Then, suddenly, everything changed. They began to dress differently. They wore dark clothing with German phrases on them. They spoke to each other in German. They began to play war games, such as Doom and Quake on their computers, and Harris even made his own Doom levels, and distributed them to players. The boys were, in fact, computer geniuses. They excelled in math as well.
Harris (who nicknamed himself Reb, meaning Rebel) was the leader, Klebold the follower. Friends say it was always that way. The two began to dress like members of the Trenchcoat Mafia, a group of outcasts at Columbine, though sources say they were just friends of the group, not actual members. They worked at Blackjack Pizza, a local pizza parlor, together. They made the pizzas, and they were always talking at work, but not about bombs and guns, about how busy business was. Harris also had a part-time job working at a fireworks stand, and it is believed that that's where he obtained the powder he used in making his pipe bombs. He asked to be paid in fireworks, rather than in money.
It seems that more is known about Eric Harris than Dylan Klebold, for some reason. Perhaps it is because Harris was always the leader, but in any event, here is what I know..
Eric David Harris was born on April 04, 1981, and he grew up in New York. He has three best friends, one white, one black, one Asian. He seemed to be a happy boy. He played Little League, and his parents always went to his games. They seemed to be very involved in his life. One friend of the family describes Wayne and Katherine Harris (Eric's father and mother) as "model parents." When the family relocated to Littleton, Colorado, Eric had trouble finding his niche. He just didn't seem to fit in. He was often ridiculed, and witnessed say there were times when "People would throw rocks at him...call him fag. He had a really hard school life. They never accepted Eric for being what they saw to be different." He vowed revenge on the jocks. Just before the shooting, Harris applied to join the Marines. He was turned down when his parents revealed that he was on an anti-depressant drug, often given to people with obsessive compulsive disorders. One girl states that he had a friend ask her to the prom for him. When asked if she was interested, she said "No, not really." She and Harris never spoke again. "It was nothing against Eric," she says "it was just short notice. He was always really nice to me. He'd say hi to me and smile. We were in the same video productions class."
Dylan Bennett Klebold was born on September 11, 1981. He was always seen as a follower of Eric, ever since they met. One time, the pair broke into a car, stealing/damaging thousands of dollars worth of equipment. They went through and did community service, and went to anger management courses and things of the like. Eric was said to be "brilliant...likely to succeed in life," and Dylan was described as a smart boy that could accomplish a lot, but he needs to learn that it takes some work on his part. Klebold was believed to have been close to his parents. His father said that the break in was Dylan's first, because Dylan would have told him if there had been others. It was reported that one day Klebold, along with Harris, created a production displaying their guns, with a skit of them playing killers, and their friends posing as the jocks, for a class project. People now believe it was "a dress rehearsal for what was to come"
Many people said that if they liked you they were "the sweetest boys, but if you were on their bad side, watch your back." Most classmates thought of the boys as genius outcasts, however, many ridiculed them. In Harris' many AOL profiles (Rebldomakr, Rebdoomer, LCaress, just to name a few) he seemed to indicate his plans with words like "Kill 'Em AAALLLL, Si vis pacem, para bellum (German for "If you want peace, prepare for war"), and Preparin' for the big April 20! You will all be sorry that day!" Most did not take his warnings seriously. One father did though. A man came to the police in March of 1998 saying that Harris threatened to kill his son. He had downloaded 18 pages from Harris' website, full of incriminating threats and plans. The police did nothing. As for the son of that man, Harris grew to like him, and the day of the shooting he told him to go home, saying that he liked him. He boy went home, and told authorities "I went home. You just don't mess with him." Harris also authored a document called "the book.doc" which gives details of the building of pipe bombs and napalm. Harris spoke of his tests and how he obtained his materials. He made it available on his website, and seemingly had plans of distributing it through the internet underground. The FBI ordered AOL to take down Harris' website hours after the shooting.
For more info, go here.