Today marks 25 years since 12 students and a teacher went to Columbine High School and did not come back. Columbine High School and never came back.
Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, went to the school in Colorado with weapons on April 20, 1999.
They killed two students outside the school, a teacher in the cafeteria, and 10 students in the library during a hostage situation before taking their own lives.
From the youngest victim to the brave teacher, here’s the complete list of victims in the order they died:
Rachel Scott, 17
Rachel Scott was the first person killed in the shooting.
She was shot four times while having lunch with her friend Richard Castaldo in the area outside the school’s entrance.
Rachel, a dedicated Christian who was the subject and co-author of several books, was bullied for her faith during her high school years.
Castaldo, who was shot eight times and left permanently paralyzed, said Harris returned when he realized she was still alive and asked ‘do you still believe in God?’ as he lifted her head by the hair.
She replied, ‘you know I do,’ before Harris told her, ‘Then go be with him,’ and shot her in the head.
Her diaries have inspired many bullying victims, and the Rachel’s Challenge charity is estimated to have reached out to two million students.
Daniel Rohrbough, 15
Dan Rohrbough’s mother, who said she ‘usually didn’t see him’ in the morning, had a ‘chit chat’ with her son and gave him a kiss and a hug over breakfast that Tuesday before he left home and never returned.
He was on his way to a nearby park to have lunch with a Dr Pepper in his hand when the gunmen approached the school.
Dan was shot in the chest, abdomen, and leg and died on the sidewalk.
His death was the most public, and his body remained in a pool of blood outside the school for 24 hours.
Dave Sanders, 47
Teacher, father, and grandfather William David Sanders, known as Dave, was in the cafeteria when he heard gunfire and hurried to alert the students.
He has been recognized as a hero after successfully getting around 100 students to safety.
Dave stayed behind to try to secure as much of the school as he could but eventually encountered the shooters.
He was shot in the back and neck as he tried to flee in the opposite direction.
Klebold went over to Sanders, who had fallen to the floor, and threw a pipe bomb down the hall.
Dave managed to drag himself to the science area, where a colleague kept him alive for three hours by trying to stop him from bleeding using shirts from the students in the room.
A student held up a sign in the window saying, ‘1 BLEEDING TO DEATH,’ but the warnings were ignored.
His final words were: ‘Inform my family I adore them.’
Kyle Velasquez, 16
Kyle, who was referred to as a ‘big teddy bear’ was the first of 10 students who perished during a hostage situation in the school’s library.
He huddled under a computer table, and was killed by shots in the head and back.
Kyle suffered a stroke as a baby and his parents were willing to spend the rest of their lives with him due to his disabilities.
He had been attending Columbine for three months, and had only started to stay at the school through lunch.
He would’ve been on his way home if the shooting had happened a few weeks earlier.
Steven Curnow, 14
Steven Curnow, who planned to become a Navy top gun pilot, was the youngest victim of the shooting.
He died at the age of 14 after Harris shot him in the neck with a sawed-off shotgun.
The Star Wars fan was anxiously awaiting the release of Star Wars I: the Phantom Menace on May 19, when he died.
In a tribute note read at his funeral, Steven’s mum said: ‘Thank you for that special moment two weeks ago when you said, “Mum, I bet there aren’t many guys who can discuss things with their mums like we do”.’
Cassie Bernall, 17
Cassie Bernall rebelled as a young teen and started experimenting with alcohol and drugs. Her parents sent her to a church retreat after she started having suicidal and homicidal thoughts against them.
They said they ‘got our daughter back’ when she returned as ‘an entirely different person’. She then started over at a new school, Columbine.
Cassie was studying in the library when the shooting started and tried to hide alongside another girl under a computer table.
Harris entered and slapped the top of the table twice before saying: ‘Peek-a-boo’.
He bent down and shot Cassie in the side of the head. She died immediately.
Isaiah Shoels, 18
Aspiring comedian Isaiah Shoels was born with a heart defect, but managed to overcome his disability and went on to play American football and wrestle.
He was studying in the library with friends Matt Kechter and Craig Scott when the shooters entered.
They hid under a table, but when Klebold spotted the popular athlete, he called Harris over and the pair flanked the table on either side and started a racist rant against Isaiah.
They attempted to pull him out from under the table but when they failed Harris shot him.
Klebold then shot Matt while Craig survived by playing dead in pool of blood from his dying friends.
Matthew Kechter, 16
Matt Kechter was shot in the chest and died alongside his pal Isaiah in the library.
Matt played on both the defensive and offensive lines of the school’s American football team.
He was a weight lifter and an A-student.
His parents said in a tribute: ‘He was a wonderful role model for his little brother.’
Lauren Townsend, 18
Lauren Townsend died on the library floor after being shot multiple times in the head, chest, and lower body.
She was shot more times than any of the other victims, but the cause of that is still unknown.
Lauren was an excellent student who volunteered at a local animal shelter and was the captain of the volleyball team, which her mother coached.
She was hiding under a table with friends, keeping her arm around Val Schnurr, who survived, and reassuring her before the killers shot her dead.
John Tomlin, 17
John Tomlin spent his lunch break in the library studying when Harris and Klebold burst in.
He hid under a table and welcomed Nicole Nowlen to his hiding place, holding her hand for comfort while they listened to the shooters kill their classmates.
Harris shot John without checking who was under the table before Klebold went around and shot him point blank in the head.
Nicole was shot in the stomach but survived.
Kelly Fleming, 16
Kelly Fleming started at Columbine just three months before the shooting.
She was writing poems as usual in the library when Harris and Klebold entered.
Kelly tried to hide under a table with a group of girls, but due to the lack of space, she was partly visible.
Approaching from behind, Eric shot Kelly in the back. Her body was found near Lauren’s.
Daniel Mauser, 15
Daniel Mauser hid under a table and pushed a chair in front of him when Harris approached in an attempt to knock him down.
Harris commented ‘nice glasses’ before he shot Daniel in the face.
Daniel was concerned with America’s gun laws and asked his dad about loopholes in the Brady Bill just two weeks before he died.
He was shot by a gun acquired through one of the loopholes he had questioned.
Corey DePooter, 17
Corey DePooter was described as an ‘all-American kid’ who prioritized schoolwork above everything else.
His friend Stephen Austin Eubanks witnessed as Klebold aimed a semi-automatic weapon at Corey and pulled the trigger.
Austin said in a tribute to Corey: ‘People said he was the kind of guy people like to be around. I know I sure did.
‘Corey was always able to lift our spirits in a gloomy situation.’
Harris and Klebold murdered 13 people deliberately and left 24 with serious injuries.
At least 21 people were shot.
After leaving the library, the gunmen walked around the science area and cafeteria before returning to the library, which was devoid of surviving students by then, aside from two injured people.
They were possibly planning to watch their car bombs, set for noon, but they didn’t detonate.
Harris sat with his back to the bookshelves and shot himself through the top of his mouth.
Klebold knelt down and shot himself in the left side of his head.
