Chapter 142 Section 7

So, before this campus tragedy happened, did Eric and Dylan really not show any abnormal behavior or reveal any clues? Eric's father, Wayne Harris, once confiscated the detonators and other things made by his son, but he didn't think of going to Eric's room to check.He would have been surprised if he had gone, for the small bedroom had become almost a small arsenal. Brooke Brown remembers Eric Harris saying during a class break that he was looking forward to his 18th birthday, because at the age of 18 he was eligible to buy a gun.Hearing this, Brook thought Eric didn't have a gun yet.Don't you know that he not only already has, but also has more than one shot.

Nate Deckerman was also Eric's friend at Columbine High School until the two fell in love with the same girl.Nate told police that in February of that year, Eric showed him a videotape showing Eric, Dillon and Mark Mance, among others, shooting in a field.Among the weapons they used was the TEC-DC9 semi-automatic submachine gun. Chris Morse, a member of the Columbine Black Trench Coats who worked with Eric and Dylan at Black Jack's pizzeria, recalled that they often talked half-jokingly about killing the school's bullies. The athletes, also discussed the possibility of placing a bomb on the generator set to blow up the entire school building.

Eric's doctor told his parents that their son was suffering from severe depression and ordered Eric to take medication. A fellow Blackjack recalled Eric saying on pay day in early March that he would use the money to buy nine more gas tanks.The colleague later told police that Eric already had seven gas tanks and his goal was to make up 30 by April 20.The colleague asked why, and Eric replied that it was Hitler's birthday that day. Chris Morse's girlfriend, Nicole Mackan, who was also a student at Columbine, said that one day before the murder, she saw Eric and Dylan studying a piece of paper very seriously in the student cafeteria.She asked them and they didn't tell.Nicole suddenly snatched the piece of paper from their hands jokingly, and found that it was a sketch of the cafeteria, and the position of each security camera probe was clearly marked.

Viewed in isolation, all these events separated by time and space are nothing more than some weird and mysterious behaviors of Eric and Dylan, but if they are summed up, people's conclusions may not be so simple. Unfortunately, at the time, no one was able to put them together. On March 4th, the students of Columbine Secondary School's class of 99 took their graduation photos in the gymnasium. More than 400 children sat next to each other on a staircase filled with more than a dozen rows of stands.Eric Harris, Dylan Colebord and Brooke Brown belong to the circle of five gathered at the top left of the photo, along with Rory Anderson and Zach Heckler.

This big group photo was to be archived at the school, so everyone put on a serious expression according to the school's requirements, and remained motionless until the photographer announced that the exposure was over.Next, the children can freely combine and take pictures. In the words of a teacher, you can be stupid, absurd, ridiculous and crazy.In short, you can put on any pose, do whatever you like.Eric immediately took out his KMFDM black baseball cap, and he and Dylan put on sunglasses.Eric suggested that since the lens of the camera was pointed at us, why didn't we also point the imaginary gun at it?So in this last group photo of the "Gang of Five", everyone is aiming and shooting.

On the evening of April 9, Dylan and Rory accompanied Eric to a bowling alley to celebrate his 18th birthday. In mid-April, Dylan took a few days off from school.He had been accepted into the computer science department at the University of Arizona, and his father, Tom Collebold, flew him to Tucson to see the campus.There, Dylan picked out a dormitory not far from the student cafeteria, and Tom Colebold had even prepaid the deposit for the dormitory for his son.Back in Denver, Dylan excitedly told his mother Susan how beautiful the university campus was and how lovely the girls were.Susan felt that her son seemed to be a different person after going out for a trip.

Just a few days after Dylan left, on April 15, Eric received bad news.When he and his parents met with Marine Corps officials, the Harris family was told that the Marine Corps would not accept him because he was currently taking antidepressants.According to relevant regulations, he must stop taking such drugs for six months before enlisting in the army.The military's consideration is that such a mentally unstable guy is not suitable to operate weapons.As everyone knows, Eric and Dylan have enough regular or irregular arms to equip a reinforced squad. Later, some people speculated whether the refusal of the Marine Corps was the final blow that pushed Eric and Dylan to the end of the road?In other words, although they have already been deployed, if Eric is accepted by the Marine Corps as he wishes, will they abandon the "4.20" shooting operation plan at the last minute?

No one knows the exact answer.But at least, judging by the chronological order of events, Eric and Dylan had begun planning the attack a year earlier, right after they had been sentenced for theft.They put the plan of action into action, which happened to be after Eric was rejected by the Marines. Saturday night, April 17th was Prom Night for Year 12 at Columbine Secondary School.Dylan was traveling with Luo Bing, but Eric didn't have a girlfriend. He asked several girls, but all of them were politely rejected.In the end, Eric only invited one girl to watch a movie at his house.But then, he joins Dylan at the after-prom party.

At some point during the evening of April 18, Dylan wrote in his diary: "In about 26.5 hours, the 'Doomsday' will begin. . . . What is life without death? ..." On Monday, April 19, Brooke Brown and Becca Huns asked Eric and Dylan if they would pry off fourth period with them and go to a nearby McDonald's for lunch.Eric said no problem, but they had to go to Dylan's house first.