From: MikePiet@aol.com
Subject: SNET: [piml] ..Colo - Poss More to Come
Date: 24 Apr 1999 15:32:53 -0400
To: FPE@onelist.com, piml@egroups.com


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..This is not good at all.    Mike P


Possible Gunman Suicide Note Found

.c The Associated Press

 By KATHERINE VOGT

LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) -- Police have received what may be a suicide note from 
a teen-age gunman, blaming this week's bloody high school rampage on parents, 
teachers and ``your children who have ridiculed me.'' It also warned of more 
death to come.

The note was contained in an e-mail that was received by police Thursday or 
Friday, days after Columbine High School became a killing ground. Police had 
not confirmed who wrote the note or who sent the e-mail containing the text.

The note was signed by Eric Harris and dated the day before he and Dylan 
Klebold stormed Columbine High School armed with sawed-off shotguns and 
homemade bombs, the Denver Rocky Mountain News reported today.

The two killed 12 students and one teacher before shooting themselves Tuesday.

``By now, it's over. If you are reading this, my mission is complete,'' the 
note says.

It warns against blaming the massacre on the music the shooters listened to 
or the clothes they wore, placing the responsibility with teachers and 
parents.

``Your children who have ridiculed me, who have chosen not to accept me, who 
have treated me like I am not worth their time are dead. THEY ARE (expletive) 
DEAD,'' the note says.

``I may have taken their lives and my own -- but it was your doing. Teachers, 
parents, LET THIS MASSACRE BE ON YOUR SHOULDERS UNTIL THE DAY YOU DIE.''

The note ends with a warning of more bloodshed.

``You may think the horror ends with the bullet in my head, but you wouldn't 
be so lucky. All that I can leave you with to decipher what more extensive 
death is to come is `12Skizto.' You have until April 26th. Goodbye.''

Jefferson County Sheriff's Lt. John Kiekbusch said police were investigating 
the note. He wouldn't say where it was found or when. Kiekbusch said 
``12Skizto'' may be a music band.

Police also are trying to trace the shotguns and semiautomatic weapons the 
teen-agers used. They hope surveillance tapes might shed light on whether 
Klebold, 17, and Harris, 18, had any help.

Investigators, meanwhile, temporarily withdrew from Columbine in order to let 
the bomb squad search more efficiently today.

On Friday, authorities released emergency 911 tapes that provide the first 
real-time glimpse into what was happening inside the school as the siege 
began.

In one tape, a teacher, her voice tight with panic, implored police to hurry 
and tried to keep her students safe as gunfire echoed in the background. 
``Kids -- JUST STAY DOWN!'' the teacher yelled. ``My God -- the gun is right 
outside my door!''

``He's outside in the hall,'' said the teacher, who was not identified. 
``There's alarms and things going off and smoke. My God -- smoke is coming 
into this room.''

>From students to teachers to political leaders, the community geared up for a 
weekend of funerals and memorials, including one Vice President Al Gore 
planned to attend. Many in the region still struggled to cope.

``As time passes, and as numbers mount, we tend to depersonalize and become 
less sensitive,'' said Gov. Bill Owens. ``I'll never be able to depersonalize 
this tragedy.''

More than 900 mourners gathered Friday at Foothills Bible Church for a 
memorial service for 16-year-old John Tomlin, who worked after school in a 
gardening store and belonged to a church youth group.

``Schools are disintegrating, partly because prayer has been removed from 
them,'' said his mother, Doreen Tomlin.

A makeshift memorial near Columbine has continued to grow, with hundreds of 
bouquets, stuffed animals, signs and cards. One sign contained finger-painted 
images of children's hands. Said another, ``Silence contributes to moral 
decay.''

As mourners grieve, a picture of what went on during the siege's initial 
moments was becoming clearer with the release of the 911 tapes.

The teacher had called from the school library, which became the scene of the 
worst carnage.

``The school is in a panic and I'm in the library,'' the teacher said. ``I've 
got students down. Kids -- under the table! My kids are screaming. Under the 
table, kids! And my teachers are trying to take control of things. We need 
police here.''

Another call, apparently moments earlier, came from a female student. ``I 
just saw everyone running. I just saw the smoke,'' the student said. ``People 
are saying there's a gun.''

Police arrived to chaos outside and inside. Tapes released Friday of their 
radio communications revealed that one officer spotted a gunman on the 
southwest end of the school almost immediately. ``It's a big gun,'' he said.

Also Friday, investigators said surveillance tapes from security cameras at 
Columbine may show whether the gunmen had accomplices. Although the library 
had no cameras, police planned to review tapes from other cameras around the 
school.

``Ideally they would show the movement and also the actual placement perhaps 
of some of the explosive devices, prior to the incident,'' said sheriff's Lt. 
John Kiekbusch.

Jefferson County sheriff's spokesman Steve Davis today said a tape from a 
cafeteria camera was being reviewed by the FBI and local officials. He said 
there were cameras outside the school but it was unclear if they were running 
during daylight hours.

Investigators have also interviewed at least 500 people -- teachers, friends 
and fellow students, including members of the Trenchcoat Mafia, a group of 
Columbine outcasts who wore black.

Today, Davis said one of the gunmen was found without a trenchcoat, which may 
have spurred witness accounts of a third gunman wearing a white shirt.

Though the large amount of explosives and firepower has authorities 
considering the possibility of accomplices, sheriff's Lt. Dave Taylor said 
investigators have not identified specific suspects. ``There are a lot of 
names coming up,'' he said.

Another key task is tracing the guns: two sawed-off shotguns, a 9 mm carbine 
rifle and a TEC DC-9 semiautomatic pistol, an assault weapon that is now 
illegal to manufacture.

Lawrence Bettendorf, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and 
Firearms, said tracing the weapons will be difficult.

``These weapons were originally purchased in the late 1960s or early 1970s, 
and there is no indication they belong to the parents,'' he said.

Columbine students and faculty will return to classrooms, though not their 
own, next Thursday. They will share nearby Chatfield High School, with 
Columbine classes taking place in an afternoon split session.

Jefferson County authorities were checking reports that phones inside 
Columbine were programmed to block 911 calls because of previous prank 
emergency calls by students.

Schools spokeswoman Kay Pride said there were reports some students had 
trouble reaching authorities. A check showed pay phones could reach 911 -- as 
they must under federal law -- but Pride said tests haven't yet been run on 
the internal school system.

``That's a question that hasn't been answered yet,'' she said.

David Biegie, spokesman for the phone company U S West, said the school's 
internal system could be set up to block numbers. He said students also might 
not have dialed the correct number to reach an outside line.

One shooting victim, Makai Hall, was discharged from the hospital Friday, 
temporarily in a wheelchair and recovering from a bullet wound that shattered 
his right knee. He said he was ready to resume his life.

``I'm getting better and a lot of my healing's been done,'' said the 
16-year-old. ``I'm not going to let it bring me down. I'm going to use it to 
motivate myself.''

AP-NY-04-24-99 1210EDT

 Copyright 1998 The Associated Press.  The information  contained in the AP 
news report may not 

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