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Morning News

Victims' Families Find Police Report on Columbine School Shooting Unhelpful

Aired May 16, 2000 - 10:07 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A firestorm of a different kind is smoldering in Littleton, Colorado. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department has released a minute-by-minute account of last year's deadly shooting rampage at Columbine High School.

We get a glimpse of the report, released on CD-ROM, from Rick Salinger (ph) of CNN Denver affiliate KCNC.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jefferson County 911.

PATTY NIELSEN, TEACHER: Yes, I'm a teacher at Columbine High School.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

RICK SALINGER, KCNC REPORTER (voice-over): The frantic 911 call from teacher Patty Nielsen began before the gunmen even entered the library.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a student here with a gun, and they shot out a window.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SALINGER: At 11:29 a.m., Eric Harris comes in and announces: "All jocks stand up," when no one does he adds: "fine, I'll start shooting." Klebold and Harris opened fire shooting towards the west windows, killing one student along the way. The students are directed to hide beneath the tables. Among them Isaiah Shoels, the reports says: "Klebold was heard making a racial comment and began grabbing at Isaiah Shoels." He was then he was shot to death by Eric Harris.

Harris carried two sawed-off shotguns, Klebold, the TEC DC-9 handgun and a carbine. The report makes no mention of Cassie Bernall being asked if she believed in God, as had been reported. But Valeen Schnurr is quoted as saying "God help me," at that point Klebold, who had already shot her, returns and taunts her about her belief in God. The destruction to the library is extensive, the loss in human life enormous. At 11:36 a.m., Klebold and Harris leave the library and return to the cafeteria. They attempt but fail to detonate their propane bombs. A fire and white smoke fills the commons as spilled propane ignites. All the while the wail of a fire alarm fills the air.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: The families of some of the Columbine shooting victims say the report, while vivid and disturbing, offers little illumination. Fifteen families have filed lawsuits against the sheriff's department, claiming its response was inadequate and cost lives. Many say they were not surprised that the investigators concluded that gunmen killed the 12 students within the first 16 minutes of the attack. But, they say, the first officers on the scene could have stopped the massacre by going into the school after the gunmen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALE TODD, FATHER OF WOUNDED STUDENT: I'm looking at this through the eyes of a father, but when they went inside, the shooting continued, the officers knew that. They reported it and they should have realized that there were innocent kids being slaughtered, it wasn't a hostage situation. It wasn't anything other than a mass- murder in progress and having four to six officers sit back and wait for SWAT helped allow it to become the worst shooting in the history of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The report concludes the gunmen killed themselves two minutes after the SWAT team stormed the school and 49 minutes after the first shots were fired.

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