CNN.com
 MAIN PAGE
 WORLD
 ASIANOW
 U.S.
 LOCAL
 POLITICS
 WEATHER
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 TECHNOLOGY
 NATURE
 ENTERTAINMENT
 BOOKS
 TRAVEL
 FOOD
 HEALTH
 STYLE
 IN-DEPTH

 Headline News brief
 daily almanac
 CNN networks
 CNN programs
 on-air transcripts
 news quiz

  CNN WEB SITES:
CNN Websites
 TIME INC. SITES:
 MORE SERVICES:
 video on demand
 video archive
 audio on demand
 news email services
 free email accounts
 desktop headlines
 pointcast
 pagenet

 DISCUSSION:
 message boards
 chat
 feedback

 SITE GUIDES:
 help
 contents
 search

 FASTER ACCESS:
 europe
 japan

 WEB SERVICES:
US

Investigators: Gun traced to shooter's girlfriend

mourners
Mourners visit a makeshift memorial on a hill overlooking Columbine High School

related videoRELATED VIDEO:
Reporter Jonathan Aiken looks at the renewed debate over gun control in the United States (April 26)
Real 28K 80K
Windows Media 28K 80K

       Windows Media Real

       28 K 80 K
iconINTERACTIVE
Columbine Memorial

Audio and Images

Interactive Map: Recent school shootings in the U.S.

 ALSO:

A new test ahead for Columbine High School

Fatalities at Columbine High

Lawmaker proposal would regulate Internet gun sales

 MESSAGE BOARD:

Colorado school shooting

April 26, 1999
Web posted at: 10:14 p.m. EDT (0214 GMT)

In this story:

Victim's family contacts attorney

Diary exposes blueprint for massacre

Other developments

RELATED STORIES, SITES icon



LITTLETON, Colorado (CNN) -- A female friend of one of the two dead students blamed in last week's massacre at Columbine High School provided at least one of the guns found at the crime scene, investigators said Monday.

But there is not enough evidence for her to be considered a suspect in plotting the attack, authorities said.

Jefferson County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Davis said the unidentified 18-year-old woman was questioned and released, but likely will face further questioning.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) traced at least one of the four weapons used by Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18, to Klebold's girlfriend, who knew both boys, said Davis.

"She just thought, from what we had, that she was being a friend," said Chief Deputy District Attorney Mark Pautler. "They wanted to get these weapons, they were underage, they probably went to a gun show and purchased them.

"But we don't have any information at this time that she had knowledge concerning the ultimate use of those weapons."

The equipment that Harris and Klebold used to make more than 30 explosive devices that they had on the day of the attack came from other friends, officials said.

Authorities remain convinced that the amount of ammunition and bombs used in the attack was too much for the two dead gunmen to have carried by themselves into the building.

The FBI is trying to enhance images on a videotape from a surveillance camera in the school cafeteria where a large propane bomb was discovered. They hope it will help them determine whether the killers had accomplices.

Bomb squads and dogs continued their search Monday for more explosives.

Harris and Klebold
Harris, left, and Klebold made more than 30 explosive devices  

Davis said District Attorney Dave Thomas reserves the right to charge the girl, the suspects' parents or anyone else as accessories, if it's determined they knew about the plot and did nothing to stop the attack that left the gunmen, 12 other students and a teacher dead.

Prosecutors also said several people who have been questioned about the massacre have hired attorneys.

Victim's family contacts attorney

Also Monday, Geoffrey Fieger, the Michigan attorney who has represented Dr. Jack Kevorkian, said that the family of one of the victims had contacted him about the possibility of representing them.

Fieger said Isaiah Shoels' family talked to him about a possible lawsuit because they had reported prior to the killings that their son was being taunted and threatened with violence by the shooters' clique.

 Address for letters, cards for Columbine High School
Messages for Columbine
Communications Services
Jefferson County Public Schools
P.O. Box 4001
Golden, CO 80401-0001

Jefferson County authorities provided
this number for anyone who wants
to give aid or request information: 303-932-3042

Their complaints were echoed by another family that said they had filed reports with the Jefferson County Sheriff's office about threats made by Harris.

Randy Brown said he complained to the sheriff's department that a death threat against his son, Brooks, had been posted on Harris' computer Web page.

"I am the law. If you don't like it, you die," a passage from the Web site said, according to Randy Brown. "If I don't like you or what you do, you die."

"All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you as I can, especially a few people like -- he mentions my son's name here,' Brown told Denver station KCNC-TV.

"The police department was handed this on a silver platter and did nothing," Judy Brown, the boy's mother said. "That's how I feel."

Jefferson County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Davis declined to comment on Brown's assertions.

On the day of the shooting, Harris walked by his classmate Brooks standing outside, told him to go home, and then entered the cafeteria and opened fire, Brown said. "We were pretty lucky there," Randy Brown said. "My other son (Aaron) was shot at several times by Eric while he was running up the stairs and he missed him."

grieving
Students hug during a visit to a makeshift memorial in a park near Columbine High School  

Diary exposes blueprint for massacre

Harris and Klebold had been planning the attack for at least a year, police said, quoting a diary found at Harris' home.

The diary was described as a rambling diatribe of hatred with a blueprint for the assault that established a goal of destroying the school with bombs and killing at least 500 people.

According to the diary, the gunmen even scheduled downtime, or time to "chill," for the morning of the attack. Police said that, in fact, the two went bowling before they headed for school to launch the attack.

The diary also offered options for escape that included hijacking a plane, loading it with explosives, then crashing it into New York City, or moving to a desert island, police said.

A pastor to the Klebold family said the family was in shock and never saw any sign that the youth was troubled.

"This is beyond a nightmare. Their world is devastated," the Rev Don Marxhausen, a Lutheran minister said. "This wasn't their kid. This is not the Dylan they knew. Susan and Thomas Klebold can't reconcile it at all. ... This was a boy who used to clean up poor neighborhoods."

Other developments:

  • Toxicology reports on the two killers showed no traces of alcohol or drugs, the Jefferson County Coroner's office said Monday.

  • A student wounded in the attack, Valeen Schnurr, 18, was released Monday from Swedish Medical Center where she had undergone surgery for multiple gunshot and shrapnel wounds, including nine to the chest.

  • Another hospitalized student, Casey Ruegsegger, 17, underwent surgery at St. Luke's Presbyterian Hospital for multiple gunshot wounds to her shoulder and hand.

  • President Clinton plans to propose new legislation that includes requiring instant background checks for the purchase of explosives and for the purchase of guns at gun shows, according to White House aides. Current gun control laws exempt gun shows.

Correspondents Tony Clark and Martin Savidge, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.



CNN INDEPTH SPECIAL:
Are schools safe?

RELATED STORIES:
Columbine investigation turns to parents' role
April 25, 1999
Emergency workers cope with trauma of their own
April 25, 1999
NRA says prosecution, not new laws, the answer
April 25, 1999
Gunmen's friends say they didn't know plans, but understood pain
April 24, 1999

DONATIONS FOR COLUMBINE FAMILIES:
The Healing Fund
Mile High United Way

RELATED SITES:
Swedish Hospital (patient conditions)
Littleton Adventist Hospital - Important Phone Numbers
Denver Health Medical Center - Home
APA HelpCenter
Violence Policy Center
  • Fact Sheet on Littleton, Colorado School Shooting
Columbine High School
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office
Jefferson County Public Schools
KUSA
  • Breaking News
KMGH Denver
  • KMGH Denver: Breaking News
School violence
GUN-FREE SCHOOLS ACT OF 1994
CDC: Facts About Violence Among Youth and Violence in Schools
Violence and Discipline Problems in U.S. Public Schools: 1996-97 / 98-030
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

 LATEST HEADLINES:
SEARCH CNN.com
Enter keyword(s)   go    help

Back to the top   © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.