Timeline

 

A reconstruction of the school shooting in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999 (All times Mountain Daylight Time).

 

 

11:00 a.m.

The students at Columbine High School head into the cafeteria for lunch, read in the library or stay in their classrooms.

11:20 - 30 a.m.

Two young men, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, wearing long black trench coats approach the school. They pull weapons out of their coats and open fire in the parking lot. They proceed inside, to the school cafeteria, shooting as they walk, then upstairs to the library, still shooting. As bullets ricochet throughout the building, scores of students hide in closets, bathrooms, under tables and chairs. Some students, barricaded behind a heavy door, whisper on their terror over cell-phone calls to relatives. Dozens more flee the building, hiding in bushes or sprinting to a nearby park.

11:21 a.m.

The first emergency calls were received in the Littleton Combined Communications Center .

12:00 a.m

Police SWAT teams find several explosive devices around the school. Ambulances take first wounded students to area hospitals, all of whom managed to run inside. Anguished parents, awaiting word on their children, gather at nearby Leawood Elementary school.

12:30 p.m.

SWAT teams begin room-by-room sweep of the high school, checking every knapsack and desk.

02:30 p.m.

SWAT teams begin freeing students in hiding. In small groups, the students and teachers run from the building to a holding area, when they are frisked, questioned, offered medical care and then bused to Leawood Elementary school to be reunited with parents.

04:00 p.m.

Sheriff's spokesman confirms as many as 25 people are dead, a combination between students and teachers. Officers searching the library find the bodies of both suspects, who apparently died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

04:30 p.m.

SWAT teams declare the school safe.

06:15 p.m.

Authorities find an explosive device in a car in the scool parking lot. Sheriff's spokesman says entire school is regarded as a massive crime scene; campus marked off with yards of yellow tape. All bodies still inside.

10:30 p.m.

Bomb on a timer blows up. No-one injured.

Wednesday morning

Police revise death toll to 15, based on a count of bodies

 

 

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