Surprise find of the day: that moment when you’re made aware of the actual interaction between SWAT and the boys.
What fun we had yesterday deducing things and then you stumbling across this cool little tidbit. That’s what I love about researching Columbine!
I just assumed they meant that they were closing in on the south west library exit door because SWAT was never in the building by noon. However, SWAT approached the open library exit door shortly after 12 pm. And you can see two SWAT at the door. One is crouched and the other standing and fulll-on pointing their weapon inside. It appears to me that they are firing rounds and then they flee defensively. Based on the CCTV time stamp, we know Eric and Dylan ascended the Common’s steps for the last time at exactly 12:00 pm. So, based on the time stamp here in this footage, Eric and Dylan entered back into the library and noticed the SWAT down the hall peering into the library exit doorway as the two boys were walking towards the front windows. The boys threw an explosive at the door and they then discharged three rounds at the SWAT, who was pointing a weapon in the doorway and blindly firing into a very smoke-filled, alarm blaring library. They only saw the muzzle flash return fire from Eric or Dylan. The two SWAT dudes don’t appear very long at the open door with a weapon aimed inside. The exchange fire was very brief. Anyway, that would be my interpretation of this 11K account. As per usual, Jeffco does a very poor job describing where/how this happened. It’s confusing because they make it sound as though the SWAT was already inside the building at the main library entrance..only..that would’ve been impossible since SWAT didn’t enter Columbine until much later on. Imo, this is the exchange they’re referring to. Based on the time, how could it be anything else?
Go to 4:20 😉 to watch what “happened at the door by the entry way”
You’re sooooo much the guilty party for this find, considering how you asked me to go back through the SWAT file after we both squint-eyed all angles of that damn rooftop video and you were already pulling up pictures of possible rooftop locations.. *grumbles goodnaturedly* (@everlasting-contrast knows that if you wanna make me happy, ask me to go through SWAT and first responders sections for info. =P)
I would definitely assume SWAT was outside and that the exchange I excerpted took place where you said it did. It would make no logical sense whatsoever for the exchange to happen inside the school, as SWAT reportedly didn’t even reach the library until much later. It bugs the shit out of me that yet again they’re being so VAGUE in their reports. Half the time they don’t ask their own witnesses to clarify statements, we’re up to our eyeballs in “shots fired!/explosion in school!”-reports until way after the designated suicide time, we’ve got Dave Sanders dying because two geniuses felt it was a great day to put him on a chair and cart his severely injured self around the school, and now we’ve also got a literal exchange between shooters and SWAT that magically didn’t result in anybody dying and nobody wants to tell me exactly when this happened and where, and I still haven’t figured out what the hell was happenin’ on that roof exactly even though that’s what got me into finding this excerpt in the first place?
JEFFCO, WHY SO INCOMPETENT. *exhales air through nostrils, dragon-style*
Every time I see this gif I just become angrier with the S.W.A.T. Team. I hate them. Why would they drag her so intensely? Yeah fine, she was already dead but so what? That doesn’t give them the permission to drag her like a goddamn doll or a sack full of trash.
I feel the same way about the S.W.A.T. Team’s handling of Patrick Ireland. They shouldn’t have dropped him from the second story library window when he was so severely injured. I read something which said that they wouldn’t have even caught him had the cameras not been rolling. JeffCo mishandled Columbine grievously, and it is painfully obvious with footage like this.
why does everyone say jeff co for jefferson county? it sounds like an organization when abbreviated that way
I know it does. I only used it because I’m on mobile, and it’s difficult to type out Jefferson County without risking typos. Not sure why others do it though, maybe it’s just more convenient.
Not just more convenient: it’s actually the official abbreviation for Jefferson County (which Littleton falls into) as a whole, with the Sheriff’s office just being a subdivision of it: http://jeffco.us/
Plus, I’m not going to type out Jefferson County every time I’m hacked off at something they got up to. The wild shout of “JeffCo!” is infinitely more satisfying. And I do think that these particular instances with SWAT showcasing the handle they had on what was going on (read: no handle at all) warrants that kind of wild shouting yet again.. *sighs* I’m not over them actually entering the school in the wrong location so it took them forever to get to the library, I’m really not. So unamused by the wild goosechase they had going on that day..
Columbine 