Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Columbine Revisited

Aired October 22, 2003 - 14:12   ET

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

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


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It was the worst school shooting in U.S. history, the attack inside Columbine High School in Colorado. Students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives. And now, four years after the tragedy, the Jefferson County Sheriff's department has released a video -- it's not a new video, but newly released, of the shooters. And it may give more insight into what were obviously troubled lives.
CNN's Brian Cabell has been watching this -- well, troubling is the word that keeps come up in my mind. That's all you can see, you see them somewhere in the middle of the Rockies playing games with what are very, very deadly weapons.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is tape that just sat on the shelf, Miles, for the last 4 1/2 years. It was never used in the official investigation of the Columbine massacre. But finally, it has been released today.

Let me tell you what you're looking at. That's Eric Harris right there, Eric Harris at a place known as the Rampart Range Road. He's with Dylan Klebold. And this was taken March 4th -- March 6th, 1999. This was about six weeks before the columbine massacre on April 20th.

Actually, five people were on this tape. We are showing four of them, Eric Harris And Dylan Klebold. Also, two men accused of supplying them with the guns Mark Maenes (ph) -- he's with the ponytail; you'll see him in a while. Also Phillip Duran (ph) and a girlfriend of one of them. We are not showing him. They take turns firing the weapons. They are talking throughout. They are making light of the whole matter.

Let's listen to one exchange here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Imagine that it's someone's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) brain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it hurt my wrist like a son of a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that so?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABELL: It was six weeks after this practice on the firing range that they walked into columbine high school with about 30 explosives, along with a number of guns. They shot 12 students, killed 12 students, killed one teacher, then opened fired on themselves and wounded a number of others.

Again, six weeks before, they were practicing, they planning. And this, Miles, is the tape we have as a result.

O'BRIEN: Brian, first, how long is the tape, roughly?

CABELL: I think it's something in the neighborhood of 15 minutes. We edited it, though.

O'BRIEN: OK, we obviously have edited it down. What struck me -- and I'm sure same for you, was the attitude there. It was...

CABELL: Boys at play.

O'BRIEN: It was a game to them.

CABELL: Yes, they had guns and they were using them. They were experimenting With them. They got hurt actually by some of the sawed- off shotguns. It hurt them. They were trying to figure out how to use the guns and they were having a good time.

O'BRIEN: But having said that, boys at play there, you never get the sense that they are, you know, sort of planning out how they would do an attack. But when you couple this with what people heard them say in the weeks prior, it presents a rather sinister image. And with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, you have to wonder how it wasn't caught.

CABELL: I don't know. They had a Web site, one of them had a Web site. They were talking about killing people. They were talking about perhaps killing 250 people at Columbine High School. But as people have said in the past, there are a lot of teenagers out there who have talked about such things, about doomsday, and they don't carry it out. These two did carry it out.

O'BRIEN: All right, Brian Cabell, thanks very much for guiding us through those chilling tapes. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 22, 2003 - 14:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It was the worst school shooting in U.S. history, the attack inside Columbine High School in Colorado. Students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives. And now, four years after the tragedy, the Jefferson County Sheriff's department has released a video -- it's not a new video, but newly released, of the shooters. And it may give more insight into what were obviously troubled lives.
CNN's Brian Cabell has been watching this -- well, troubling is the word that keeps come up in my mind. That's all you can see, you see them somewhere in the middle of the Rockies playing games with what are very, very deadly weapons.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is tape that just sat on the shelf, Miles, for the last 4 1/2 years. It was never used in the official investigation of the Columbine massacre. But finally, it has been released today.

Let me tell you what you're looking at. That's Eric Harris right there, Eric Harris at a place known as the Rampart Range Road. He's with Dylan Klebold. And this was taken March 4th -- March 6th, 1999. This was about six weeks before the columbine massacre on April 20th.

Actually, five people were on this tape. We are showing four of them, Eric Harris And Dylan Klebold. Also, two men accused of supplying them with the guns Mark Maenes (ph) -- he's with the ponytail; you'll see him in a while. Also Phillip Duran (ph) and a girlfriend of one of them. We are not showing him. They take turns firing the weapons. They are talking throughout. They are making light of the whole matter.

Let's listen to one exchange here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Imagine that it's someone's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) brain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it hurt my wrist like a son of a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that so?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABELL: It was six weeks after this practice on the firing range that they walked into columbine high school with about 30 explosives, along with a number of guns. They shot 12 students, killed 12 students, killed one teacher, then opened fired on themselves and wounded a number of others.

Again, six weeks before, they were practicing, they planning. And this, Miles, is the tape we have as a result.

O'BRIEN: Brian, first, how long is the tape, roughly?

CABELL: I think it's something in the neighborhood of 15 minutes. We edited it, though.

O'BRIEN: OK, we obviously have edited it down. What struck me -- and I'm sure same for you, was the attitude there. It was...

CABELL: Boys at play.

O'BRIEN: It was a game to them.

CABELL: Yes, they had guns and they were using them. They were experimenting With them. They got hurt actually by some of the sawed- off shotguns. It hurt them. They were trying to figure out how to use the guns and they were having a good time.

O'BRIEN: But having said that, boys at play there, you never get the sense that they are, you know, sort of planning out how they would do an attack. But when you couple this with what people heard them say in the weeks prior, it presents a rather sinister image. And with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, you have to wonder how it wasn't caught.

CABELL: I don't know. They had a Web site, one of them had a Web site. They were talking about killing people. They were talking about perhaps killing 250 people at Columbine High School. But as people have said in the past, there are a lot of teenagers out there who have talked about such things, about doomsday, and they don't carry it out. These two did carry it out.

O'BRIEN: All right, Brian Cabell, thanks very much for guiding us through those chilling tapes. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com