Eric Harris

Eric Harris, born around April 9, 1981, was one of two individuals responsible for the Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado, on April 20, 1999. Alongside Dylan Klebold, Harris initiated a coordinated attack involving firearms and homemade bombs, resulting in the deaths of 15 people, including themselves, and numerous injuries. The two youths, aged 18 and 17 respectively, had planned the assault for approximately a year, accumulating a significant arsenal and timing the event to coincide with Adolf Hitler's birthday. The attack commenced before 11:25 AM MDT, utilizing a semiautomatic rifle, two sawed-off shotguns, a handgun, and dozens of homemade bombs, causing widespread chaos and panic among the school's 2,000 students. Bodies fell and blood spattered as students fled for cover. A SWAT team was on hand within 20 minutes, but it was too late for the young people who lay dead and wounded. Harris died by gunshot suicide around 12:00 noon on the same day. Prior to the massacre, Harris and Klebold had navigated the legal system, completing a community service program in February 1998 after being convicted of a felony for breaking and entering in January 1998. Despite being noted as bright and capable, their actions on April 20, 1999, demonstrated an indiscriminate violence, despite an avowed hatred of specific groups.