Columbine by Dave Cullen – 5⭐

“The final portrait is often furthest from the truth.”

This was a really tough read, I always knew it was going to be so it wasn’t a surprise but it still threw me for a loop.

Columbine is something that has always stuck with me, it’s one of those awful world events where I remember the time period well. I remember looking at footage of Patrick Ireland climbing out that window. I remember seeing the bodies on the lawn. Why did this particular massacre stay with me? Two reasons, 1: This was the first major mass school shooting in America that I remember being reported on here (Ireland), and 2: I was the same age as one of the preparators and some of the victims. I was 17 in April 1999, I don’t recall seeing coverage on the actual day, but I was likely at home doing homework when this event was happening. It always seemed so horrifying to me that all these kids went to school that day and most of them just had the typical teenage bullshit to deal with and then these two monsters decided to take away some of their lives, others health and everyone’s peace of mind. What’s worse is that one of those monsters would be only too delighted with his legacy.

I thought I knew everything there was to know about what happened in Columbine but it turns out I knew absolutely nothing about what led to this massacre. Dave Cullen did a masterful job of giving us an insight into not just the preparators, but he also gave the victims back their story. Something that was definitely lost in the months and years that followed.

Therefore, for the purposes of this review I will only be referring to the perpetrators of the Columbine massacre by their initials. It isn’t much, and I’m sure anyone familiar with this case knows their names, but I hate that EH would be so happy to be still talked about. I would love for people to forget his name to history while still remembering his victims, the survivors and how brave the people of Columbine were in the aftermath.

Unfortunately there were some things in the aftermath that were not so great. The vast amount of misinformation spread by the media about EH and DK’s motives being one. Misinformation that is still attributed to this event to this very day. The bullying angle, the video game bullshit and the trench coat mafia nonsense. A lack of journalistic integrity is definitely not something that was caused by the digital boom of the 2000’s, I do wonder if journalistic integrity was ever a thing to be honest. Of course there was some who reported this story in a very professional way but as with everything, sensationalism sells, even when the sensationalism is purely made up.

Something really important that Cullen highlighted from this case was how the whole situation was dealt with by the police department and the coverup that followed. I wasn’t aware of any of the information regarding Brooks Brown and the reports made by his mother, Judy Brown, about her concerns regarding EH and DK. Her concerns about EH in particular.

It was also interesting to learn about all the changes to active shooter procedures in the aftermath of Columbine. Unfortunately those procedures aren’t always followed, like the tragedy that happened in the Uvalde school shooting in 2022.

“So what accounted for all the confusion? “Eyewitness testimony, in general, is not very accurate,” one investigator explained. “Put that together with gunshots going off and just the most terrifying situation in their life, what they remember now may not be anywhere near what really happened.” Human memory can be erratic.”

Everything about the Columbine massacre is a tragedy, so many lives were ruined and for no discernable reason other than the perfect storm of a psychopath meeting a depressive who was willing to die. Had EH and DK not had access to firearms this tragedy would most likely not have happened but I have no doubt that EH would have gone on to commit some other kind of horrendous crime.

There are lots of things I could really dig into in relation to the aftermath of this tragedy and I had planned to, but the more I think about it the more I think that it wouldn’t be helpful. Grief is a very tricky beast, so I’ve decided it best not to weigh in on the ways some of the people of Littleton are working through that grief.

I’ve decided it’s best to focus on the strength of those who survived, Dave Cullen dedicates this book to the 13 victims and one of the survivors, Patrick Ireland. Patrick Ireland shouldn’t have had to become a symbol of survival and compassion but that’s what he became. Patrick was able to forgive EH and DK while he was in his hospital bed, and it wasn’t forgiveness for the sake of the killers, it was forgiveness for his own mental health. He had so much work to do in order to heal, hating the two responsible was going to get in the way of that so he chose to forgive. It’s honestly mind blowing, I know I could never, and it’s totally okay if other people could also not manage it, I mean hate is a perfectly valid emotion and it can be very effective when dealing with something as horrendous as this massacre. To be able to process his emotions and forgive them at such an early stage in his recovery, so that it wouldn’t delay his recovery further, was astonishing and I’m so glad he is doing well today.

“When I fell out the window, I knew somebody would catch me,” he said. “That’s what I need to tell you: that I knew the loving world was there all the time.”

Patrick Ireland survivor of Columbine massacre

Columbine by Dave Cullen is an important body of work in my opinion. It’s important because the shooting marks a depressing uptick in mass shootings in the US. It focuses on correcting a huge amount of misinformation surrounding the event that took place on 20 April 1999 and its aftermath. It gave the victims a voice that was tragically taken away from them as the world focused on the reasons EH and DK did what they did. It also gave a voice to the survivors and the families of both the victims and the survivors who’ve had to negotiate so much trauma as a result of all that happened that day. I’m sure there are some who are critical of this book, and that is their right, but I feel like this was a respectful, empathetic, and informative piece of work. True Crime is a tricky thing to navigate but one of the things I find most important when I consume it is focusing on the victims. They deserve to be remembered separately from those who took their life, so on that note. The victims of the Columbine High School massacre were:

1. Rachel Scott (aged 17)
2. Daniel Rohrbough (aged 15)
3. William David Sanders (aged 47)
4. Kyle Velasquez (aged 16)
5. Steven Curnow (aged 14)
6. Cassie Bernall (aged 17)
7. Isaiah Shoels (aged 18)
8. Matthew Kechter (aged 16)
9. Lauren Townsend (aged 18)
10. John Tomlin (aged 16)
11. Kelly Fleming (aged 16)
12. Daniel Mauser (aged 15)
13. Corey DePooter (aged 17)
14. Anne Marie Hochhalter aged 17 when shot and injured on 20 April 1999; died of related injuries on 16 February 2025

I highly recommend reading or listening to the updated 25 year anniversary edition of Columbine. It’s an expanded version and the epilogue by Dave Cullen is heartbreaking but beautiful. In it, he spoke of how Anne Marie Hochhalter had started to work on living her life as more than just a survivor of Columbine. I was absolutely devastated to learn upon looking her up that she passed away from her injuries just this year. This brings the death count up to 14.