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EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG
74
The mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado,still stands as the most bloody and most infamous school shootingin US history. In the end, a dozen students, one teacher, and twogunmen lay dead. Even if another incident surpasses it with regardto body count, Columbine will remain seared into the public psycheas the archetypal school shooting. Despite its unique status, despitethe controversies it triggered (provoking arguments about guns,Marilyn Manson, bullying, and parental responsibility, among manyother topics) and the subsequent incidents and near-incidents itinspired, many unanswered questions swirl around the events of  April 20, 1999.Though many pieces of the puzzle remain hidden, many others areburied in the voluminous public record regarding the case. Asrevealed in “Anatomy of a School Shooting” in
You Are Being Lied To
, press reports and official statements made on and immediatelyafter the tragic day don’t jibe with the Official Version of Events. Weknow, for example, that a
Denver Post 
article reported shots stillbeing fired in the school three and a half hours after the two gunmensupposedly died. We know that Sheriff John Stone indicated thatthere were others involved, a charge he has now backed away from,at least in public. Similarly, contemporaneous reports declared thatnumerous students saw more than two gunmen. Another treasure trove of information is found in the thousands of official documents that have been released. In November 2000,Jefferson County, Colorado, unleashed a blizzard of 11,000 pagesof raw documents. This has been followed by thousands morepages, plus police dispatches, some autopsy reports and autopsysummaries, videotape of the cafeteria, and yet more material. Asmall group of individuals combing this material in a quest to find thetruth has gathered at the Website for the Columbine Research TaskForce. There they post their findings, while debating what theymean. By sifting through the material myself and with pointers fromthe Task Force, I’ve assembled some eyewitness statements thatdon’t jibe with the official report of the incident. Of course, recollec-tions of witnesses can be inaccurate, but I found an amazingamount of congruity among the statements of people who saw other participants in the massacre. These are important pieces of the puz-zle, and when fitted with other pieces (early media reports, state-ments from officials, etc.), a form takes shape that stands in distinctrelief to the orthodox account of these events.Unfortunately, the limits of time and page count mean that a fullexamination of the realities of Columbine will have to wait evenlonger. In the meantime, though, feast your eyes on the followingeyewitness reports taken from the original 11,000-page release. Asyou do, keep in mind the particulars of the Official Version of Events.We’ve been told:
 _THE BOMB-THROWER IN THE WHITE T-SHIRT
Outside the school, numerous witnesses saw a young man dressedin a whiteT-shirt and blue jeans taking part in the attack. Remember,Harris and Klebold were dressed in black pants. Harris was wearinga white T-shirt under his trenchcoat, but he wasn’t wearing jeans.While Harris and Klebold both had guns, the guy in the white T-shirtcontented himself with giving the signal to start the rampage, thenthrowing explosives. Many witnesses simultaneously saw all threeof them, eliminating the possibility that the white T-shirt bomber wasone of the two known gunmen. As
USA Today 
reported on the dayafter the shooting: “Beyond the two dead gunmen, students
WITNESSES TO A MASSACRE
OTHER PARTICIPANTS IN THE COLUMBINE SHOOTINGRUSS KICKMANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS SWIRL AROUND THE EVENTS OF APRIL 20, 1999.
• Students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold planned and exe-cuted this attack completely by themselves. Some other people bought guns for them (since they were minors), butthese buyers had no idea what Harris and Klebold wereabout to perpetrate.• The two gunmen were dressed in black trenchcoats andpants.• The shooting started at approximately 11:19 AM. By 12:08PM—at the latest—Harris and Klebold were dead, havingkilled themselves.
Excerpted from "Everything You Know Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies" Available on Amazon.com
 
WITNESSES TO A MASSACRE
RUSS KICK 
75
described seeing another youth dressed in a white shirt throwingbombs that looked like soda cans. A youth matching that descriptionlater was seen being led away by police.”
1
Chris Wisher,
student (written statement made 1:30 PM on April 20,1999): “Me and my friends were about 100 yards away from thepeople. There were 3 of them[:] 2 wearing trench coats and onewearing a white shirt. We heard what we thought was a gun & start-ed running. Then we figured that they were fireworks & went back.We saw one of them aim a gun at us and started shooting at us. Weheard the gun shots going by our heads so we fell to the ground. Wegot up & saw the kid in the white throw what looked like grenadeson the roof. That is when we got back up and started running.”
2
Jake Apodaca
, student (written statement made 1:30 PM on April20, 1999): “Me and my friend were at the soccer field and we heardwhat sounded like fire crackers and we looked over and saw 3 menby the school and they were shooting guns[.] One of them threw acouple of bombs on roof of school. And then they shot what lookedlike a shot gun at us.”
3
Jake Apodaca
(interviewed April 20, 1999, by Detective BrianLynch): “at soccer field with friend and heard what sounded like fire-crackers; saw 3 subjects near school, shooting; one threw bombsonto roof of school; subjects shot shotgun toward him and his friend;he and his friend ran to a house and called 911; he saw a gunmanducked down with a shotgun in Weaver Park; subjects were W/M[white male], 2 wearing black trenchcoats, black berets, black pants,black Army boots, black T-shirts, carrying shotguns; he has seenthem at school before, but did not find them in the yearbook he wasshown; the third subject had light brown hair, wearing a white T-shirtand jeans, throwing bombs onto the roof; saw one explode; Apodaca has not seen him at school before (SEE WRITTENSTATEMENT).”
4
William Arapkiles
, freshman (interviewed May 5, 1999, by AgentTimothy Steffes
5
): While on the soccer field, Arapkiles heard soundslike firecrackers coming from the area around the cafeteria. “He saidthat he looked toward the school and observed three people near the west entrance to the north main hall. Billy stated that two [of] thesubjects were wearing trench coats, and the third was wearing awhite shirt. According to Billy the two subjects wearing trench coatshad guns. He did not see the subject with the white shirt with a firearm. Billy related that the subject wearing the white shirt was pacingback and forth and was about five feet away from the two in trenchcoats. Billy did not think the subject wearing the white shirt was avictim but was with the other two. Billy reported that he was too far away to recognize the subjects.”
6
Donald Arnold, Jr 
., sophomore (interviewed May 11, 1999, bySpecial Agent Michael W. Howell): Arnold was on the soccer field.“Arnold looked towards the school and saw a short, pudgy male,wearing a white T-shirt, and throwing something onto the roof of theschool near the electrical transformers. Arnold heard [an] explosionand saw dust on the roof soon after. Arnold could provide no further description of this person and did not see this person with a gun.“Arnold then saw another male, whom he could not describe, shoot-ing a shotgun towards the senior parking lot. This individual wasstanding on the upper level, north of the parking lot and near theschool building, approximately 30 yards Southwest of the first male.”
7
Patrick Neville
, student (interviewed May 6, 1999, by McFadden): Another student on the soccer field. “Neville described the first gun-men [
sic 
] as tall with a black trench coat, dressed all in black, carry-ing a gun, described as a long gun. Neville stated that thesecond gunmen [
sic 
] was a white male, with a white shirt,blue jeans, who he observed throwing something on theroof which exploded.”
8
Mike Kenny 
, sophomore (interviewed May 1, 1999, by Denver Police Detective Terry Kemmel): Kenny and his companions on thesoccer field heard what they thought were firecrackers near thelibrary. “They observed a party in a black trench coat with blackpants; Mike stated that he was approximately 100 yards away.Mike reported that the guy had a TEC 9 in his hand, a personwearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans was about 10 feet behindthe guy in the trench coat and they both appeared to be together.”The guy in the trenchcoat shot at them, so they ran. When Kennylooked back, he saw an explosion and smoke on the roof in thearea of the two suspects.
9
Jonathan Cole
, student (interviewed June 1, 1999, by Agents LindaR. Holloway and Jerry Means, Colorado Bureau of Investigation):“COLE finished his fourth period class and walked out of the schoolvia the doors located on the upper level just north of the library of the west side. He met up with Jack ABODACA and CHRIS WISHERwhen he noticed two males in trench coats. One was wearing a skimake [
sic 
] with one large hole in it. Both were tall and [he] believesthat they had just come through the same doors he had exited from.He did not recall them wearing hats, however, it was his perceptionthat one had a white shirt on under his trench coat and one waswearing a black shirt and black or dark pants or jeans. He recalledthat one had brown ‘puffy’ hair. The two males walked to the corner of the building and stood off of the sidewalk looking down the stepsthat lead to the cafeteria and senior parking lot. He recalled seeinga third male who was wearing a white tee-shirt that had either shortsleeves or no sleeves, blue jeans exit the building behind the twotrenched males. He next remembered that the male in the whiteshirt yelled at the other two males in trench coats to ‘GO!! GO!!’“He then observed the two males with trench coats draw weapons.
“THERE WERE 3 OF THEM[:] 2 WEARING TRENCHCOATS AND ONE WEARING A WHITE SHIRT.”
Excerpted from "Everything You Know Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies" Available on Amazon.com
 
EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG
76
One pulled a shotgun and one pulled a large semi-automatic gun.They began shooting at students below. He recalled hearing kidsscream and one student fall to the ground. He began to run in awesterly direction. He recalled looking back and seeing the male inthe white shirt throw what he believes are bombs on the roof area of the library. He thought that he threw four or five bombs and thatsome exploded....“JONATHAN COLE related that when he went to pick up his back-pack and other belongings that he had left at the school with hismother today, that he saw a male that reminded him of the male inthe white shirt who was throwing the bombs. His [
sic 
] male wasdescribed as 5’10”, wearing black glasses and having collar lengthblondish brown hair. He did not know that student’s name.”
10
Jessica Guertz 
, student (interviewed May 18, 1999, by Denver Police Detective Mark Allen): Guertz was in the cafeteria withfriends. “Jessica said someone yelled that there was a fight and theyall got up to look out the windows. Jessica said she saw two guysdressed in Trench Coats, and a guy in white T-shirt possibly withthem standing near the cement stairs.” After hearing shots, she ranout of the cafeteria, then out of the school.
Jessica Guertz 
(reinterviewed August 10, 1999, by unknown personfrom the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office): “She said she saw twotall, about 6 feet, adult males standing close to the cement stairs outside of the cafeteria, (West side). She said they appeared to be verycalm, she said they were dressed in black. She could not be for surethe exact clothing. She just said it was all black.“She also said another male in a white shirt was standing close tothe cement stairs and appeared to be very calm also. She told methat she thought it was strange that the three were standing so calm-ly when everyone else was so paniced [
sic 
].“The adult in the white shirtwas also tall, thin and esti-mated his height to be 6’.”
11
Stefanie Haney 
, student (interviewed May 25, 1999, by JeffersonCounty Sheriff Investigator C. Schoshke): Around 11:15 AM, Haneywas walking out of the cafeteria doors and noticed three peoplewalking into the school through nearby doors. “Haney further toldme that she did see and greet Harris and Klebold who were enter-ing those doors at that time. Both Harris and Klebold were wearingtheir ‘trenchcoats’ with their hands in their pockets. She knows bothHarris and Klebold from school and described Harris as havingshorter hair than Klebold who’s [
sic 
] hair is fairly long over the earsand collar length. She could not say what type of pants or footwear they had on. At that time neither had anything on their heads. Haneyalso described a third male walking with Harris and Klebold. Thewhite male looked older than a high school student and she did notrecognize him from any of the four years she had attended CHS.The unknown male was about the same height as Harris, his hair was dark in a kind of bowl cut and shaved on the sides. He waswearing a white ‘T’ or ‘V’necked shirt (like a man’s undershirt) withits sleeves rolled up once or twice.”
12
 Ann Marie Kelly 
, sophomore (written statement made May 5, 1999):“Pat Newel said he was out side [
sic 
] at the time of the attack. Hesaw 3 guy’s [
sic 
] walk up the hill. 2 had trench coats. 1 had a whiteshirt. The guy with the shirt threw something onto the roof whichexploded.”
13
(Unfortunately, no interview with Pat Newel is containedin the 11,000 pages of documents.)
Nathan Vanderau
, student (interviewed April 30, 1999, by Special Agents Jeffery C. Diehl and John M. Elvig): While eating lunch in thecafeteria, Vanderau heard an explosion and looked out a window.“Van saw two individuals outside of the school. One individual hesaw only from the waist up was dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans. This person was throwing something in a side arm motion uptowards the school roof. Van saw him throw one or two items. Thesecond individual Van got a glimpse of was dressed in black andwas taller than the other person.”
14
 _THE ACNE SHOOTER
Several students report seeing a fellow student, not Harris or Klebold, taking part in the shooting. He is identified by his acuteacne, bad teeth, long face, great height, fairly long hair, and apigeon-toed manner of walking—in other words, a distinctive char-acter not likely to be confused with someone else. (Although Kleboldwas tall, he didn’t have an acne-riddled face, bad teeth, or an unusu-al manner of walking.) As with any time a suspect other than Harrisor Klebold is mentioned, this student’s name is redacted (i.e.,blacked out) in the documents, although the censors occasionallyslipped up and let his name sneak through unmarred.
Bijen Monte
, junior (interviewed April 30, 1999, by Agent Jerry W.Means and Agent Ricky S. Mundine, Colorado Bureau of Investigation): “MONTE stated she was near the cafeteria when theshooting started and she saw one of the gunmen. She stated thegunman she saw was not one of the guys identified on television[i.e., Harris and Klebold].”Monte was sitting outside on the south side of the building at thetime. “She thought she saw fireworks sparkling on the sidewalk,and then saw a guy in a trench coat coming down the hill. Threekids went ‘down’ to the ground, and the guy in the trench coat wasstanding over two of the downed kids. She stated she knew it was[redacted] in the trench coat, standing over the two kids, becauseshe recognized him....
“SHE STATED SHE KNEW IT WAS [REDACTED] IN THE TRENCH COAT,STANDING OVER THE TWO KIDS, BECAUSE SHE RECOGNIZED HIM.”
Excerpted from "Everything You Know Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies" Available on Amazon.com
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