The Wake of Columbine

On April 20th, 1999, Columbine High School became synonymous with tragedy. Here are the lessons we should remember today.

Jessica Lucia
11 min readApr 20, 2021
Columbine High School, after reconstruction (source)

A couple of months before I graduated from high school, some seniors had a water balloon fight outside the cafeteria. The cops showed up, ending the fun and confiscating the balloons.

When I got home that day, I lamented to my mother: “they were just water balloons. Don’t the cops have anything more important to do?” She looked at me, incredulous. “You should be happy they have nothing more important to do,” she said.

Two years later, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School armed with pipe bombs, guns, and other weapons. They killed 12 students and one teacher, injured two dozen others, then turned their guns on themselves.

My mother’s words have echoed in my mind hundreds of times since then.

I had classes that morning, but as I drove back to my apartment, news about Columbine came on the radio. As soon as I walked into my apartment, I asked my roommates if they knew what was happening. They pointed to the television. Patrick Ireland — who had been shot in the foot and twice in the head — dangled head-first out of a window in the school library. Disoriented and bleeding, he threw…

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Jessica Lucia

Educator. Mother. Runner. Co-editor of Tell Your Story. I love the New York Mets, bridges terrify me, and I hate cottage cheese.