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Columbine High School Shooting Research Paper

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The shooting at Columbine Hight School created a nationwide shock and horror for all people that watched the news clips. I remember going to school and not being allowed to carry our backpacks to school. The girls had to have a clear see through purse to be able to carry their personal belonging. The two shooters that were involved in the massacre at that school were Eric Harris (18 at time of shooting) and Dylan Klebold (17 at time). Both of these boys displayed abnormal behavior and I am going to explain in this essay their possible psychological issue with Eric Harris. Eric was reportedly harassed and bullied while he was going to school at Columbine High School and this drove him to commit this horrible act. However, Eric was not completely out to get “revenge” on anyone particular and was attempting to be the most deadly terroristic attack in United States History. …show more content…

Eric did not care about any harm that was brought about and just wanted to bring horror onto the population and out do the Oklahoma bomber. Peter Langman in “Columbine, Bullying, and The Mind of Eric Harris” states “Eric had a disturbed personality with prominent antisocial, narcissistic, and sadistic traits.” (Langman) With being antisocial will create a divide with the population of the school he a attended and would lead a division. The Behavioral aspect of Eric Harris would go into how Eric was learning how to be a criminal mischief before the attack. Creating videos of him already committing mass murder. He once again idolized the Oklahoma Bomber. By learning from his partner also helped create this person with a serious Psychological problem. Langman goes into why Eric had committed this heinous act and pointed out what other

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This discovery also brought light to the bullying aspect. The boys were in fact not motivated to kill due to bullying, but instead motivated by their mental state. Later in the book, Cullen explains, “‘Psychopaths are capable of behavior that normal people find not only horrible but baffling. ’”(239) Cullen collected all evidence regarding the massacre and compiled it into the book Columbine to help not only the victims and their families, but also the rest of the world make sense of the massacre that took place on April 20, 1999.

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Or was it just for him?” ( Dave Cullen pg 263 ) The question could be asked if Eric even really wanted to be happy, or did he just carry a very strong victim mentality? Eric Harris was described by Special Agent Dwayne Fuselier as psychopathic. This diagnosis is undeniable when reading some of Eric’s own writings.

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However, the two shooters seemed to be different in their own ways. They had may differe nt opinions and different motivates towrdas the shooting of Columbine High School. Eric Harris had been dreaming to shoot up the school because he believed in Natural Selection and was angry at the world. Then, Dylan Klebold had gone with the plan to shoot up Columbine since he wanted to kill himself. The plan at the end of the shooting was to kill themselves.

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Eric was a highly intelligent rebel and a charmer, whereas Dylan was smart but self-conscious and prone to wild outburst of emotion. FBI agent and domestic terrorism specialist Dwayne Fuslier would later diagnose Eric as a young psychopath, an unfeelingly manipulative play-actor who knew how to get what he wanted out of everybody. Eric wanted to prove his superiority to the world and wanted to leave a legacy by striking fear into the hearts of his “audience,” the students left alive and the horrified world. But Dylan, who Fuslier diagnosed as depressive and self-medicating with alcohol, wanted primarily to end his own life.

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He also kept a journal, but it was less detailed than Dylan’s. He also had a website filled with hate lists. “If you haven’t made a CO2 bomb today, I suggest you do so.” (Cullen, pg.184). Eric and Dylan both shared something similar and that was the hatred for Columbine High School.

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