Release of Columbine tape horrifies families

From the pop music added for its use as a training video to eerie scenes of the massacre's aftermath, the tape stirs emotions.

[AP photo] The video shows books pulled to the floor and chairs askew in the school library.

©Associated Presss, published April 27, 2000

GOLDEN, Colo. -- Large pools of blood soak into beige carpet, marked by yellow paper cards bearing victims' names. Calculators and pencils lie next to open books on tables. A computer monitor sits blown to bits.

To the horror of Columbine victims' families, authorities released videotapes Wednesday that offer the public the first glimpse of the high school's library at least a day after two students killed 12 schoolmates and a teacher before committing suicide April 20, 1999. Ten of those students and the gunmen died in the library.

Authorities charged $25 for each tape.

The nearly three-hour tape, part of it set eerily to a pop music soundtrack that was added when it was turned into a training video, was mostly shot by firefighters. It also includes aerial footage taken by TV news teams that showed wounded and two slain students outside Columbine.

[AP photo] Beth Nimmo, mother of shooting victim Rachel Scott, waves a copy of the tape as she expresses her disgust at its public release.

"For the first time today, I saw my daughter being dragged over to the fire engine. I don't need to see that and nobody else needs to see that," said Beth Nimmo, mother of slain student Rachel Scott.

"It hurts. They have pictures from the helicopter of dragging Richard by his feet," said Connie Michalik, whose son, Richard Castaldo, was shot and left paralyzed.

Jefferson County Attorney Frank Hutfless released the videotapes to the victims' families Tuesday to comply with a court order. He said he then released them to anyone who asked for them "to avoid additional lawsuits by the public or news media."

With Sarah McLachlan's I Will Remember You playing in the background, the video, taken by firefighters, enters the library through open doors, flanked by windows that had been shattered by gunfire.

It shows books pulled to the floor. Chairs are askew, as if pushed out of the way hurriedly. Bullets have shattered windows and punctured walls. A window blind is still jumbled from the hurried escape of one student.

But it is the pools of blood on desks and on the earth-tone carpeted floor that most captures the eye. Folded yellow cards are carefully placed near the stains to mark the names of Lauren Townsend, Daniel Mauser, Corey DePooter and other victims. Numbered cards mark pieces of evidence.

"Each one of those pools of blood is where someone's child died or was seriously wounded," said attorney James Rouse, who represents some of the victims' families.

The video does not show bodies inside the school. It has scenes of the cafeteria, which was heavily damaged by gunfire and bombs, but it does not include the surveillance footage from a cafeteria camera that was broadcast on some news programs last fall.

Six victims' relatives had sued to gain access to the tapes to prove authorities mishandled the rescue and failed to heed warnings of the rampage.

But many Columbine families had hoped the tapes would not be released to the public.

"I'm totally disgusted they're selling the tapes for $25," Michalik said. "Where is the $25 going? We had to fight like crazy to even get these tapes released."

Other relatives were outraged that the videotape, adapted for the training of police and fire personnel around the country, contained added background music.

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