Jalyn Maddux

COMM 101
New Castle
T 1-3:50
Title: Columbine High School Shooting
Purpose Statement: The purpose of this speech is to inform my audience about the Columbine
high school shooting. I will do this by expressing why Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris committed
the crime of killing thirteen people.
Introduction:
A. Can you imagine sitting in school during a class then being informed there is a person
with a gun in your school? It seems like a pretty scary feeling.
B. The Columbine high school shooting was a tragic event that occurred when two students
when on a shooting spree through their high school
C. I have watched several documentaries over this shooting and I have done a large amount
of research. I also interviewed a person who remembers information about the shooting.
Central Idea: The columbine high school shooting was a terrible tragedy in 1999. This school
shooting involved two students, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who went into school and shot
and killed twelve students, one teacher, and then killed themselves.
I. Information about the shooters and how the shooting went down.
A. The two shooters was Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18.
B. The shooting occurred on April 20th, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado.
1. At approximately 11:18 am, the two students were carrying guns. They opened fire
inside killing 13 and wounding 23 before killing themselves.
2. There were homemade bombs found in the cafeteria that never went off.
a. The first lunch was to occur around 11:00 am. The bombs were meant to go off
killing approximately 400 people.
b. They started outside killing one person.
c. The weapons used by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris a Hi-Point 995 9mm carbine
with (13) 10-round magazines, a sawed-off Savage 67H 12-gauge pump shotgun, and
a sawed-off Stevens 311D double-barreled shotgun (not to mention the 99 homemade explosives and 4 knives).

D. They walked through the school shooting the people they could find.
1. The boys walked into the school and started shooting. They killed one teacher as they
made their way to the library. The library is where most deaths occurred.
a. The kids in the library were hiding under tables.10 were found dead and 12 more
injured.
b. It mentions that the jocks around school wore white hats. In the library the boys
shot everyone with a white hat on.
c. After killing 10 more people they sat in the library and killed themselves at
approximately 12:08 pm with gunshot wounds to the head.
Transition Statement: The shooting lasted for approximately an hour. The shooters started
outside the school and moved into the library where they shot themselves.
II. Motive behind the shooting.
A. There are many different answers about the motive behind the shooting.
1. Before the shooting occurred, the shooters made home videos making references to
what they planned on doing and they apologized to their parents for it.
B. Other research said these kids had serious psychological problems.
1. Findings from the boys journals have told that they were very depressed. This may
have been from bullying. They were known as the depressive and the psychopath.
2. Other research said these kids had serious psychological problems.
3. More rumors are saying that this may have happened because of the other events that
occurred on April 20th. Other events on April 20th: Hitlers birthday, and national cannabis day.
D. It is said they may have targeted certain people.
1. People say they did this to target Christians, jocks, and African Americans.
2. People say they targeted everyone. Not true. On his way towards the school, Eric
Harris saw his friend Brooks Brown and told him to leave because he likes him.
3. Supposedly Klebold and Harris made a list of 67 targets at the schoolnone were
among the victims.
4. People are calling it indiscriminate hate. It may have been preventable if parents or
authorities had done things differently, but that doesnt make it any less disturbing. The kids
were sociopaths. Thats the real problem and horror of it all.

Transition Statement: There is no true answer to why these boys did what they did.
Speculations of bullying, depression, psychological issues, terrorist bombing, and no one truly
knows why they did it.
III. Victims of the shooting.
A. The victims were not all known as main targets.
1. The victims: Cassie Bernall, 17, Steven Curnow, 14, Corey Depooter, 17, Kelly
Fleming, 16, Matthew Kechter, 16, Daniel Mauser, 15, Daniel Rohrbough, 15,
William "Dave" Sanders, 47, Rachel Scott, 17, Isaiah Shoels, 18, John Tomlin, 16,
Lauren Townsend, 18, Kyle Valasquez, 16.
B. This day was a tragic event that left our world without fifteen amazing people.
1.The school to this day has a wonderful memorial for these people.
Transition Statement: These victims are remembered daily. One victim has a book written
about her. Many others have articles and more. This shooting was a tragedy but we still
remember the good people lost.
Conclusion:
A. The Columbine shootings rank as one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history as well
as one of the deadliest episodes of school violence.
1. The motive behind the shooting is still a mystery.
2. It may have been bullying. They may have been sociopaths, or maybe they really did
target certain people.
3. All we are sure of is that fifteen people lost their lives that day. 12 students, 1 teacher,
and 2 very confused, lost teenagers.