English subtitles for clip: File:Storytellers - "Columbine High School" (May 2016).ogv

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Hi, I'm

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Captain Tyler Stark, and I'll be sharing with

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you what happened to me on April 20,

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1999 at Columbine High School.

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Now, if you're a little bit older, you

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probably are familiar with the event and the

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tragedy that took place on that day.

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If you're a little bit younger, you may

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be less familiar.

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On April 20, two students went in to

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Columbine High School, shot and killed.

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Twelve students, a teacher, and ultimately themselves.

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So, why Columbine?

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What led up to this?

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Columbine's in Littleton, Colorado.

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It's white suburbia.

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There's no gangs, there's no real gun violence,

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knife violence, anything like that that the teachers

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or the community was concerned about.

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Just like any high school, we've all been

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there.

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There's cliques, right?

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There's little groups.

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Some of them are, you know, the jocks,

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the stoners, the cool kids, the nerdy kids,

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whatever.

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We're familiar with that.

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It's part of going through high school.

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At Columbine, there was also a trench coat

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mafia.

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Now, out of the 2,000 kids at

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Columbine, probably only 10 or 15 were in

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the trench coat mafia.

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Judging by their name, they wore trench coats

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all the time and thus stood out and

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looked different.

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And because of it, they got picked on.

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And eventually, they had enough and they were

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going to invoke their revenge.

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They're primarily targeting jocks.

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So, people back then wore the white college

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hats and that was their target for April

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20.

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Now, I was a jock.

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I played football as a freshman.

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But in junior high, I was the dork.

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I was in a band.

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I had glasses, braces, zits all over.

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So, I knew what it was like to

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get picked on.

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So, I consciously chose to, although I played

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sports, not be that sort of a bully

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to other people.

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So, leading up to April 20, what was

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it like?

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It happened on a Tuesday.

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The Monday prior was completely normal.

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Normal day of school.

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The morning of April 20 was completely normal.

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I went down to the cafeteria, which you

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can see sits under the library.

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And there was approximately 400 kids there.

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Their initial plan was to set propane bombs

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near the pillars of the cafeteria with the

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intent to drop the library onto the cafeteria,

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killing all 400 students, including myself.

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As I was sitting there, unknown to me

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of this plan, sitting with my friend Nate

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and Michael.

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Now, Nate was a little bit more one

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of the cool kids and a little bit

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of a bully, but I'd known him forever.

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And he starts picking on Michael.

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I don't say anything.

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I don't intervene.

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And Michael eventually quickly eats his lunch and

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leaves.

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I don't think anything of it.

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Maybe I should have stepped in.

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Maybe not.

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At 11:17, when the bombs don't go

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off, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold decide to

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go to Plan B, which is to go

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in and shoot up the school and invoke

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as many casualties as possible.

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The first sign of this was Mr. Sanders

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entering the side entrance to the cafeteria.

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His initial words were, everyone get down.

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So I get down.

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I happen to be sitting next to the

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far window that you can see in the

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picture.

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And we didn't know what was going on.

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Maybe it's a fire drill.

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Maybe it's some sort of practice procedure.

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Who knows?

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So I get down and start working my

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way to the window, which is a few

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feet away.

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At that point, I see Dylan Klebold walking

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down the cement steps you can see just

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outside the cafeteria.

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And he had something in his hand.

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It looked like an old sand weight.

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Couldn't really tell, but he lights it and

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throws it in the parking lot.

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At that point, there's a puff of smoke.

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And I'm thinking, well, if that was a

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bomb, there should be damage to the cars

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around it.

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But I don't see any broken glass, any

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damage.

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I'm thinking, it's a smoke bomb.

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What's the big deal?

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At that point, I see Michael, the fellow

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student that was sitting right next to me,

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up on the hill.

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And it looks like he's fallen because his

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pants are shredded and there's a little bit

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of blood.

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What I don't know at the time is

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that he's been shot in the leg.

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And he's trying to get away from Dylan

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Klebold, who had just shot him before he

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started coming down the steps.

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Still not processing what's really going on and

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the implication and seriousness of the situation.

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At that point, I get down and Mr.

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Sanders says, you know, everyone get out of

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here.

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Imagine 400 kids with tables and chairs scattered

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all about, entering into sheer panic.

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It was just mass chaos as we start

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running out of the cafeteria towards the stairs.

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Now Columbine is built, the bottom floor is

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pretty much just the cafeteria.

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The rest of the school is on top.

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So there's two main hallways, which you can

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see, and then three connecting hallways.

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You can see kind of the flow of

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students as they're running for their lives.

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So I get halfway towards the stairs in

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the cafeteria when I start to hear gunfire.

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I wasn't really brought up around guns, but

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I figured they'd be a lot louder.

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It just sounded like fireworks to me, but

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it was still very serious and I knew

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I needed to get out of there.

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Definitely executed the flight in the flight or

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fight response.

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I'm running with my friend Brad as we

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hit the stairs and start following the crowd

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of students up to the main level, which

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is where the science rooms were.

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Now there's teachers out there that know something

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is going on.

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They're trying to protect as best they can

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the students who are now fleeing for their

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lives.

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So they start ushering in and saying, hey,

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come this way.

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You know, come hide here.

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And Brad does so.

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I still see an empty hallway, which means

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there's still room for me to run.

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And that's what I choose to do.

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So we split off.

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I continue running down the main hallway and

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I start to see a backlog of students

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trying to get out the exit.

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I do not want to be standing there

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waiting for my turn to get out when

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Dylan comes up the stairs and starts shooting

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down the hallway.

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So I think I have a good idea.

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I'm going to go down the middle connecting

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hallway, go to the other main entrance and

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go out that way where there's no students.

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And I'm thinking it's such a good idea.

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People are going to follow me and there's

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going to be a string of students behind

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me when I make this turn.

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So I do so.

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Look behind me.

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No one, just me by myself running down

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this this middle hallway.

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When I get to the end, do the

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quick, you know, check of who's around.

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And I see the other gunman, Eric Harris,

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just a black figure.

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I don't really have time to process that.

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It's him.

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I just see black trench coat.

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At that point, he sees me and shoots.

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The bullets hit about three feet above my

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head.

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And in that moment, there was no thinking

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involved.

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It was just pure adrenaline where momentum is

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going one way and immediately I'm trying to

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get traction going the opposite direction.

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The run back down the hallway.

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Turns out it was a bad decision to

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stray from the crowd.

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There's a few thoughts going through my head.

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One, since I played football, this is probably

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the fastest 40 yard dash I've ever done.

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I wish someone had a stopwatch to time

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me.

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But more importantly was what is my fate?

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What are my options?

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Option A, he's going to shoot me from

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behind and kill me.

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Option B, he's going to shoot me.

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I'm going to be paralyzed.

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He's going to come up and finish the

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job.

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Or option three, he's going to shoot me.

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I'm going to get around the corner, but

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he's still going to finish the job.

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Those were the thoughts running through my head

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as I ran for my life to get

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away from Eric Harris.

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Fortunately, none of those things happened.

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I make it around the corner.

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I go out the exit I originally intended

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to with the backlog of students that had

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now cleared.

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And make it outside of the school.

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From there, I go across the street to

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Leawood Park.

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There's two or three hundred kids in the

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park trying to figure out what's going on.

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I ran into a friend, Ian, who was

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on the football team.

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And just to give you an idea of

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the lack of comprehension of what was really

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going on, our conversation revolved around this is

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all we're going to be talking about when

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we go back to class today.

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No idea that people were getting shot and

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killed and wounded.

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It just did not enter into our minds.

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As we're standing there, I thought, you know

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what, I should call my mom, let her

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know I'm okay.

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So a friend's house backed up to the

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park.

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Get on the cordless phone.

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Call my mom.

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She was a secretary at another elementary school.

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You know, this is a big, big event

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she should answer, right?

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Nope, I get put on hold.

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So I'm sitting there on hold in the

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park and we start to hear gunfire.

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We see that one of the gunmen, didn't

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see which one, was shooting across the street

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into the crowd of students.

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At this point, I drop the phone and

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we start hopping fences, me and another friend,

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to put something in between us and the

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school.

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After about three or four yards running through

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and hopping fences, we figure we're far enough

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away and get back on the main street.

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From there, the adrenaline started to lower a

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little bit, and we're both going home to

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let families know that we're okay.

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It was about one mile from the school

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to my house.

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It was about 25, 30 minutes as all

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of this from start to me arriving back

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at home.

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My brother was at home.

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00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:04,680
He was a senior at the time, and

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00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:06,000
he was on his lunch hour.

278
00:09:06,300 --> 00:09:07,540
So he was worried about me because at

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00:09:07,540 --> 00:09:10,420
this point, it's hit the news and it's

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00:09:10,420 --> 00:09:10,860
a big deal.

281
00:09:10,860 --> 00:09:13,060
My dad was also off work at that

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00:09:13,060 --> 00:09:16,020
time, so they're freaked out.

283
00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:16,980
They can't get a hold of me.

284
00:09:17,060 --> 00:09:18,140
This is before cell phones.

285
00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:20,040
Pagers might have been around, but it wasn't

286
00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:21,140
cool enough to have one of those.

287
00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:25,760
So they're anxiously awaiting the status of how

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00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:26,120
I'm doing.

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00:09:26,660 --> 00:09:27,240
I come in.

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00:09:27,740 --> 00:09:29,960
They're super elated to see me, that I'm

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00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:32,940
okay, and then starts the storytelling.

292
00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:35,900
So this is part of the grieving process

293
00:09:35,900 --> 00:09:38,420
and processing of what took place.

294
00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:41,320
Friends and family were calling to see if

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00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:42,980
I was okay, and, of course, I had

296
00:09:42,980 --> 00:09:45,040
to tell the story, very much like I

297
00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:46,780
did to you just now.

298
00:09:47,900 --> 00:09:51,720
That starts to make it real and give

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00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:55,020
you some perspective on what actually happened to

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00:09:55,020 --> 00:09:57,200
you to start to deal with the tragedy.

301
00:09:58,020 --> 00:09:59,980
From there, that night, nightmares.

302
00:10:00,780 --> 00:10:02,080
For weeks, I had nightmares.

303
00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:05,520
Imagine that, someone chasing you and trying to

304
00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:05,840
kill me.

305
00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,580
As time went on, they got less intense,

306
00:10:09,860 --> 00:10:12,940
less frequent, and started to fade away.

307
00:10:13,540 --> 00:10:15,120
But what about the rest of the grieving?

308
00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:19,320
Although I didn't have any close friends that

309
00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,760
were killed or wounded, there was lots of

310
00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:24,220
community support and memorials for those students that

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00:10:24,220 --> 00:10:24,420
were.

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00:10:24,860 --> 00:10:27,500
I think this was the key area in

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00:10:27,500 --> 00:10:30,480
which we could come as a group of

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00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:32,740
people who had experienced the same thing, share

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00:10:32,740 --> 00:10:35,220
our stories to start to deal with what

316
00:10:35,220 --> 00:10:35,580
happened.

317
00:10:36,140 --> 00:10:37,500
What I realized is that I made it

318
00:10:37,500 --> 00:10:38,480
out pretty good.

319
00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:39,800
I was only in the school for a

320
00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:40,320
couple minutes.

321
00:10:40,780 --> 00:10:41,520
Didn't get wounded.

322
00:10:42,060 --> 00:10:44,580
Got shot at, but that's about it.

323
00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:46,440
I thought that was a big deal to

324
00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:46,580
me.

325
00:10:46,680 --> 00:10:48,020
That's got to be the scariest thing that

326
00:10:48,020 --> 00:10:49,500
happened anywhere in the school that day.

327
00:10:49,980 --> 00:10:52,340
Turns out, my friend Brad, who went to

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00:10:52,340 --> 00:10:54,300
the science room, he was harassed for over

329
00:10:54,300 --> 00:10:56,660
two hours with the shooters shooting through the

330
00:10:56,660 --> 00:10:58,820
door, putting pipe bombs at the door to

331
00:10:58,820 --> 00:11:00,000
try and blow the door down to get

332
00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:00,540
to the students.

333
00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:02,060
The whole time they were trying to barricade

334
00:11:02,060 --> 00:11:03,980
themselves in until SWAT came.

335
00:11:04,380 --> 00:11:07,080
So I made it out relatively pretty easy,

336
00:11:07,500 --> 00:11:09,420
but it took sharing those stories with people

337
00:11:09,420 --> 00:11:11,100
who had been in the same situation to

338
00:11:11,100 --> 00:11:11,980
really understand that.

339
00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:16,720
Unfortunately, when people who weren't there would try

340
00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:19,500
and offer their support, unintentionally they would use

341
00:11:19,500 --> 00:11:22,620
words frequently like, I understand or I can

342
00:11:22,620 --> 00:11:26,020
relate, and those words started to really dig

343
00:11:26,020 --> 00:11:26,320
at me.

344
00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,340
I couldn't accept it because, no, you weren't

345
00:11:29,340 --> 00:11:29,560
there.

346
00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:31,480
You don't know what I'm talking about.

347
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,460
Although they were simply intending to give sympathy

348
00:11:35,460 --> 00:11:38,940
and compassion, I got angry at them because

349
00:11:38,940 --> 00:11:39,560
they can't relate.

350
00:11:41,380 --> 00:11:45,040
After about a couple weeks, the community opened

351
00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:48,200
up, psychologists for everyone to go talk to

352
00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:49,000
and share their story.

353
00:11:49,780 --> 00:11:53,040
Of course, she made me see that they

354
00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:54,000
weren't trying to make me mad.

355
00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,140
They weren't really using those literal words.

356
00:11:56,220 --> 00:11:57,480
They were just trying to show compassion.

357
00:11:58,140 --> 00:11:59,920
So I took that for what it was,

358
00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:02,540
and it was kind of a changing point

359
00:12:02,540 --> 00:12:05,220
for me in getting over what happened and

360
00:12:05,220 --> 00:12:06,080
coming to terms with it.

361
00:12:07,460 --> 00:12:09,540
So what do I still hold with me

362
00:12:09,540 --> 00:12:10,340
today?

363
00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,000
One, the sympathy and compassion for those who

364
00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:19,140
lost brothers, sisters, fathers, and sons, and the

365
00:12:19,140 --> 00:12:21,280
trauma that they're still dealing with today.

366
00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:23,280
The appreciation of life.

367
00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:24,220
I was lucky.

368
00:12:24,460 --> 00:12:25,180
Some others weren't.

369
00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:28,320
And you never know when it's your day.

370
00:12:28,780 --> 00:12:29,560
Now, we're in the military.

371
00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:31,520
We put ourselves in harm's way more than

372
00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:32,960
our civilian counterpart.

373
00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:35,900
But aside from that, you never know when

374
00:12:35,900 --> 00:12:37,860
your loved one, it's going to be the

375
00:12:37,860 --> 00:12:39,300
last time you say I love you or

376
00:12:39,300 --> 00:12:39,640
goodbye.

377
00:12:40,140 --> 00:12:43,000
Car accidents, freak accidents, especially in the military,

378
00:12:43,580 --> 00:12:45,140
you never know when that last moment is.

379
00:12:45,180 --> 00:12:48,240
So cherish it and never leave a conversation

380
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:50,500
on a bad note thinking you'll clean it

381
00:12:50,500 --> 00:12:51,820
up some other day because there may not

382
00:12:51,820 --> 00:12:52,720
be that other day.

383
00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:54,400
So what I learned about myself and how

384
00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:59,240
I deal with extremely stressful yet unanticipated situations

385
00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:02,380
and how to get through those and move

386
00:13:02,380 --> 00:13:05,600
on, which would become a factor in 2011

387
00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:09,240
over combat territory in Libya that I entered

388
00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:10,820
a spin and had to punch out of

389
00:13:10,820 --> 00:13:15,080
my aircraft and evade from enemy forces and

390
00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:16,940
ultimately facilitate my own rescue.

391
00:13:18,060 --> 00:13:20,900
Both those cases, I feel very fortunate to

392
00:13:20,900 --> 00:13:22,440
still be here in order to share my

393
00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:23,060
stories with you.