SWAT snipers
A lot of researchers new to this case believe it's just a myth or a "conspiracy theory" that snipers saw Eric and Dylan commit suicide in the library. Some say there were never any snipers at all. However, there were at least 7 snipers (documented), and we have 4 of their names and visual footage of 3 of them. One admitted to having witnessed the suicides, which formed the basis for the Sanders lawsuit.
Many people believe the "sniper story" is just a reference to the SWAT members who gathered on the roof of the gym carrying MP5s well into the attack. The following still from the news helicopter footage is often used to "debunk" the presence of actual sharpshooters:
SWAT on the roof of Columbine High School's gym
Those aren't the same snipers. There were at least 7 documented sharpshooters positioned on residential rooftops to monitor the school.
// WHO WERE THE SNIPERS?
ROOFTOP SNIPER #1 Dennis Beery (11k, p.8517) stationed on the roof of 6895 Polk Ave. This is the sniper who had a view, admittedly, into the library.
ROOFTOP SNIPER #2 D.K. Hoffman (11k, p.8525) stationed on the roof of 6865 Polk Ave.
ROOFTOP SNIPER #3 Sgt. Shawn Cooper (this is mentioned in the Columbine Debriefing video linked below).
ROOFTOP SNIPER #4 Robert Clark, stationed on a rooftop on W. Fair Drive (11k, p.8600).
According to Randy Brown, when A&E aired a special showing a sniper on the roof facing the school's cafeteria and library, he claimed the house was not any of the above addresses and was likely 6925 Polk Ave. So, he said either there were more rooftop snipers or one got the address wrong or a sniper moved. That is what Mr. Brown speculated. I haven't seen this A&E special (or if I did, it was a long time ago). However, we don't have interviews from these snipers to get clarification.
But, wait, it gets more interesting.
// A SHARPSHOOTER HAD KLEBOLD IN HIS SIGHTS AND WAS TOLD TO STAND DOWN
The original FEMA report, Wanton Violence at Columbine High School, stated that a sharpshooter had Klebold in his sights, asked to take a head shot, and was ordered to stand down. This report was removed from the internet and edited, and that part was taken out before the report was replaced.
We have photos and video footage of 3 different snipers staged on nearby residential rooftops on Polk Ave. – one more to the right of the library/cafeteria area, and one with a DIRECT a line of sight straight into the cafeteria and library above. That is likely the SWAT member who had Klebold in his sights and asked if he could take a head shot and was told to stand down.
If you have this report, you likely have the edited version.
**At the end of this article you'll find a Salon article discussing how the sharpshooter being called off of Klebold was an allegation included in the Sanders lawsuit. It was included in the lawsuit because FEMA published the information.
Most of us OG researchers remember this because we downloaded the report and were shocked to read about the sniper being called off. When we started discussing the matter online, the FEMA report was pulled from the internet. The link no longer worked.
Shortly after, the link worked again, but this time, there was no mention of the SWAT member who was ordered to stand down and not shoot Klebold.
A CRTF member noticed this (I think it was Jane) and this became yet another discussion – that they edited the FEMA report. Oh yeah, it's not a rumor, it really happened. However, if you try to post about this on the main Columbine sub, your post will be rejected for being "misinformation." Because that sub is controlled by Jeffco. You won't find in-depth information about this anywhere else.
Well, it's not misinformation. There was at least one sniper who would have seen Eric and Dylan die if they stayed at their post and didn't close their eyes because they were posted with a direct line of sight into the library.
And that was most likely the sniper who was called off from taking a head shot at Klebold. Here is a video clip showing two of the 7 known snipers.
(VIDEO 1 PLACEHOLDER)
Here's a video of a sniper who may have been the one to have Klebold in his sights. If so, he likely had him in his sights in the cafeteria, but it may have been the library – we just don't know because we don't have any testimony from these sharpshooters.
Here are photos of the snipers on residential rooftops:
Who is the sniper in the last photo with a view into the cafeteria and library above? We don't know. However, I believe this was Dennis Beery.
Patrick Ireland was reportedly rescued at 2:38 p.m., so the sniper with a view into the cafeteria and library would have arrived at their post prior to this time. Beery's testimony matches the right time frame. He was told of the shooting at 11:30 a.m. and as soon as he arrived he was stationed on a rooftop with a view of the library. He also observed the person place the sign in the window ("1 bleeding to death") where Dave Sanders was located (11k, p.8217):
Source: 11k, p.8217
D.K. Hoffman was dispatched with Beery and also took up a position on a rooftop on Polk Ave. (11k, p.8525):
Source: 11k, p.8525
// WHO WERE THE EAST SIDE SNIPERS?
We know one of the snipers positioned on the East side of the school on W. Fair Drive was SWAT member Robert Clark. Clark was positioned on the East side of the school just after 1400 hours (2:00 p.m.) when he arrived (11k,p.8600).
Source: 11k, p.8600
// ADDITIONAL SNIPERS
There was another sniper, Sean Dugan, who positioned himself under a vehicle (11k, p.8694):
Source: 11k, p.8694
// DID A SNIPER WITNESS ERIC & DYLAN DIE?
It's very possible. It hasn't been officially stated which sniper had Klebold in his sights, nor do we know if he had Klebold in his sights in the cafeteria or the library. However, Beery was the sniper who had a view into the library and cafeteria, so if anyone saw them die, it would have been Beery. He was stationed on the rooftop before their reported time of death.
Could the sniper have seen into the library from a low vantage point? Yes. And he admits he had a view into the library in his testimony.
Contrary to how most buildings are constructed, Columbine's library windows were placed really low, so that when students stood near them, the window was at waist-level or below. You can see this in old photos from Columbine yearbooks as well as in the footage of Patrick Ireland being rescued.
// WHY DON'T WE HAVE SHARPSHOOTER TESTIMONY?
The problem is, we have plenty of photos and videos of these snipers, and we have four of their names, but we don't have:
-Testimony from the snipers
-A confirmation of how many snipers there were (can you believe SWAT said they didn't know exactly how many snipers they had?)
-A verification of which house address corresponds with each sniper. Years back, Mr. Brown said he figured this out and would share his maps and diagrams with us, but as usual, he never followed through.
// VIDEO PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF 7 KNOWN SNIPERS
"Bill Ockham" published a video titled "Debriefing of the Columbine Incident" produced by Operational Tactics, Inc. narrated by Lt. Bill Black (RIP – he died of cancer) from the Littleton Police Department. This video has been around for a while, and most OG researchers have seen it.
In this video, you'll hear that there were 7 snipers:
2 on the East side2 on the South side2 on the North sideAt least 1 on the West side, which is where the cafeteria and library were.
The claims about the edited FEMA report are true
If I can get my old hard drive from my laptop I probably have the original report to prove it for those who were not there to witness this as it occurred. And this is not a case of misremembering. We literally read that he was called off on the head shot and were so confused about it and upset. And then someone pointed out that the report was gone from the internet and the link was giving a 404 error, and when the report returned to the internet, it had been altered.
Keep this in mind because this kind of stuff has happened many times and still happens today when they realize they've made mistakes thanks to us researchers talking online and pointing these things out. The cover-up is massive and it is ongoing. It has not stopped.
// MY FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE WITH LE ERASING INFORMATION ONLINE
To show you how they pull information the minute people share/discuss things they didn't realize they should have edited, and how this is still happening today, I'll now share a personal, direct experience with the Colorado Supreme Court erasing information within hours of me publishing it, and after reading this post you'll know why I don't publish much.
On September 13, 2005, the oral arguments were heard in the Harris v. Denver Post lawsuit, which was a lawsuit concerning the basement tapes. This is where the court defied the law and ruled in favor of themselves by declaring the tapes private property rather than criminal justice records. It was shocking because it wasn't in line with the law.
The CO Supreme Court publishes all their oral arguments on their website organized by month. This case's oral arguments were uploaded to their September 2005 page. We all downloaded the .mp3 file and discussed it on CRTF. Suddenly, the court removed the link to the file from the September webpage. However, they never removed the actual file.
Fast forward to something like a year and a half ago, and I published this .mp3 file to YouTube. I checked the court's website for the file, and sure enough, the LINK to the file was missing from the September page still. So, I typed in the full URL to where the file used to be in 2005 (because I had saved it in my files) and it was still there! They hadn't erased the file.
I published the audio to YouTube, and maybe 8-12 hours later, another researcher emailed me asking how I got the file. I linked him to the file directly, and clicked on it myself. The file was now gone. The CO Supreme Court deleted the file 8-12 hours after I published it on YouTube.
I went to their September 2005 oral arguments page and the entire page was gone. Hours after I published the audio file, they went into panic mode and deleted their entire September 2005 oral arguments page and the .mp3 file. I checked back every day for a while to see when they'd restore the page and it took them over a month. Of course, the file stayed deleted. But the rest of September 2005's oral arguments were restored.
//Salon article discussing the sniper being called off the shot on Klebold
Here are some excerpts from an article discussing how the sniper being called off on taking that headshot was included in the Sanders lawsuit. Thanks to Catnip20 from the old CRTF forum. Here's the TL;DR excerpt:
"The Sanders lawsuit contained a host of major new allegations, including claims that a sharpshooter had Dylan Klebold in his sights in the library, but his supervisors wouldn't allow him to act. It also contends the sharpshooter saw Klebold and Eric Harris commit suicide, and thus officers were aware the pair were dead three hours before Sanders died, but failed to rescue him.
Because of confidentiality agreements, Grenier said he was unable to be specific about the identity of the sharpshooter, the item covered up or the witness to it. "It will all come out in discovery," he said.
A sharpshooter witnessed the killers' suicides, the suit claims, and therefore "the Command Defendants knew of their deaths to a virtual certainty by 12:30 p.m. at the latest."
// KEY EXCERPTS:
One day after filing a federal lawsuit against the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, the lead lawyer representing the family of slain Columbine High School teacher Dave Sanders charged the department with a coverup Thursday, alleging that officials have kept details of exactly what went on last April 20 from victims' families and the public. "On at least one particular item, I affirmatively believe they were involved in a coverup," Peter Grenier said. "Absolutely, yes. A human being directly told us that," he said. "A human being affirmatively demonstrated a coverup."
The Sanders lawsuit contained a host of major new allegations, including claims that a sharpshooter had Dylan Klebold in his sights in the library, but his supervisors wouldn't allow him to act. It also contends the sharpshooter saw Klebold and Eric Harris commit suicide, and thus officers were aware the pair were dead three hours before Sanders died, but failed to rescue him.
Because of confidentiality agreements, Grenier said he was unable to be specific about the identity of the sharpshooter, the item covered up or the witness to it. "It will all come out in discovery," he said.
The suit explains that the sheriff's deputy serving as security guard at the school knew both killers, and exchanged fire with them outside the school at the start of the attack. A sharpshooter witnessed the killers' suicides, the suit claims, and therefore "the Command Defendants knew of their deaths to a virtual certainty by 12:30 p.m. at the latest."
Excerpted from:
Columbine "coverup"
Victim's lawyer charges sheriff's department with hiding details of high school massacre.
By Dave Cullen
April 21, 2000