"I've got a pocket full of bullets"... why did NBK stop?

Just something that came to my mind recently.

After their suicides, Eric was found having 18 rounds for him 9mm carbine and 23 rounds for his shotgun. Dylan had 4 rounds for the TEC-9 and 14 rounds for the shotgun. They also had 1 pipe bomb they never used.


Sure, its not an overwhelming amount of ordinance, but I'm surprised they didn't use it all up. Certainly at least the 18 rounds for the carbine could have been used to shoot at cops outside. While his was a swan-off, the Stevens shotgun is supposedy known for havign a decent range as far as shotguns go too.

So, why didn't they? Was there any other reason why they stopped? Was Dylan in scuh a hurry to go?

The boys knew a SWAT team had entered the school. They didn't have any good soft targets left. Their adrenaline was wearing off. They were bored with killing people. The bombs failed. It was over.

Gustopoet2 wrote:

The boys knew a SWAT team had entered the school. They didn't have any good soft targets left. Their adrenaline was wearing off. They were bored with killing people. The bombs failed. It was over.

Probably. But I still am curious why they at least have not fired the last 18 carbine rounds out the window at a cop car or something. Were they really aware a SWAT team was in?If so, were they relaly in such a rush to leave unfired bullets?

If they were just loose rounds that's why. loading a magazine even if it is only 10 shots is time consuming add nervous, adrenaline and broken nose, it just wasn't worth it.

I think they were probably afraid they would be taken alive. I think going to prison was the last thing they wanted. Plus they had already caused a good bit of damage. A couple more bullets wouldn't change much. They probably just wanted to kill themselves while they still had the option

Sabratha wrote:

While his was a swan-off, the Stevens shotgun is supposedy known for havign a decent range as far as shotguns go too.

So, why didn't they? Was there any other reason why they stopped? Was Dylan in scuh a hurry to go?

All smooth barrel 12 gauge shotguns pretty much have the same range and spread, assuming the barrels are the same lengths. I think dylans shotgun barrel was slightly shorter so his had the least amount of range and the most spread

bigj wrote:

Sabratha wrote:

While his was a swan-off, the Stevens shotgun is supposedy known for havign a decent range as far as shotguns go too.

So, why didn't they? Was there any other reason why they stopped? Was Dylan in scuh a hurry to go?

All smooth barrel 12 gauge shotguns pretty much have the same range and spread, assuming the barrels are the same lengths. I think dylans shotgun barrel was slightly shorter so his had the least amount of range and the most spread

Thanks. I'm certainly no firearms expert.

Still, feels weird going out with so much ammo on them, especially since its not like they just ahd a short-range firefight with a SWAT team or anything. Guess they decided a long-range exchange with cops outside was not worth it.
How far were the nearest cops from the library windows anyways?

The last thing they did before they killed themselves was fire a few volleys at the cops. The kids' weapons were pretty worthless. You can see that on the RR video. So they were trying to kill cops right up to the last second. There were three or four helicopters in the air, a tank, two swat teams, and the emergency responders had already started to use a firetruck as cover to approach the school to retrieve wounded kids. The boys felt the noose tightening and there were no soft targets left. They had no weaponry with which to attack hard targets or fight the police en masse.

Judging by the helicopter footage, id say the nearest cop car to the library window was maybe 100 yards tops. You arent going to be hitting much at that distance with a 9mm, which is also ineffective against any police body armor

Shotgun slugs are accurate out to about 100 ish yards for untrained shooters, and pack a pretty hefty punch. But they didnt have any during the shooting that i know of

The reason they killed themselves when they did is because Dylan ran out of clips. He had only one clip left when he died and it had only 3 bullets in it.

Eric had two clips left, but he did not intend to face the SWAT team without Dylan. The shotgun shells were useless at this point because you cannot reload a shotgun with SWAT bearing down on you.

My belief is that Dylan running out signaled the time for the end. I have a suspicion Dylan may have hastened it by dumping as much ammo as he did--he had discarded a 36 and 50 round magazine...

Because his clip jammed on one of them and he was "shaking like a leaf" w/ the other.

Are you trying to suggest Dylan was a reluctant shooter?

Dylan was driving so fast to get to NBK he almost ran into someone. He was whooping it up all through the attack.

I'd say Dylan was enthusiastic about NBK as a whole, but in particular about the suicide. He was heard shouting gleefully: "Today is the day I'm gonna die!". In contrast Eric was shouting: "Who wants to die next?!".

They both wnated to kill and both knew this would end with a suicide, but taht doesn't mean their priorities were the same.

If they didn't know where the SWAT team were, but were aware that they were likely in the building, they were probably freaked out at the thought of being killed by the SWAT team rather than themselves, or worse being taken to jail.

Also, they probably knew that their guns weren't great (especialy TEC-9), and that they had no chance in a shoot out against the cops.