What if they were caught before 4/20?

As it comes to Columbine, one of the main angles is the shame that despite all the red flags they weren't caught - and that they themselves didn't "snap out of it" during that year of planning and preparation.

We have so many examples on how it could have been stopped. Even E/D themselves said in The Basement Tapes how their parents would go through questions such as "if we would only have asked the right questions, if we would only have searched their rooms".

So my question to you is: What would have happened if E/D would have been caught before the shootings?

Scenario A: Caught by their parents. For example, Wayne Harris going into Eric's room and finding guns, bombs and his journal.

Scenario B: Caught by JeffCo. For example, JeffCo actually going through with Browns' report and finding guns, bombs and E's journal in his room.

Would the evidence for planning a mass murder be enough to send E/D to prison for the rest of their lives? Even if not, would their futures still be destroyed as the plan they had would hit the news and ruin their names?

If they were caught by their parents, how do you think their parents would have handled it? Could they have kept it out from JeffCo? Could they have somehow talked E/D out of it? Or would they even as parents be so shocked, scared and disgusted that they would immediatelly call the police?

I think that E/D crossed the Rubicon (the point of no return) when they got their first three guns in January 1999. Having been caught by their parents after that, I don't think they could have just "snap out of it". They were so into it at that point. They would have had to be locked away for years.

Whenever there is news that a boy or two boys were caught for planning "a Columbine-style attack" on their school, I always wonder if they were actually serious or only looking for attention and never really going to do it. I somehow tend to go with the latter.

So, imagine if Columbine would be nothing more than a Rocky Mountain News article from early 1999, headlined "two Columbine High School seniors arrested for planning a bombing on their school" and some court reports after that. Randy and Judy Brown would be talking about how relieved they were that the JeffCo acted to prevent it, Frank De Angelis would be talking about how shocked he was to learn that two of his students were planning something so horrific. Nothing more.

Personally I don't think that the 'red flags' were obvious enough that someone should have noticed them. As it goes they kept the whole thing pretty darn secret. Eric may have said some things that could be considered dubious to someone looking back after the shooting, but its hard to pin down a school shooter on the basis of saying things like 'it doesn't matter anymore' - pretty vague. As for the rooms, yes they would have caught them, but most parents trust their children enough at late teen age that they don't feel the need to search their belongings for shooting gear. Granted, if Eric hadn't gotten away with certain things (like his website/threats on Brooks), they may well have been caught. But I don't think they really put out any obvious red flags either. A combintion of the both, I think, is how they managed to get away with NBK, they were pretty lucky in that sense.

I don't know about police protocol on planning a shooting, but I am sure they would have done time. Had they been caught by their parents, the parents would probably have talked about it together before deciding whether to tell the cops or not. I'm not really sure past that.

Yeah, my point here was not to ask why they weren't caught or try to put blame on anyone (except on JeffCo to some extent).

I mean, yes, they had broke the law with the van incident and their friends knew they hated CHS and were frustrated, but whose mind would go so far as to think they would actually try to bomb down the whole school? That possibility didn't exist - except in the minds of E/D.

E/D were graduating, their parents' and friends' focus was already on time after CHS.

I only want to speculate what would have happened if they were caught. I like to play out different scenarios.

John Denver wrote:

Yeah, my point here was not to ask why they weren't caught or try to put blame on anyone (except on JeffCo to some extent).

I mean, yes, they had broke the law with the van incident and their friends knew they hated CHS and were frustrated, but whose mind would go so far as to think they would actually try to bomb down the whole school? That possibility didn't exist - except in the minds of E/D.

E/D were graduating, their parents' and friends' focus was already on time after CHS.

I only want to speculate what would have happened if they were caught. I like to play out different scenarios.

Yeah I know. I was just going off on a tangent, as it was related to the start of your post.

Dylan's parents would just see it as a fantasy cry for help from Dylan, and not think he is actually planning something, it's just his way of dealing with this hidden depression and stress from school and they were teens once too back in a harsh time so they know, and they'd use that as away to get him the counseling he needs as it would be a major sign that his mind is troubled.

Eric's parents would probably think the same thing and probably blame the movies, games and medication for warping his mind and would probably also think it was just a teenage phase where he was dealing with his anger by creating a fantasy scenario full of destruction. They would also blame Dylan for being a bad influence on him and think Dylan as mentally sick and putting things into Eric's head, as there is noway their son would think these things.

Neither of the two sets of parents would actually think it's real and that their sons could ever do this, as for JeffCo, I believe that they would take it seriously, and there would be much media surrounding them and many court hearing but at the end of the day they would probably not be found guilty and come to the conclusion it was just two troubled youths who were going through a lot and found bouncing back and fourth this fantasy mission to each other was their strange way of dealing with their problems and that it wouldn't actually amount to anything than that, as they both had life plans and futures ahead.

But that depends when they were caught, if it was closer to 4/20, when they had guns and it was more than just violent writings, then they would have been taken and put under the mental health act and gone to a psychiatric clinic where they would be monitored, on suicide watch and given daily therapy and their parents angry and disappointed, but probably still be in denial and believe in their hearts that it was just a phase based on the violent movies they watched and that it wouldn't have really happened. Their sons wouldn't do this, noway!

I think they would get tried and conviceted of illeglaly altering a firearm and making illegal explosives, but that's it. I doubt they would be sucessfully found guilty of planning a homicide.

What would they have done if they got caught and got out let's say summer after graduation when everybody has already graduated.

What would they have done then?

1891 wrote:

What would they have done if they got caught and got out let's say summer after graduation when everybody has already graduated.

What would they have done then?

Depends, what theyw ere caught with? do they still have the guns?

Its not impossible to assume that they would shoot up some other place. Or wait a bit and then shoot up CHS the next year when Dylan is back in town for some reason. There have been cases of people shooting up a school they already graduated or were kicked out from.