Did Eric and Dylan still think the bombs would be going off?

In the library there are some accounts by survivors that Eric and Dylan mentioned the bombs blowing the entire school up, and it got me thinking that maybe they went into the library to pass some time while they waited(or hoped)for their bombs to explode, and when they got bored they went to check on them personally.

Problem with this theory is that while waiting it probably would have blown them up if they were in the library at the time, but they probably didn't care.

Eric supposedly spared Bree, saying "Nah, we're gonna blow up the school" when Dylan told him to shoot her.

With that in mind, either Eric thought/hoped the bombs would explode, or he spared her. Or, maybe he knew the bombs failed completely and was just going to try shooting at them to blow them up, which is what he did. Either way the sparing of Bree to "blow the school up" made me ask these questions.

What are your thoughts on this?

I think when they were first in the library they planned to still blow the bombs. I think that when they went back to the cafeteria to check the bombs they fully expected to be able to get them to blow. They then realized that wasn't going to happen and took off.

There are four kinds of references to blowing up the bombs in the 11k.

The first is Eric or Dylan saying this when they first walk into the library (26, 62). Most say this is right after they said "Get up!" John Savage, who is the best witness to Dylan of this, says he heard Dylan say it (567). That is pretty definitive to me.

The second is in the middle of the shooting, like Ruegsegger apparently saying she heard it after she was shot (126). Schnurr places them saying it at the northwest tables and Lapp seems to as well (136, 480). Peter Ball hears them saying it to John Savage (276). Parker (510) has them saying it to John Savage by way of warning him away. Patti Nielsen hears Eric say it after Dylan looks at her and so does Heather Jacobson (299, 429). Someone else seems to corroborate this (408).

Pasquale says he said it to her (531) as part of a general promise to kill everyone and a way of explaining to Dylan why he wasn't going to shoot her.

Interestingly one witness hears them say "You all better get up and leave, we're going to blow up the library" (619) and law enforcement challenges him on whether he actually heard this.

The third is one of them saying it as they are leaving the library. Kirkland (460) says he heard them say it right before they left. Amanda heard it right before they left (594).

It is interesting to me, from all those quotations, that Eric apparently used the bomb as an excuse not to shoot someone.

You have to wonder whether he really did somehow want to blow her up instead or if he was using it as an excuse for some other reason.

It must have been terrible being told you were going to be spared temporarily, and waiting to be blown up after just avoiding being killed with a gun.

Does anyone know how much ammo they had on them after they committed suicide? I was wondering if they were running low on ammo...

Squid wrote:

Does anyone know how much ammo they had on them after they committed suicide? I was wondering if they were running low on ammo...

Eric had two clips, one with 10 rounds of 9mm bullets and the other with 8. He had 14 shotgun shells. Dylan had three 9mm rounds left and 14 shotgun shells.

You cannot fight off a SWAT team with shotgun shells because they take time to reload, so they were basically out.

Throughout the massacre Dylan discarded more ammunition than he fired. Dylan left 34 rounds in his car in the parking lot. He left a 50-round magazine outside with 40 rounds in it. He dropped another 7 shotgun shells near the entrance to the library.

That's 83 bullets discarded to the 67 he fired. Makes you question the idea that he was gung-ho about this.

"Dylan left 34 rounds in his car in the parking lot." - Well they were planning on shooting people from the parking lot. Prob forgot about it.
"He left a 50-round magazine outside with 40 rounds in it." - prob dropped it he seems like the clumsy type with his gangly limbs. Or could it have jammed? I don't know much about guns maybe he loaded it wrong since he had to do it with his less dominant hand.
"He dropped another 7 shotgun shells near the entrance to the library." - hehe I can see him being nervous but excited too while reloading.
Thanks.

Wondering what all your opinions are on this thought....was Eric's exchange of gunfire with the sheriff his attempt to end his part of the attack? Maybe he was trying to get hit by a bullet because his plan that he worked so diligently on for quite sometime, went wrong and they switched their mindset of "okay....I guess we have to kill each one now". Maybe Eric didn't want to, maybe he changed his mind or only wanted to see the school blow-up? I know, crazy way of thinking but I try to think outside the box sometimes!

TaylorsMom wrote:

Wondering what all your opinions are on this thought....was Eric's exchange of gunfire with the sheriff his attempt to end his part of the attack?  Maybe he was trying to get hit by a bullet because his plan that he worked so diligently on for quite sometime, went wrong and they switched their mindset of "okay....I guess we have to kill each one now". Maybe Eric didn't want to, maybe he changed his mind or only wanted to see the school blow-up?  I know, crazy way of thinking but I try to think outside the box sometimes!

Do you mean when he was shooting out of the library windows just prior to the suicide? I think Eric did dream of suicide by cop and I think that he really didn't want to have to shoot himself. The cops didn't storm the school though so he pretty much had no options at that point other than to be taken into custody, kill himself or have Dylan kill him. I think that is why the suicide happened so quickly. He didn't want to think about it. He just sat down and did it. Dylan took time to light one more bomb and take off his jewelry.

TaylorsMom wrote:

Wondering what all your opinions are on this thought....was Eric's exchange of gunfire with the sheriff his attempt to end his part of the attack?  Maybe he was trying to get hit by a bullet because his plan that he worked so diligently on for quite sometime, went wrong and they switched their mindset of "okay....I guess we have to kill each one now". Maybe Eric didn't want to, maybe he changed his mind or only wanted to see the school blow-up?  I know, crazy way of thinking but I try to think outside the box sometimes!

I've wondered about this too.  Considering how Eric wrote about not caring if he died while having a shoot out with the cops, I don't understand why he didn't just walk right up to the window or walk outside and have a "real" shoot out.  (Not that I would have wanted him to harm more people....I'm just saying I don't understand why he didn't do what he really wanted to do) But yeah.....I think it was sort of an attempt to get hit by a cop's bullet.....then  he decided he'd rather just do it his way.  I wonder who decided it was time for them to kill themselves.....Eric or Dylan?

A shootout with the cops was one of his fantasies and I think he went back to the library because he knew it would be the best place to live that. I think he was trying to enact the final part of the plan, so to speak.

Was the gunfire between Eric outside the west entrance door and Neil Gardener for real or rumor? I was speaking of that incident but you all bring up an excellent point about the library window shootings too!

TaylorsMom wrote:

Was the gunfire between Eric outside the west entrance door and Neil Gardener for real or rumor?  I was speaking of that incident but you all bring up an excellent point about the library window shootings too!

That was real. And Gardener really did think he hit Eric at the time.

Freezingmoon wrote:

TaylorsMom wrote:

Wondering what all your opinions are on this thought....was Eric's exchange of gunfire with the sheriff his attempt to end his part of the attack?  Maybe he was trying to get hit by a bullet because his plan that he worked so diligently on for quite sometime, went wrong and they switched their mindset of "okay....I guess we have to kill each one now". Maybe Eric didn't want to, maybe he changed his mind or only wanted to see the school blow-up?  I know, crazy way of thinking but I try to think outside the box sometimes!

I've wondered about this too.  Considering how Eric wrote about not caring if he died while having a shoot out with the cops, I don't understand why he didn't just walk right up to the window or walk outside and have a "real" shoot out.  (Not that I would have wanted him to harm more people....I'm just saying I don't understand why he didn't do what he really wanted to do) But yeah.....I think it was sort of an attempt to get hit by a cop's bullet.....then  he decided he'd rather just do it his way.  I wonder who decided it was time for them to kill themselves.....Eric or Dylan?

A shoot out with the cops would not guarantee their deaths. They did not plan on coming out of this alive and if it were the cops that would have taken them down, they could have shot them in places that wouldn't have killed them, such as their arms, legs, shoulders. And if they shot them and they were still alive, well then they have to have an ambulance come and treat them just like they would for anyone else. They couldn't just shoot them and let them die. And with a shooting like this, they'd rather have the shooter/shooters come out of it alive because then they can question them to try and get answers out of them.

And with Neil Gardner, he did think he had shot Eric but he was not wearing his eye glasses so he couldn't see that well. Why a cop would go to work without wearing his eye glasses or contact lenses is beyond me.

lasttrain wrote:

A shootout with the cops was one of his fantasies and I think he went back to the library because he knew it would be the best place to live that.  I think he was trying to enact the final part of the plan, so to speak.

"Poor Dylan" formulated the plans so perhaps it was his sick fantasy? He did say "we're going to get revenge for the January incident" after all.

Ivan wrote:

lasttrain wrote:

A shootout with the cops was one of his fantasies and I think he went back to the library because he knew it would be the best place to live that.  I think he was trying to enact the final part of the plan, so to speak.

"Poor Dylan" formulated the plans so perhaps it was his sick fantasy? He did say "we're going to get revenge for the January incident" after all.

I was referring to Eric's statements that he "could get shot by a cop after only killing a single person" and that he would be "one tired mother-fucker come Monday, then BOOM! I'll get shot and die."

No; I think ultimately, Mr.Klebold didn't care about the bombs and Mr. Harris wished for the (cafeteria) bombs to go off to fulfill a fantasy but self-sabotaged them by putting little effort into them.