Rachel Scott / Cassie Bernall confusion

Can anyone clear something up for me? In the literature I have been reading (including Dave Cullen's book which seems to be deeply unpopular) there seems to be confusion over an interaction between Cassie Bernall who was asked if she believed in God and was then shot. This sparked an evangelical martyrdom and a book. But some sources claim this was Rachel Scott (including a Christian film trailer I've seen). I don't know if there is any physical evidence of this occurring at all aside from a witness claim. If it did happen, does anyone know more about who was involved or what evidence is available to substantiate these claims? I might just have gotten confused of course and apologies if this has already been discussed previously. Thanks for your help.

Eric Harris said one thing and one thing only to Cassie Bernall and that was "Peek A Boo" as he bent down and shot her in the face with a shotgun, breaking his nose from the kickback of the shotgun.

The girl who was asked if she believed in God was Valeen Schnurr and that was after she was already shot. She told them she did believe in God and then crawled off under a table. After that they left her alone and she survived the shooting.

A rumor that goes around quite a bit is that Rachel Scott was grabbed by her hair by Eric and asked if she believed in God, she told him that he knows she does and so he said to her "then go be with him" and then shot her in the head. I don't believe this actually happened and in the official reports for the case it says there is no proof that this happened and they believe it didn't.

So with Cassie it's 100% that she was not asked if she believed in God. With Rachel, I guess there is no way of actually know for sure but there are no witnesses to it. So you'll have to form your own opinion on that one.

I see, thanks for that. It's amazing how such legends can be produced out of these events. I'm guessing it was partially due to misinformation reported by the media as facts were still unfolding?

studyguy wrote:

I see, thanks for that. It's amazing how such legends can be produced out of these events. I'm guessing it was partially due to misinformation reported by the media as facts were still unfolding?

With this, not so much the media but the witnesses. The fire alarms were ringing, Dylan and Eric were running around screaming and shooting guns. Victims were screaming and crying, so a lot of the people in the Library were confused over who said what to who. And they were all on the floor hiding under tables and chairs so they really couldn't see what was going on. So all it took was one witness to tell the media that Dylan/Eric asked Cassie Bernall if she believed in God and then you got this story going out that isn't really what happened.

In the hours following the shooting, the things the media got wrong were things like how many people were shot/killed. How many rounds of ammo were fired. How many shooters there were because with Dylan and Eric starting the shooting off wearing trench coats and then taking them off, people thought they were seeing more than 2 shooters. Then you got this air conditioner repairman on the roof and people also thought that was another shooter. So all of that stuff caused confusion within the media.

I did a video on this not long ago...


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This is one my pet peeves about the entire massacre. And for some reason, it won't die even though we have proof that this was not said to either girl. As stated, it was Valeenn Schnurr, and if I recall correctly, she vascillated in her answers. It's telling that those who had a conversation with E & D were spared for some reason.

I just wanted to edit to say I wasn't trying to be rude if my response came off that way. I think Valeen has been both humble and noble by not pointing out that it was her interaction and not Cassie or Rachel. She has told her story in the 11k and a few newspaper articles, but has not directed the spotlight to herself.

It was Val who said that famous line about God. I feel like after everyone started thinking Cassie said it, she felt like it would be kind of well low in a way to come out and say, hey that was me, not some other girl who died. So she kind of let it go for awhile until it was brought to light by facts that it really was Val.

Thanks everyone I'm glad you all cleared this up for me, I was getting pretty confused! I get why this is frustrating. I am sorry to say this is presented as a fact in some academic research in order to advance a point about Eric and Dylan having a political motive.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] I saw your video a couple of days ago it was very helpful

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] May I ask what your degree will be in?

Tomb wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] May I ask what your degree will be in?

It will be an MSc in Social Research, thanks for asking

studyguy wrote:

Tomb wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] May I ask what your degree will be in?

It will be an MSc in Social Research, thanks for asking

Oh cool! Have you gotten many responses to your survey? I completed it this morning.

Edited to ask, will you devote time in your career to research mass shootings?

Tomb wrote:

studyguy wrote:

Tomb wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] May I ask what your degree will be in?

It will be an MSc in Social Research, thanks for asking

Oh cool! Have you gotten many responses to your survey? I completed it this morning.

Edited to ask, will you devote time in your career to research mass shootings?

I have about 100 so far which is not statistically significant but it is a higher response rate than I predicted. I hope to, if I can, I am particularly interested in crimes committed by young people and children and the mental health implications of these acts. Thanks for filling out the survey, and for your interest in my project!

studyguy wrote:

Tomb wrote:

studyguy wrote:

Tomb wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] May I ask what your degree will be in?

It will be an MSc in Social Research, thanks for asking

Oh cool! Have you gotten many responses to your survey? I completed it this morning.

Edited to ask, will you devote time in your career to research mass shootings?

I have about 100 so far which is not statistically significant but it is a higher response rate than I predicted. I hope to, if I can, I am particularly interested in crimes committed by young people and children and the mental health implications of these acts. Thanks for filling out the survey, and for your interest in my project!

Did you post this on other forums as well? Or are you interested in Columbine specifically?

Lizpuff wrote:

studyguy wrote:

Tomb wrote:

studyguy wrote:

Tomb wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] May I ask what your degree will be in?

It will be an MSc in Social Research, thanks for asking

Oh cool! Have you gotten many responses to your survey? I completed it this morning.

Edited to ask, will you devote time in your career to research mass shootings?

I have about 100 so far which is not statistically significant but it is a higher response rate than I predicted. I hope to, if I can, I am particularly interested in crimes committed by young people and children and the mental health implications of these acts. Thanks for filling out the survey, and for your interest in my project!

Did you post this on other forums as well?  Or are you interested in Columbine specifically?

I am mainly interested in Columbine, but in the survey I ask if individuals are interested in other mass shootings, in order to compare. I have tried to send it to people on Tumblr which has been interesting...

I'm really jealous! Getting a job doing research into the very things a lot of us devote our time to for free

Funny how when Craig Scott was corrected during his interview with investigators about it being Valeen and not Cassie, he didn't seem to want to accept it (as per the 11k report). I wonder why he was so adamant about it being Cassie.

Also, if Eric had shot Rachel from that close-up, her blood would surely have been on him, on his face, and nobody that saw him mentions seeing blood on his face before he went and broke his own nose. Just a thought.

Yes, as people have said above it was Val not Cassie that had the exchange about believing in God. From what I remember Val and Cassie's parents met sometime after the shooting and it was said that Cassie's parents accepted that she actually didn't say it but the book was already written and about to be released so Val's parents gave them the blessing to just go with it. No exchange happened with Rachel either, she was shot and killed from afar. Eric said "Peek a boo" after banging on the table three times and shot and killed Cassie, and as said above the shotgun kickback broke his nose. Craig Scott was the one who spread the false information. Cassie did pray out loud under the table before she was killed so maybe that is where he based his information off of.