Other Crimes Influenced by Columbine

What other crimes were influenced in someway by Columbine ?

- Virginia Tech shooting .

- Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart .

Anyone knows about others ?

Jokela High in Finland is another.

Dawson College shooting by Kimveer Gill who wrote a letter praising Eric and Dylan and wore a trenchcoat during the shooting.
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Jokela school shooting by Pekka-Eric Auvinen who uploaded videos to youtube about Columbine.
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Seattle Pacific University shooting by Aaron Ybarra who was obsessed with Columbine.
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He was stopped by another student after killing one person and it was caught on video.
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Orange High School shooter Alvaro Castillo killed his father and then wounded students in the school parking lot. He was obsessed with Columbine and even e-mailed Frank DeAngelis before the shooting.
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Robert Bonelli who shot up a mall in New York, wounding two people, was fascinated by Columbine and collected information and "memorabilia" about the massacre.
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Possibly the Red Lake High School shooting by Jeffrey Weise who was a goth kid that wore a trench coat and was often bullied who smiled while shooting people and asked someone if they believed in God which people take as a reference to Columbine
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Christopher Harper Mercer was interested in many past shootings, especially Vester Flanagan who shot a reporter and he uploaded documentaries about Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Columbine online.
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Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza was a member of the Columbine forum that existed at the time and interested in mass shootings in general.
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These are what I've come across over time that I can remember right now.

Edit: There's also Alex Hribal who stabbed about 20 students at Franklin Regional High School. He wrote in a letter that he wanted to be a god like Eric and Dylan. He carried out his attack on Eric's birthday.
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sscc wrote:

Seattle Pacific University shooting by Aaron Ybarra who was obsessed with Columbine.
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He was stopped by another student after killing one person and it was caught on video.
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That's awesome. Massive props to the guy who disarmed the would-be mass shooter. If only more copped the same treatment. Great to hear stories about people who are able to fight back, just like those three guys who bum-rushed the Islamist terrorist on a train in France last year.

sscc wrote:

Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza was a member of the Columbine forum that existed at the time and interested in mass shootings in general.
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Yeah, he knew many little details about Columbine (amongst other mass shootings as you said). I was particularly repulsed when reading one of his old posts that contained a joke about Daniel Mauser being shot in the face. AL was one disturbed POS, as we all know.

sscc wrote:

Dawson College shooting by Kimveer Gill who wrote a letter praising Eric and Dylan and wore a trenchcoat during the shooting.
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Jokela school shooting by Pekka-Eric Auvinen who uploaded videos to youtube about Columbine.
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Seattle Pacific University shooting by Aaron Ybarra who was obsessed with Columbine.
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He was stopped by another student after killing one person and it was caught on video.
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Orange High School shooter Alvaro Castillo killed his father and then wounded students in the school parking lot. He was obsessed with Columbine and even e-mailed Frank DeAngelis before the shooting.
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Robert Bonelli who shot up a mall in New York, wounding two people, was fascinated by Columbine and collected information and "memorabilia" about the massacre.
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Possibly the Red Lake High School shooting by Jeffrey Weise who was a goth kid that wore a trench coat and was often bullied who smiled while shooting people and asked someone if they believed in God which people take as a reference to Columbine
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Christopher Harper Mercer was interested in many past shootings, especially Vester Flanagan who shot a reporter and he uploaded documentaries about Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Columbine online.
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Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza was a member of the Columbine forum that existed at the time and interested in mass shootings in general.
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These are what I've come across over time that I can remember right now.

Edit: There's also Alex Hribal who stabbed about 20 students at Franklin Regional High School. He wrote in a letter that he wanted to be a god like Eric and Dylan. He carried out his attack on Eric's birthday.
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Thanks for the expansive list!

Oh good lord.

I guess we have Eric and Dylan to thank for the legacy they've left in this world. Sarcasm involved btw.

This is disturbing. Unfortunately, people have actually died because of these copycats. Kids look up to  pop stars and desire to look like them, dress like them, have them as their inspiration, these shooters use Columbine to justify their probably ever-growing mental instability which lead to fatal actions. Of course, not everyone are like these people. Just stating that now they have an excuse to why they did these things.

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Lizpuff wrote:

Thanks for the expansive list!

shades wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Thank you for your good work!

No problem. To be honest, I'm sure there are many that I haven't even heard of before. Columbine seems to influence many.

Here's another one.

The Emsdetten school shooting by Sebastian Bosse. I knew the crime was similar to Columbine in that he used homemade bombs and guns, wore a black trenchcoat and sought revenge for mistreatment but I couldn't find a direct reference at first so I left it off the list. I looked at his website rant and he says he is "God-like" so I kept looking and in his journal he says that Eric Harris is a god and it's almost like he's living out Eric's life again.
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Ali David Sonboly (Munich shooter)
Robert Steinhäuser (Erfurt school shooter)
Tim Kretschmer (Winnenden school shooter)
Sabino M. (I don't think he counts, because he didn't kill someone. Probably just wanted to be killed by the police).

vulnerableeyes wrote:

Ali David Sonboly (Munich shooter)
Robert Steinhäuser (Erfurt school shooter)
Tim Kretschmer (Winnenden school shooter)
Sabino M. (I don't think he counts, because he didn't kill someone. Probably just wanted to be killed by the police).

I overlooked Sonboly because I thought he was strictly inspired by Breivik but apparently he studied several different shootings, including Columbine.

As for Tim Kretschmer, I still can't find any direct information that he was inspired by Columbine, only that this was reminiscent of Columbine. Do you remember where you found that information?

Same goes for Sabino M. Do you have the source anymore?

Looking up Steinhäuser in reference to Columbine, I came across two things that are relevant to this thread.

This page has a list of Columbine inspired attacks. Most of these seem to be foiled plots rather than attacks that were successfully carried out.
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And this paper by Larkin details a lot of post-Columbine shootings (and attempts) in the US and in foreign countries and explains whether there were Columbine references or imitation involved.
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I've just remembered this

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admittedly inspired by Columbine.

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Maybe you're right about Tim K. I think I mixed him up with Bosse. I thought his diary was written by Tim K. Also I assumed that all school shooters are inspired by Columbine in some way.

I've found a photo of Sabino M. wearing a replica of Eric Harris' "Natural Selection" shirt. But I think tumblr links aren't allowed here, maybe you can find it by yourself.

All these guys are as pathetic (if not more) than Eric & Dylan.

aquillina wrote:

I guess we have Eric and Dylan to thank for the legacy they've left in this world. Sarcasm involved btw.

aquillina,
If it wasn't them, it would have been someone else . If they hadn't have done what they did, someone was eventually going to as we have seen several even worse shootings since then.
It's a sad reality of the world today.

I'm not sure....let's face it, Eric and Dylan being averagely cute white boys played a part as to Columbine's legacy. The two ordinary best friends and classmates in school we might've known about it, the timing - with the music and video games references, diaries, the whole trenchcoat thing.

If it were somebody else it would have to be the perfect duo. I don't think a lone gunman would have made history... Cho certainly didn't grasp or shift everyone's attention long enough it ended up going back to Columbine because of the inspiration.

PaintItBlack wrote:

aquillina wrote:

I guess we have Eric and Dylan to thank for the legacy they've left in this world. Sarcasm involved btw.

aquillina,
If it wasn't them, it would have been someone else . If they hadn't have done what they did, someone was eventually going to as we have seen several even worse shootings since then.
It's a sad reality of the world today.

i agree , if it wasnt for them i think worse mass shootings perpetrated by domestic individuals would have happen in the usa .

bubbles wrote:

Yeah, he knew many little details about Columbine (amongst other mass shootings as you said). I was particularly repulsed when reading one of his old posts that contained a joke about Daniel Mauser being shot in the face. AL was one disturbed POS, as we all know.

I don't think Adam was making Daniel's death into a joke. He was making a joke of Eric Harris.

The original poster was asking why Dylan didn't wear his glasses all the time and Adam responded:

Smiggles wrote:

Wearing glasses might have provoked Eric into picking on him and shooting him in the face.

I think he was pointing out how ironic it was that Eric was the type of guy to complain about being bullied and then call someone a nerd, make fun of his glasses and shoot him in the face. It kind of echoes the story about Dylan looking worried when Eric found out that he was Jewish. Eric wanted everyone to treat him with respect but he had lots of petty excuses to hate or be cruel to others.

You might disagree but that's my interpretation.

And to add to the topic, Steven Kazmierczak reportedly studied the methods of the Columbine killers (though he seemed to show special interest in the Virginia Tech massacre and admiration for Seung-Hui Cho).

Might also want to add Randy Stair to the list. Vester Flanagan also admired Eric and Dylan along with Cho. Plus there was that kid who shot and killed someone at school only eight days after Columbine happened. I think it happened in Canada.

sscc wrote:

To be honest, I'm sure there are many that I haven't even heard of before. Columbine seems to influence many.

Well it is the most infamous mass shooting in history. There's bound to be a few copycats with that kind of legacy.

I know I'm a little late, but here's a nice document listing the influences of various shooters:
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There's even a neat little flowchart at the end!

STK wrote:

I know I'm a little late, but here's a nice document listing the influences of various shooters:
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There's even a neat little flowchart at the end!

My only problem with this is that Langman missed a few figures as influences; the one that stood out to me the most was neglecting to mention Timothy McVeigh as an influence on Eric and Dylan when both of them made it pretty clear they were hoping to top his bodycount.

And while I'm here, let's add Charles Andrew Williams to the list of Columbine copycats.

vulnerableeyes wrote:

Ali David Sonboly (Munich shooter)

I haven't heard anything about Sonboly being inspired by Columbine except for him being in Steam groups about it that were made as a joke.

sscc wrote:

I overlooked Sonboly because I thought he was strictly inspired by Breivik but apparently he studied several different shootings, including Columbine.

As for Tim Kretschmer, I still can't find any direct information that he was inspired by Columbine, only that this was reminiscent of Columbine. Do you remember where you found that information?

Sonboly apparently visited Winnenden and took pictures of Tim Kretschmer's school and I think he also went to Ansbach and took pictures at a school where Georg R wounded several people with molotov cocktails, an axe and 2 knives. He also heavily admired Tim Kretschmer, such as being friends with a Steam account named after the killer and saying things like "Tim K remains unforgotten".

Kretschmer I think was in a group chat or something similar related to school shootings and (according to Encyclopedia Dramatica) used Eric and Dylan's faces as an avatar or signature in a forum.

InsaneIntruder wrote:

(according to Encyclopedia Dramatica)

I'd be wary of citing ED on anything other than internet drama.

I just remembered one. His interest in murder was not exclusive to Columbine but it was repeatedly reported to be an influence (though I think it's possible that they name Columbine specifically because it is so well-known and because he considered shooting up a school, not because he had a particular interest in the crime).

Trey Sesler, known as "Mr. Anime" on Youtube, murdered his mother, father and his brother (and all of the family's pets) after becoming obsessed with serial killers and mass shootings, including Columbine. He trashed the house and wrote notes expressing remorse on walls and doors after he killed them.

He admitted to police that he wanted to commit a shooting like Columbine and that after killing his family, he sat in the parking lot of a local junior high school with a rifle, considering opening fire. He had also considered an attack at the local high school's homecoming game. His only explanation for why he didn't kill anyone after killing his family was that maybe killing his family was "just too real."







(No, I have no idea why NIN is playing in the background.)

His Youtube channel still exists.
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[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] He created a video of himself firing a Hi-Point Carbine, so that gives some credence to the idea that he was influenced specifically by Columbine.

Caleb Sharpe may of been influcned by Lanza and e/d

"Sharpe “concluded that Eric (Harris) and Dylan (Klebold)” – the perpetrators of the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 – “were stupid because they were ‘overblowing it so much.’ Sharpe said he began to like their plan more and more,” court documents state. “He watched about Sandy Hook and decided these people were not smart, because they killed themselves in the end.”

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and this isnt columbine related but a handful of people who shot up there places of employment where, aware or were supporting of the actions the Edmond post office shooter took

QuestionMark wrote:

InsaneIntruder wrote:

(according to Encyclopedia Dramatica)

I'd be wary of citing ED on anything other than internet drama.

Their Red Lake article is decent.