time of suicides

This part always puzzled me about the massacre but why did Eric & Dylan kill themselves so quick? Did they realize that this was a big fail? I could see Eric just saying fuck it, I'm out. I also heard that they likely thought that the SWAT team would enter the school any minute and take them alive, which wasn't an option for them. So, why do you think they killed themselves really quick? Just wanting out or the fear? Thoughts?

ChaotixBoy wrote:

This part always puzzled me about the massacre but why did Eric & Dylan kill themselves so quick? Did they realize that this was a big fail? I could see Eric just saying fuck it, I'm out. I also heard that they likely thought that the SWAT team would enter the school any minute and take them alive, which wasn't an option for them. So, why do you think they killed themselves really quick? Just wanting out or the fear? Thoughts?

I was asking the same thing some time ago (can't remember the thread name, might have been on the old forums).

They were running out of ammo, they gave up on the bombs and no longer found any easy victims (after the library shooting they did not really look very hard for them btw). My question was always - why they didn't shoot more at least at the cops through the windows? They had some ammo, why let it go to waste?

I think someone here has the date of how much ammo and of what type they had. But I vaguely remember that Eric was out of his 9mm ammo, his carbine being the only sensible weapon for a long-range firefight with the cops. Dylan was iirc also almost out of 9mm ammo. Their Shotguns after being sawn-off weren't really of much use in this case and Dylan's TEC-9 was a rather bad gun in general.

This might have made them decide that shooting the cops wasn't worth it.

ChaotixBoy wrote:

This part always puzzled me about the massacre but why did Eric & Dylan kill themselves so quick? Did they realize that this was a big fail? I could see Eric just saying fuck it, I'm out. I also heard that they likely thought that the SWAT team would enter the school any minute and take them alive, which wasn't an option for them. So, why do you think they killed themselves really quick? Just wanting out or the fear? Thoughts?

My vote is boredom

JayT wrote:

ChaotixBoy wrote:

This part always puzzled me about the massacre but why did Eric & Dylan kill themselves so quick? Did they realize that this was a big fail? I could see Eric just saying fuck it, I'm out. I also heard that they likely thought that the SWAT team would enter the school any minute and take them alive, which wasn't an option for them. So, why do you think they killed themselves really quick? Just wanting out or the fear? Thoughts?

My vote is boredom

That's actually a decent explanation.

Eric was both bored and probably also unomfortable and a bit dazed over the broken nose. Dylan was probably spoiling for the suicide.

I always figured Eric killed himself quickly both because he was frustrated/embarrassed over his plan being a failure and being too unsure of whether suicide by cop would work out. Dylan just want to die for a very long time and got his wish.

They had walked around aimlessly for almost 40 min after the lost shot hadn't they? Why stall even more, the shooting must've felt like a lifetime at that point

23september wrote:

They had walked around aimlessly for almost 40 min after the lost shot hadn't they? Why stall even more, the shooting must've felt like a lifetime at that point

Well they tried to detonate the bombs during their walk through the school (presumably trying to blow up the school), and fired a few shots at the police (possibly trying to force a confrontation with them?), so I think they just weren't sure what to do next.

QuestionMark wrote:

23september wrote:

They had walked around aimlessly for almost 40 min after the lost shot hadn't they? Why stall even more, the shooting must've felt like a lifetime at that point

Well they tried to detonate the bombs during their walk through the school (presumably trying to blow up the school), and fired a few shots at the police (possibly trying to force a confrontation with them?), so I think they just weren't sure what to do next.

oh right nvm, meant it more as in in intent to kill someone, at least before the last shooting at the cops in the library. Good point, there wasn't much left for them to do at that point, and the adrenaline had run its course and sleepless nights started catching up to them.