When the bombs failed, why didn't they try again?

This question may have been asked already on here, but why when the bombs failed, didn't Eric and Dylan just bail? Was it too late to change the course from this point? They could have just took off all their gear and no one would have seen them anyway and they could have then just picked up their duffel bags of bombs they placed and possibly test them again and do it another day?

I'm grateful the bombs didn't explode obviously, as the kill count would have been much higher, but it seems odd to me how they knew the bombs failed and how come at least Eric didn't have an idea that their eventual kill count would be much lower with just guns. It's interesting.

A hypothesis that I've heard discussed on here recently is the possibility that Eric and Dylan didn't think that the bombs would've gone off at the exact time they set them for, so they got into position by the stairs and started shooting right away rather than wait for the bombs to go off first. 

Another likely explanation is that IIRC the school year was going to end in three weeks, so come hell or high water Eric and Dylan were going to kill people no later than that day.

I think they were so set in their ways that were going to kill people that day. The bombs didn't go off, so they decided to just go in shooting anyways. Better to kill few than none is probably along the lines of how they were thinking that day.

By that point they were already too far in and mentally committed to doing it that day. They didn't know if the diversionary bomb had gone off, They didn't know if the ones in the cafeteria would eventually go off, They could have potentially got busted while retrieving the duffels with the bombs (Eric could barely lift his - which may have raised a few eyebrows).

It also seems they held out hope that they could do major damage to the school until the end. We seen them shooting the propane tanks, but didn't they also turn on the gas in a chemistry class and try to blow it up that way aswell? Seems i remember reading that somewhere.

I agree they didn't realize that none of the bombs would go off at all, hindsight is 20/20 after all. Also they had the diversionary bomb go off, the whole thing would have seemed suspicious and there's the risk they could have been found out and had no chance to do this again, it was 4/20/99 all or nothing.

Pretty much what everyone else said here, but remember they also left all their evidence behind for the shooting, tapes, plans, etc. Also, when Dylan left very early that day, his mom and dad suspected something seems to have been bothering him. So if they came back, they may have been under a lot of suspicion, had they called it off, and they probably wouldn't be able to do what they were so dead set on doing due to all the evidence they took out for all to see. If I left very early and left my evidence behind for police, parents, and everyone else to see, I don't think I would ever want to have any confrontations or encounters, if I were to boot myself in their boots and have their exact mindsets and whatnot.

QuestionMark wrote:

A hypothesis that I've heard discussed on here recently is the possibility that Eric and Dylan didn't think that the bombs would've gone off at the exact time they set them for, so they got into position by the stairs and started shooting right away rather than wait for the bombs to go off first.

That is probably mostly my fault. A hypothesis is a nice way to put it. I'm not dogmatic about it, but I do suspect it is the case for a number of reasons like:

1) The usual narrative about "Plan B" is wrong.

2) As far as we know, they never speak of a "Plan B".

3) They couldn't see the cafeteria from their vantage point.

4) Why even start shooting?

5) Why wait only 2 (or 5, depending on who you ask) minutes to move to "Plan B" if they planned this for a year?

6) Why have Dylan enter the cafeteria after descending the stairs to check on the bombs if they had already written them off as duds and moved to "Plan B"?

7) They say several times in the library that everybody there is going to die because they are going to blow up the school.


To expand on 1):
The usual narrative says "plan A" was to shoot from the parking lot, and when the bombs didn't go off they moved to "plan B" and went to the stairs to open fire. The notes made in Eric's planner by Dylan say they would wait near the cars for the bombs to explode, but Dylan's notes on his own paper say they would wait on the stairs for the bombs to explode. No witness supports them waiting by their cars, and it makes plenty of sense to wait on the stairs, where you are elevated, where there is no chance to be hit by glass or anything else from the bombs (see 3)), and where you have the exits in both directions covered rather than just one.

It's still quite possible plan A was to shoot from the stairs with the bombs, and plan B was to shoot from the stairs without the bombs. I have far from ruled that out.  But, given the usual narrative about their noticing the bombs failing incorporates elements I don't think are even true, and given all of the above, I think it's quite possible that too is wrong.  Curiously, it's also often said by supporters of the usual narrative that they were so confident that there was no plan B, i. e. 2).  I feel like my narrative is much more consistent with that idea than theirs is.

Also I don't think 7) is referring to them shooting at the bombs like is seen on the CCTV. They don't go straight to the cafeteria after exiting the library, so there was time to flee, and it seems to me before they exit the library, they have given up on the bombs exploding on their own, but not before they entered. Contrast Dylan telling Evan Todd he's going to let him live and Eric wishing to go to the commons at the end with Eric refusing to shoot Bree because she's gonna die in the explosion anyway towards the beginning. Sounds to me like perhaps Evan's gonna live because by that time they have accepted the bombs won't explode on their own, but Bree is going to die because at that time they thought they would.

And Bree wasn't the only one. They said it several times that the people in the library and the school were going to get blown up, and they surely didn't mean from a tossed pipe bomb. John Savage recalls them saying they would blow up the library when they entered, and thought about getting up and leaving as if they just wanted to blow up the books as some kind of protest. Krabbe recalls them saying it as they reload, and again after tossing a pipe bomb and a kid says something like "don't do that, you'll blow up the library" and Eric responds "yeah, assume as much" and that they're all gonna die. I think it's quite possible they thought the bombs would explode and the pillars give way during the library massacre. I have a hard time explaining what they said any other way. The students mention they entered with confidence and seemed to have no fear about cops entering or anything else. That would explain that too.

Anyway, just to show these questions have racked my brain for years - decades now. OPs question refers to 4). Something to keep in mind is the diversion bombs.  I find it curious how quickly they supposedly moved to "plan B" as I said in 5), but even if they had no fear in moving the cafeteria bombs or could defuse their car bombs, given the diversion bombs, they could not bail, and didn't have all day. More than two minutes though, surely.

ValiantSoldier wrote:

Pretty much what everyone else said here, but remember they also left all their evidence behind for the shooting, tapes, plans, etc. Also, when Dylan left very early that day, his mom and dad suspected something seems to have been bothering him. So if they came back, they may have been under a lot of suspicion, had they called it off, and they probably wouldn't be able to do what they were so dead set on doing due to all the evidence they took out for all to see. If I left very early and left my evidence behind for police, parents, and everyone else to see, I don't think I would ever want to have any confrontations or encounters, if I were to boot myself in their boots and have their exact mindsets and whatnot.

I don't think that was a factor. Dylan only said "bye" and I don't think anybody was at Eric's house yet to find the smelly garage or his journal, etc. If it wasn't for the diversion bombs, and they were Carnac and knew there was no chance of the cafeteria or car bombs going off, they could have quite possibly retrieved the cafeteria bombs and aborted the mission.

W.A.R. wrote:

They didn't know if the diversionary bomb had gone off, They didn't know if the ones in the cafeteria would eventually go off, They could have potentially got busted while retrieving the duffels with the bombs (Eric could barely lift his - which may have raised a few eyebrows).

Plus their car bombs could've gone off and succeeded where the cafeteria bombs had failed.

Am I the only one just thinking about basic firework rules? Never go back to a dud because it might explode.

TheGoodGuy wrote:

Am I the only one just thinking about basic firework rules? Never go back to a dud because it might explode.

Certainly not, since I'm the one who argues they didn't write off the bombs as needing to be shot at until late into the library massacre, and mentioned they would have to be fortune tellers to know the bombs wouldn't go off while they removed them.

But of course, they did go back, twice, and once on video. The second time at least, they seem content to die in the possible explosion. And the first time, when Dylan entered from outside, he didn't go near them or shoot at them, like he thought they'd go off anyway, as they said during the library massacre.