The library deaths. In Graphic Detail.

Victim #1 LAUREN TOWNSEND. TABLE 1.

#1 Was found lying on her left side , bent at the waist , head to the north ,feet to the east ,under the northwest corner of the table. She was dressed in a blue top , denim pants and dark boots. Multiple bullet holes were noted in the back of the shirt. Bloodstains associated with the upper two holes were consistent with drainage of blood was present under the left arm. A linear blood drainage stain was present in the rectal area. Bullet holes were present in the right thigh area with surrounding blood drainage stains consistent with the position of the body as found. Transfer bloodstains were present on the lower legs and on the sides and bottom of the boots. These bloodstains were not associated with injuries to the victim. Bloodstains on the carpet indicated that the legs of the victim were moved to the east through wet bloodstains to their position as found. The position of Table 2 and the surrounding chairs were marked on the carpet and then moved to view the body. Additional bullet holes were noted in the front crotch area when the body was moved. LAUREN TOWNSEND WAS AN INNOCENT CHILD. 

Victim #2 KELLY FLEMING. TABLE 2.

#2 Was found lying on the floor in a prone position to the southeast of Table 2. She was dressed in a black shirt , denim pants and black/white tennis shoes. An entry wound consistent with a shotgun discharge was present in the lower left back of the body. The plastic shotgun cup/wad was present in the wound tract. Several associated pellet holes were present adjacent to the main entry wound. Drainage of blood from the wound was minimal and consistent with the position of the body as found. Drainage of blood from the nose/mouth area was consistent with the position of the body as found. No other bloodstains were present on the body. A single shotgun blast entered the lower left back ,traveled straight upward ,and the pellets were contained in the upper left back area. The acute angle of travel through the body indicated that the victim was in a prone or near prone position when shot.

Victim #3 JOHN TOMLIN. TABLE 6.

#3 Was found lying on the floor in a prone position to the southeast of Table 6. He was dressed in a dark T-shirt , denim pants , and white/black tennis shoes. Three projectiles had entered the right side of the head/neck area and exited the left side. Numerous wood fragments and pieces of foam padding were dispersed in the area of the body. Drainage of blood from the right side of the head was consistent with the position of the body as found. A large pool of blood was present on the carpet extending to the west of the victim's head area and under the victim's chest and right arm. The victim's eyeglasses were present under the lower portion of the face. No bloodstains were noted on the pants or shoes of the victim. No impact blood spatter was noted in the area. 
JOHN TOMLIN WAS AN INNOCENT CHILD.


Victim #4 COREY DEPOOTER TABLE 14.

#4 Was found lying on the floor in a prone position to the west of table 14. He was dressed in a grey shirt , denim pants ,and brown leather boots. A large concentrated bloodstain consistent with drainage from the rear of the neck and the upper chest was found under the body. This pooling of blood continued onto the carpet to the west of the body. A large concentrated transfer bloodstain was present on the lower back area of the clothing and body. No wounds were present in this area of the body. A single bullet entered the left arm ,continued through and entered the left chest ,and exited the back of the neck. A second single bullet entered the upper back leaving an atypical entrance hole and lodged in the left chest. A third single bullet entered the back and lodged in the left chest. The bloodstain originated on the exterior of the outer shirt , soaked through the thermal undershirt and onto the skin of the victim. A strap from the victim's backpack was present under the left arm of the victim and the backpack was found to the west of the body. The bottom of the backpack was heavily blood soaked. No corresponding stain was present on the carpet under the position of the backpack as found. A pattern in the pooled blood to the west of the body was consistent with the size and shape of the backpack bottom. The bloodstain patterns were consistent with the backpack initially lying in the pool of blood of the victim ; and then moved to the floor to the west of the body.
COREY DEPOOTER WAS AN INNOCENT CHILD.

Victim #5 DANIEL MAUSER. TABLE 9.

#5 Was lying found lying on his right side under Table 9 in the middle section. He was dressed in a tan shirt , denim pants and black/gray tennis shoes. His right arm extended to the south and the wrist area was positioned on top of the right rear stile of chair 9E. The chair was found lying on its back to the south of the victim. An injury to the fingers of the right hand was and a small pool of blood of dripped blood was found under the position of the hand. A concentrated pool of blood was present under the head ,neck and shoulder area of the victim. Eyeglasses were found under the head of the victin ,partially on the upper face. Chair 9E had a bullet path through the chair , entry in the seat cushion and exit in the front upper wooden rail. Wood fragments were dispersed over the body. A number of wood fragments were embedded into the right forearm of the victim. An injury to the right ear was noted upon repositioning of the body prior to transport. Three projectiles had entered the right side of the head/neck area and exited the left side. Additional injuries to the torso were consistent with shotgun pellets. The fatal injury was a single bullet that entered the nose and exited the back.

Victim #6 MATT KECHTER. TABLE 16.

#6 Was on his back under Table 16 against the north table leg or support. His right leg was extended to the west and his left leg under his right thigh. Possible Burns were seen on his left hand , the center and right side of his gray , long sleeved shirt and two dark areas on his blue jeans. He was wearing white athletic shoes , white socks , and a ball cap with the letter " M ". His head was towards the east. Blood was on his face and the left shoulder of his shirt. A hole was in the left front shoulder of the shirt. His right hand held some type of writing instrument. KECHTER suffered a gunshot wound to the chest ,with a left -to- right trajectory with possible wadding in the right lung. He also suffered burning from an unknown incendiary ( explosive or flammable ) device.
 
Victim #7 ISAIAH SHOELS. TABLE 16.

#7 A black male ,was to the south of ,and slightly under , KECHTER. He was generally facedown with the left side of his chest slightly above the floor. His legs were extended generally to the west. SHOELS head was towards the west. He suffered a gunshot wound perforating the left arm ,entering the left chest ,and exiting below the right armpit. Two pieces of wadding were found in the right arm of his shirt and a possible shotgun slug between his two shirts.

Victim #8 STEVEN CURNOW. FLOOR LEG AREA OF COMPUTER STATION NUMBER LMC 17.

#8 A white male , was seated on the floor leg area of computer station number LMC 17. This station was at the west end of the south side of the south row of computer stations. His back was against the west panel with his right leg partially bent under his left leg , which was also partially bent. His arms were crossed at the wrists and in his lap. He was wearing a short sleeve blue shirt , blue jeans ,white socks and brown and black boots. He suffered a tangential wound to his right shoulder and a perforating wound entering on the right side of the neck and exiting on the left. 

Victim #9. CASSIE BERNALL. TABLE 19.

#9 A white female was found under Table 19. Her shoulders were against the west side of the table ,her head tilted to the north ,and her legs extended to the east. She was wearing a green short sleeve shirt over a black shirt ,light blue jeans ,white socks and black boots. She suffered a defensive wound to the right middle finger. There was blood on the right side of her face , her right hand ,and the right and center portions of her clothing. An apparent contact or near contact wound was visible on the back of the right hand. Another wound was visible on the right side of the head.

Victim #10 KYLE VASQUEZ. NORTH BANK OF COMPUTER STATION 7.

#10 A white or Hispanic male was on the floor in front of the south side of the north bank of computer station 7. He was on his right side , head facing southwest ,with his left leg extended south and bent at the hip and his right leg bent under the left. His left arm was under him and his right arm partially under his head. He was wearing a blue and green coat over a white shirt ,black pants and black athletic shoes. Three pellets had entered his right shoulder and exited the lower back. He had a head wound with seven holes and a shot cup in his head.

Body #11. DYLAN KLEBOLD.

#11 A white male ,was on his back with his head pointing east. His legs were bent at the hip with his knees towards the north and his lower legs pointing west. His left arm was across his stomach with a fingerless black glove on his left hand. His right arm was extended by his side and his right hand was around the grip of the TEC-9 pistol. Gray tape , holding two match strikers to the inside of the forearm ,was around his right wrist. He was wearing a black T-shirt with the word " Wrath " in red on the front ,black cargo pants , black boots and white socks. A large knife was on the left side of his belt. His face was bloodstained and a pool of blood was on the carpet under his head. Ammunition on his body included 14 rounds of 2 3/4". Federal shotgun shells in an ammunition belt around his waist ;in a bandoleer were 19 rounds of Federal 00 buck shells ;numerous live shotgun shells in a pouch in a pants pocket. There was a near contact wound to the left temple with a corresponding exit wound through the right temple. He also aspirated blood. He could have been capable of some involuntary movement. A pool of blood on the carpet to the north ,east and south of KLEBOLD'S(#11) head ,as well as to the west under his left shoulder. There was a bloodstain on the area on the back of his left arm above the elbow that was not consistent with being formed with the arm in the position found. In addition , some of the blood flows on the face were also formed with the head in a position other than found. These flows were consistent with KLEBOLD's head resting on the right side of the face to allow the blood flow on the left side out of the wound. There were bloodstains on his right bicep and left center portion of the neck. The underside of the bill of the ball cap to the north of KLEBOLD appeared to be blood-soaked. This cap was in close proximity to the bloodstained area of the left knee of the pants worn by HARRIS.

Body #11. ERIC HARRIS.

A white male was to the north of KLEBOLD. The upper back was leaning against the bottom shelf of the west side of Row 6 with his head pointed south. His skull was open at the top and the shelves behind ( to the east ) of him and the ceiling above him and the carpet below him were bloodstained. The heaviest areas of blood staining above the floor level were on the bookshelves to the east ( which his body was resting against ) were in line with his waist and legs and above his body. The stains on the ceiling and shelves were consistent with HARRIS receiving the gunshot wound to the head while he was in a seated position. At least two indentations were found on the underside of the metal shelves above and slightly north of the position of HARRIS hips and legs. The physical evidence was consistent with HARRIS' torso generally facing west with his buttocks on or near the floor and his back near or resting against the west end of bookshelf Row 6. His head and upper torso moved to the south or left. His arms were by his chest with his forearms and hands angled up towards his face. He had a fingerless black glove on his right hand , which was next to a green pouch with shot shells. His legs were somewhat extended to the west. He was wearing a white T-shirt , black pants with a green ammunition belt , black boot and a knife strapped to his right leg. He had an ammunition pouch in his left cargo pants pocket. That pouch contained 10 rounds of Winchester 12 gauge shotgun shells ,each shell labeled as containing 15 pellets of 00 buck. Two single-column magazines with 9 mm rounds were in a pants pocket. A black ball cap with the letter "B" was between HARRIS's left leg and KLEBOLD's head. HARRIS had a shotgun wound to his head with the muzzle in his mouth. Bleeding was observed through his nose. At this time skull fragments from HARRIS ,some with circular holes through them were collected. When the body of HARRIS was being moved into the body bag , a mass of blood fell out of the open skull and landed on the carpet where KLEBOLD's body had been.

I wonder why Lauren was first? Also should H/K be separate? Good detailed summary nontheless!

Hi Moseley , i think Lauren was first because she was at the table closest to the library's main entrance. The library is split into 3 sections ,the book shelves separate each section. If you imagine that you are in the library with your back to the main desk and facing the inner library ,to the left is the main entrance and to the right are the windows facing the parking lot. The left section has 6 tables ,the middle has 8 and the right has 6. I think the investigators work their way around the library starting with the victims that were closest to the entrance and Lauren was the closest at table 2 ,followed by Kelly Fleming.

I realized that Eric couldn't have been sat down as he killed himself. How does a shotgun fall under a leg resting on the floor? After looking deeper into the report regarding the most likely scenario ,squatting down may have been Eric's suicide position. Bottom near the floor , not on the floor.

rik75 wrote:

I realized that Eric couldn't have been sat down as he killed himself. How does a shotgun fall under a leg resting on the floor? After looking deeper into the report regarding the most likely scenario ,squatting down may have been Eric's suicide position. Bottom near the floor , not on the floor.

Actually, I believe Eric was sitting down, up against the bookshelf. His knees bent up towards his chest. After he died, his legs dropped. You know, because his body lost all muscle control? And his leg then dropped on top of the gun.

Jenn wrote:

rik75 wrote:

I realized that Eric couldn't have been sat down as he killed himself. How does a shotgun fall under a leg resting on the floor? After looking deeper into the report regarding the most likely scenario ,squatting down may have been Eric's suicide position. Bottom near the floor , not on the floor.

Actually, I believe Eric was sitting down, up against the bookshelf. His knees bent up towards his chest. After he died, his legs dropped. You know, because his body lost all muscle control? And his leg then dropped on top of the gun.

i see what you mean. I am looking at the pic right now. I guess the recoil and gravity could have flung it to the floor.

Another horrible thing was that Lauren got the worst out of everyone, both H/K shot her a couple of times and her positioning whilst dead is devastating.

Moseley wrote:

Another horrible thing was that Lauren got the worst out of everyone, both H/K shot her a couple of times and her positioning whilst dead is devastating.

Yes it was horrible and disgusting and f-fin EVIL.

I am going to come to the conclusion, based on that avaliable information on H/K that:

1.Harris killed himself first; by a few seconds. To my best analysis, this dismisses any theory that Harris killed Klebold.
2.Harris was sitting up against the bookshelf, with his knees bent folded up, his upper body/head crowtched forward-down, the shotgun underside upward with the butt-handle pointing outward allowing an easier grip. I believe the shotgun bottom half was resting on the floor.
3.After the fatal shot, the gun fell foward as Harris' knees jerked down.
4.Harris upper body launched backwards, hitting the shelf, then slid downward to his left.

Klebold:
1.Kneeled on his knees, facing the dead-for-seconds Harris
2.Some believe Klebold may have taken off his B-cap just seconds prior to his suicide but after reading that description that his cap was also drenched in blood, seems unlikely.
3.BANG! acorss the left temple. Klebold falls foward onto Harris' left leg, that has already been extended after his suicide, thus proving that Harris died first.
4.Judging by the little blood on Harris' left leg, and the massive pool surrounding Klebolds head, I assume that almost immediately after Klebold fell foward, most have jerked up involuntary to his right, (left of Harris) seconds after. This to me proves so because of the ammount of blood arround Klebold's head as shown in the photos suggests his head bled out on that area alone the most.

didn't they say that the coroners moved the bodies prior to taking pictures? and I also heard someone thought they heard Dylan choking on his own blood.

Reb wrote:

didn't they say that the coroners moved the bodies prior to taking pictures? and I also heard someone thought they heard Dylan choking on his own blood.

Patrick Ireland heard coughing. SWAT moved their bodies ( very slightly ) to check for explosives and signs of life.

So did they both face each other and try to shoot themselves at the same time? Anyone know if they have surveillance footage from the Library?

ArleneSanders wrote:

So did they both face each other and try to shoot themselves at the same time? Anyone know if they have surveillance footage from the Library?

There is no surveillance footage of the Library (only the 911 call). And the evidence basically proves that Eric shot himself and died first.

rik75 wrote:

Reb wrote:

didn't they say that the coroners moved the bodies prior to taking pictures? and I also heard someone thought they heard Dylan choking on his own blood.

Patrick Ireland heard coughing. SWAT moved their bodies ( very slightly ) to check for explosives and signs of life.

What about Matt Kechter? Could it have been him coughing? Reading the description about his injuries, I was just wondering about this. The bullet went through his chest.

I didn't know John wore glasses.

Greetje wrote:

What about Matt Kechter? Could it have been him coughing? Reading the description about his injuries, I was just wondering about this. The bullet went through his chest.

To me, the most likely event is that no one coughed at all.

Why was the tec9 in Dylan's right hand if he was left-handed?

lorens wrote:

Greetje wrote:

What about Matt Kechter? Could it have been him coughing? Reading the description about his injuries, I was just wondering about this. The bullet went through his chest.

To me, the most likely event is that no one coughed at all.

Patrick Ireland reported that when he awakened (after he had passed out) his ears were ringing and he remembered hearing what he thought was a coughing sound. Ireland stated he believed the sound came from a male due to the fact "the voice sounded deeper." He said he was confident the sound was coming from the East of the library. pg(42)
Please correct me if i'm wrong but many of the library witnesses/ injured had already fled the library before E/D had returned, from memory the only other victim who was still alive and near Ireland was Liza Kruetz. It is possible the cough could have come from someone else who was still hiding in the library but not in the Ireland's immediate vicinity.
The only way the coughing could have been Kechter is if he was alive for a period of time after he had been shot, which would cause all kinds of problems.
Obviously we don't know for sure and can only base assumptions on evidence. It's just interesting that Patrick reports a male coughing and he was close to Dylan when he committed suicide. We know from Dylan's autopsy that there was aspired blood in his lungs, which could indicate he may have taken a breath after he had shot himself. I know it has been suggested before that perhaps the final shots from E/D may have woke Patrick Ireland which is when he may have heard Dylan coughing, but we don't know this for sure.

But as lorens mentions it could be possible there was no coughing at all. Patrick may have imagined hearing someone cough, he had been shot and admittedly had been falling in and out of consciousness. Perhaps the trauma of the whole situation caused him to hear something that wasn't real.

lorens wrote:

Greetje wrote:

What about Matt Kechter? Could it have been him coughing? Reading the description about his injuries, I was just wondering about this. The bullet went through his chest.

To me, the most likely event is that no one coughed at all.

Coughing is an involuntary reflex, even if you're unconscious. Since it was discovered he aspirated on his own blood a little, it's conclusive Dylan didn't instantly die like Eric did, and he could have been coughing on his own blood. Though it could of been anyone that didn't die instantly, too. Or like it was pointed out, Patrick may of been imagining it since he was very badly injured.

bhb82 wrote:

lorens wrote:

Greetje wrote:

What about Matt Kechter? Could it have been him coughing? Reading the description about his injuries, I was just wondering about this. The bullet went through his chest.

To me, the most likely event is that no one coughed at all.

Coughing is an involuntary reflex, even if you're unconscious. Since it was discovered he aspirated on his own blood a little, it's conclusive Dylan didn't instantly die like Eric did, and he could have been coughing on his own blood. Though it could of been anyone that didn't die instantly, too. Or like it was pointed out, Patrick may of been imagining it since he was very badly injured.

Not necessarily imagined. He may have mistaken an actual sound for a cough. I would find it strange anyway that Ireland, though close to the location where Klebold and Harris committed suicide (he seemingly tried to move from under the table only a little later), would have been able to hear those which, if Klebold ever emitted them, were likely not distinct coughs but more like involuntary regurgitates, while the alarm was supposedly blaring loud and Ireland's ears were ringing, meaning that he was likely partially deafened, by the bullet he himself had taken or by something else.

As others have pointed out, if someone did cough it could also have been Kechter, given that the timing of Ireland's recollection is fuzzy and the event may also have occured a few minutes after the other students had fled - but it seems quite unlikely to me; even if Craig Scott did mention that both Kechter and Shoels didn't die immediately and even if he was likely deeply shocked, the most likely option to me is that he would have tried to take them out with the others if they were still alive when he escaped.

I safely exclude the possibility that someone else in the library was coughing: apart from the fact that Ireland located the source of the coughs in his section of the library, the other people in the library area (Lisa Kreutz, Patti Nielson and the other three teachers) were too far away to be heard and were also trying to make as less noise as possible.

It might be insightful to view footage of an actual suicide.

A left-handed man sitting in a chair (at a police station) pulls out a gun and shoots himself in the left temple:
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He pulls the trigger at the 0:55 mark.

Apparently it's real:
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It is extremely gruesome, but it is helpful to sustain the point that the gunshot, and much more the cough (if there ever has been one), weren't likely so loud as we imagine to Patrick Ireland's ears. Nevertheless, some witnesses report to have been temporarily deafened by the shots' noise in the library.
Was that what you meant by helpful, LPorter?