How do the boys' suicide photos make you feel?

Just wondering what emotions you experience, and what thoughts enter your mind, when you look at them.

Personally the photos make me very sad. When I look at them (which is rare) or think about them, I start thinking about Eric's journal entries, about him being picked on, how nobody invites him to hang out or do stuff, and how he rips on people who look like him just because he hates himself. I think about Dylan's interview where he talks about possibly getting a scholarship, shakes the interviewer's hand and gives this big smile. I've cried before while looking at the photos, and I'm a super unemotional person in general. Something about that photo makes the magnitude of the shooting hit me all at once.

It makes me sad. It really heartens me that they died amongst the people that they killed. I certainly have never thought of them as any kind of bad asses or heroes but it really just hits home how young they were. It makes me sad because their parents had to see it. And I kind of get Danny Rs father felt the need to release the picture and he had to see his son dead in the paper so he more than likely wasn’t giving a shit what Eric and Dylan‘s parents thought.

I know in one way they were murderers so what right do they have to any privacy but I’m not thinking of them I am thinking of the people that loved them. I also don’t think it did what the media wanted it to do. It elicited way more sympathy. Much like when they released their student films instead of the basement tapes. It showed 2 goofy boys with their friends making videos. The two of them could barely keep a straight face sometimes they were so much fun l. That also makes some of them incredibly scary because they were planning on killing their friends. I mean not directly but they knew there was a good chance they would die

I can agree that it makes me very sad looking at the photos knowing what happened that day. They were very young and caused such an absolute tragedy. The photos elicit sympathy from me as someone who has struggled with depression. Both of the boys struggled very hard with depression. I think about that when I see the photos, and I think about where that struggle lead them. It's not really a photo I like to view because of the emotions it does elicit from me. The gore doesn't get to me. I've been around the internet too much for that. Seeing both of them laying there, just teen aged boys, among the carnage they caused gets to me.

Ever since I saw them, now whenever I research Columbine or watch a documentary about it or watch a video of Eric and Dylan it makes me think of the picture, and I think to myself “wow, that’s how they end up”

I hope don’t come across as cold hearted, but when I see the picture I don’t feel anything. When I do feel sadness is when I see other pictures of them. They were alive and youthful and had nothing but the future ahead of them. (Until the moment they agreed to destroy it all).

It puts into context how much pain and mystery their lives must of been consumed by for everything to culminate with suicides in their school's library.

It's a shame people didn't act on certain things before hand, but as we all know hindsight is 20/20.

slippy123 wrote:

It puts into context how much pain and mystery their lives must of been consumed by for everything to culminate with suicides in their school's library.

It's a shame people didn't act on certain things before hand, but as we all know hindsight is 20/20.

They very well could’ve left the school and got killed by the police. I know it probably was strategic because they went back to the library to shoot at the cops but there’s just something so eerie about them killing themselves in the library.

I read that the first responders I think told Lisa to keep her eyes closed. Patrick I imagine saw something but he was probably too out of it. I think Lisa might have been too far to see Eric and Dylans bodies but she saw Laurens

a picture like that puts into perspective what they were thinking and how they were feeling. The both of them trusted each other to the point they were able to carry out a massacre, still their friendship couldn't mend their emotional wounds. Makes you wonder to which extent they were feeling helpless and beyond repair

I am asking this question earnestly. Has there ever been a mutual murder suicide case like this? Like two people that say OK we’re going to commit a crime then we’re killing ourselves after? I think this is one of the biggest reasons I am so so interested in the case address all these years. I find that very fascinating

I can't see much of Eric, but Dylan suddenly looks really small and tiny. It just underlines they were kids, nothing but a bunch of kids. Dylan's facial expression seems kinda calm and almost slightly amused. Like, 'whoa, it all really is just a joke after all!'

Even after he was cleaned up Sue and even Byron mentioned that the look on his face was so different it didn’t even look like Dylan. It was almost looking at a different person

Screamingophelia wrote:

I am asking this question earnestly. Has there ever been a mutual murder suicide case like this? Like two people that say OK we’re going to commit a crime then we’re killing ourselves after? I think this is one of the biggest reasons I am so so interested in the case address all these years. I find that very fascinating

I think the majority of school shooters have been lone wolf types. Really most mass shooters have been lone wolves. There was that school shooting recently where only one student died that was perpetrated by two students- can't think of the name of the school right now. That's all that comes to mind immediately. I can agree that's what makes Columbine very interesting. Dylan and Eric a somewhat successful duo who then committed suicide together.

Screamingophelia wrote:

I am asking this question earnestly. Has there ever been a mutual murder suicide case like this? Like two people that say OK we’re going to commit a crime then we’re killing ourselves after? I think this is one of the biggest reasons I am so so interested in the case address all these years. I find that very fascinating

The Suzano massacre in Sao Paulo. They were heavily influenced by Columbine.
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Two Japanese men who killed 11 members of a family because one of the men had  conflicts with 2 brothers in that family.
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Several members of crime duos killed themselves following apprehension or conviction, but these were the only two cases I found where the perpetrators committed suicide together.

thelmar wrote:

Screamingophelia wrote:

I am asking this question earnestly. Has there ever been a mutual murder suicide case like this? Like two people that say OK we’re going to commit a crime then we’re killing ourselves after? I think this is one of the biggest reasons I am so so interested in the case address all these years. I find that very fascinating

The Suzano massacre in Sao Paulo. They were heavily influenced by Columbine.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Two Japanese men who killed 11 members of a family because one of the men had  conflicts with 2 brothers in that family.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Several members of crime duos killed themselves following apprehension or conviction, but these were the only two cases I found where the perpetrators committed suicide together.

Very interesting, thank you for sharing!

Yes, thanks for sharing. I had not heard of either of those cases. The Suzano massacre is interesting that the 17 year old carried out the murder suicide of him and his accomplice.
But yes, I agree that Columbine is intriguing to me because of the dynamics. (I think I talked about it on discord) but it always amazes me how Eric did the suicide along with Dylan. He never wrote suicidal like Dylan until closer to the end when he would say or write something to the effect of I won’t be alive or my last week alive sort of thing. He had to have been struggling with suicidal thoughts to go and commit suicide. I feel he hid it well (or I guess never made it apparent to his audience in the end).

SenSpiritedAway wrote:

Yes, thanks for sharing. I had not heard of either of those cases. The Suzano massacre is interesting that the 17 year old carried out the murder suicide of him and his accomplice.
But yes, I agree that Columbine is intriguing to me because of the dynamics. (I think I talked about it on discord) but it always amazes me how Eric did the suicide along with Dylan. He never wrote suicidal like Dylan until closer to the end when he would say or write something to the effect of I won’t be alive or my last week alive sort of thing. He had to have been struggling with suicidal thoughts to go and commit suicide. I feel he hid it well (or I guess never made it apparent to his audience in the end).

I truly believe the majority of Eric's journal was written with an audience in mind. He was hoping that after the events of Columbine it would be made public for us all to read. Lo and behold...

The suicide pics definitely made me sad. Instead of feeling joy or relief at the sight of the dead killers, I felt sadness at the sight of two skinny, gangly, sad misguided boys. The picture really brings it home that these were not some super-villains from a movie, but two tragedies unto themselves.

Personally, it makes me sad to see two lives wasted but it also makes me relieved that finally they were out of their pain. It took them sending their bodies through tremendous, excruciating pain in order to escape the mortal pain and suffering that they had endured for years, so for me, it's a mixture of sadness and relief.

A lot of sadness and a bit of pity.

As Screamingophelia stated earlier, there was a particular reason why they returned to the library (vantage point to shoot at first responders and to see the car bombs explode). But to see them end their lives so close to their victims is an eerie feeling.

true_crime wrote:

As Screamingophelia stated earlier, there was a particular reason why they returned to the library (vantage point to shoot at first responders and to see the car bombs explode). But to see them end their lives so close to their victims is an eerie feeling.

I think suicide at the library was a sudden and spontaneous decision. What I mean is that I think they were panicked that the SWAT could come in at any moment, or that they might soon run out of ammunition.

And as for the photos, it might be weird, but I don't feel anything. For me, it's a lot sadder to see them alive and smiling.

The pics make me feel disappointed. In my mind their bodies represent all the potential (their victims and even themselves) they destroyed. What a total waste and for what? A few minutes of thrills? I imagine they died feeling incredibly defeated as none of their grand plans went right. Obviously shooting people wasn’t thrilling enough since they did so little of that compared to how much they could’ve done. All that planning and they ended up dying all alone in the corner of the library as the hateful unfulfilled failures they really were.

Looking at them right now, it makes me feel ill. Or maybe that's just the radiation from my microwave...

It makes me feel disgusted at their actions resulting in taking their own lives. I also am disgusted at the diagrams that show the innocent victims that were gunned down for no reason aside from being students at Columbine and being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The whole thing is pitiful. I have pity for them all.

Just makes me feel sad at times, Rest in Peace

I feel really sorry for Dylan, in a way. Depression isnt easy to cope with by a long shot. Yet, at the same time its still beyond me how anyone can kill a bunch of people in the process. School shootings and terrorist attacks baffles me..

Yet, its so out of the ordinary that I can't help but trying to understand the how and the why.

And Dylan and so many others, I think that they could have been helped.

It makes me feel like they wasted potential by shooting up the school and then killing themselves.

.

It just reminds me what absolute assholes they were.

I like to believe Eric didn’t even warn Dylan he was about to put the gun in his mouth. I hope Dylan just turned around and there was Eric with half a head. Imagine how terrified Dylan would have been seeing that and knowing he now only had the same option. I know he craved death but even if he experienced a few moments terror before it that would be a crumb of comfort.

To me, those pictures feel sort of like a calm after the storm. As in, “it’s finally over”. I think Eric and Dylan had crossed the point of no return long before the shooting and any path they could have taken afterwards would be violent and self-destructive, and therefore their suicide feels like the logical conclusion of their lives.

Of course I would have preferred to see the photos of them being arrested for mass murder plot, but what has happened has already happened and IMO it was not that preventable.

I get that same feeling morgenroede. IMO, Dylan looks peaceful. I feel almost relieved for them both. For some reason, I have more mind fuck when it comes to Dylan. No idea why? He seems so likeable in the little videos we have. Perhaps his journal influenced my opinion? That's what annoys me about the basement tapes thing. I am sure I would have less compassion for him, seeing his true evil and immature nature.

Adzybear wrote:

For some reason, I have more mind fuck when it comes to Dylan. No idea why? He seems so likeable in the little videos we have. Perhaps his journal influenced my opinion? That's what annoys me about the basement tapes thing. I am sure I would have less compassion for him, seeing his true evil and immature nature.

Some of his journal entries make him seem somewhat likable (or rather relatable) to me as well. Just not the creepy “love” stuff which according to Dave Cullen should make everyone sympathize with Dylan.