Columbine Students Recall 'Surreal' Day

April 20, 2004 -- It was a sunny Tuesday morning five years ago when high school students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold set off for school, determined to destroy everything and everyone that lay in their path.

A frantic call from Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., came into the 911 dispatcher on April 20, 1999, as the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history unfolded.

"I'm a teacher here at Columbine High School," the caller said. "There is a student here with a gun. He has shot out a window. Oh God. Oh God."

By the time the gunfire stopped, 15 people were left dead, including Harris, 18, and Klebold,17, who shot themselves after storming the school with bombs, shotguns and semi-automatic weapons. More than 20 were wounded.

Michael Johnson, then 15, was sitting in the schoolyard with friends when he was shot three times, taking bullets in his leg, arm and jaw. He still has a pink scar along his right jaw.

"I heard some popping sounds to my left and I saw these two guys shooting," said Johnson, now 20. "It was surreal. At first I was — we were — all kind of denial. I mean none of us really believed what it really was until a couple of us got shot."

‘Popping Sounds’

Despite his injuries, Johnson was able to scramble for shelter behind a shed to escape the mayhem.

"As I ran up behind the shed, I collapsed and I was slipping in and out of consciousness and I really thought that I was dying, that I was dead," Johnson said.

From the schoolyard, Harris and Klebold made their way inside the school and headed to the cafeteria. Surveillance video showed the two youths on their rampage, wielding guns and explosives, as terror overtook the school. Desperate calls from people trapped in classrooms flooded the 911 system.

"The school is in a panic and I'm in the library and I've got students down under the table, kids' heads under the table," one teacher who called in told the emergency operator. "Kids are screaming and the teachers are trying to take control."

Library Was Deadliest Scene

Teacher Dave Sanders, who was also a coach at the school, was shot twice while trying to get students out of the cafeteria. He would lose his life trying to save his students, who posted a sign seeking help from the science room window seeking help. "Bleeding to Death," it said.

Eventually, Harris and Klebold made their way to the library. Craig Scott, whose sister Rachel died in the carnage, was there studying with two friends, Matt Ketcher and Isaiah Sholes.

"They saw my friend Isaiah — one of the few black students there — and they targeted him for his color," Scott recalled. "I remember him slowly backing up and the last thing that he said was that he wanted to see his mom. Then they shot my, shot Isaiah. Then they just turned their gun right toward Matt Ketcher who was also sitting by, and he was killed."

The library would be the deadliest scene. Ten students were killed there and several were wounded.

One critically wounded student would defy all odds of survival. Patrick Ireland was shot twice in the head and once in the foot. The televised image of Ireland flinging himself from the library window to safety would become sealed in Americans' collective memory of Columbine.

Moving On

Over the past five years, Ireland has undergone extensive rehabilitation. He is now a senior in college, looking forward to graduating in May and moving on with his life.

Johnson has also moved on, though the he has written a book, Surviving Columbine, about his experience. He hopes to one day be a religion or philosophy teacher. For the students of Columbine who were there that fateful April day, the challenge to move on has been daunting but not impossible. For Craig Scott, the loss of his sister and his two friends has been immeasurable, and the struggle to forgive at times insurmountable. But he says he has done it.

"It wasn't good to dwell on that anger and hatred," Scott said. "And I really chose a path of forgiveness toward them. And it was more for myself."