A SHOCKING CONNECTION When I was in high school myself, a few years before the Columbine shootings, I did not myself go to Columbine, but had several friends who did. I was an eager young driver enjoying having just gotten my license, and was happy to give them and, if necessary, their acquaintances a ride home. A few times, a boy named Eric bummed a ride off me. He was right on the way, so I didn’t mind at all. He was a bit reserved…
When I was in high school myself, a few years before the Columbine shootings, I did not myself go to Columbine, but had several friends who did. I was an eager young driver enjoying having just gotten my license, and was happy to give them and, if necessary, their acquaintances a ride home. A few times, a boy named Eric bummed a ride off me. He was right on the way, so I didn’t mind at all.
He was a bit reserved at first, but quickly joined into the conversations my friend and I would have about school, and science, and video games. We stopped for food once, though I don’t recall where. Probably some fast food joint, we were teenage boys, and we ate whatever we could get our hands on.
After the Columbine shootings, I heard on the radio that the names of the shooters were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, but nothing occurred to me then. Eric is a pretty common name, and he’d never given his last name. My main concern was to contact my friends and make sure they were alright (thankfully, they all were). It was only later, when I saw the photos of the shooters, that my mind clicked and my jaw dropped.
