Dylan Klebold Killed 12 Students and a Teacher in Columbine Horror
The Columbine massacre was, at the time, the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history and has since become a tragic landmark in American culture.
Dylan Klebold was a student at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, who became one of the two perpetrators of the infamous school shooting that took place on April 20, 1999. Along with his friend and accomplice Eric Harris, Klebold killed 13 people—12 students and one teacher—and injured 24 others before taking his own life in the school’s library. The massacre shocked the nation and marked a turning point in how the United States approached school safety, mental health, gun control, and youth culture.
Born on September 11, 1981, Dylan Bennet Klebold grew up in what many considered a typical suburban environment. He was the younger of two sons raised by Thomas and Susan Klebold, both of whom were college-educated and involved in their local community. His older brother, Byron, also attended Columbine but was not involved in the attack.
Klebold was described by former classmates as quiet and intelligent, though increasingly withdrawn during his teenage years. In the months leading up to the shooting, he and Harris exhibited signs of anger, depression, and deep alienation, which were later found to be expressed through personal writings and videos.
In the years after the tragedy, Susan Klebold publicly addressed her son’s role in the attack, most notably in her 2016 memoir, A Mother’s Reckoning. In it, she explores the deep remorse and unanswered questions that followed the massacre and advocates for better mental health resources to prevent similar tragedies.