Columbine High School massacre

The Columbine High School massacre was a school shooting that occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County in the American state of Colorado. In addition to the shootings, the complex and highly planned attack involved a fire bomb to divert firefighters, propane tanks converted to bombs placed in the cafeteria, 99 explosive devices, and carbombs. The perpetrators, senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher. They injured 21 additional people, with three others injured while attempting to escape the school. The pair committed suicide.

Although their motives remain unclear, the personal journals of the perpetrators document that they wished their actions to rival the Oklahoma City bombing and other deadly incidents in the United States in the 1990s. The attack has been referred to by USA Today as a "suicidal attack [that was] planned as a grand—if badly implemented—terrorist bombing." The massacre is reported as "the deadliest high school shooting in US history."

School shooting

A school shooting is a form of mass shooting involving a gun attack on an educational institution, such as a school or university. The U.S. Secret Service defines them as shootings where schools are "deliberately selected as the location for the attack". These shootings have sparked a political debate over gun violence, zero tolerance policies and gun control. While educational institutions are subject to attacks by outside terrorist groups (for example the Garissa University College attack), this article mainly covers students who plan and carry out murders on their campuses.

The United States has the highest number of school-related shootings. From 2013 to October 2015 there were 142 school shootings in the United States.

Profiling

School shootings are a topic of intense interest in the United States. A thorough study of 37 incidents involving 41 perpetrators in the United States from 1974 through June 2000 by the Secret Service warned against the belief that a certain "type" of student would be a perpetrator. Any profile would fit too many students to be useful and may not apply to a potential perpetrator. Some lived with both parents in "an ideal, All-American family." Some were children of divorce, or lived in foster homes. A few were loners, but most had close friends. Some experts such as Alan Lipman have warned against the dearth of empirical validity of profiling methods.

Columbine High School

Columbine High School or CHS is a high school in Columbine, unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, United States.

History

Columbine High School opened in the fall of 1973. There was no senior class during its first year. The school's first graduating class was in 1975. Columbine was named after the surrounding community of Columbine, which in turn was named after the state flower of Colorado: the columbine. The school's first principal was Gerald Difford.

The official school colors are blue and silver. The colors were selected through a vote by students at Ken Caryl Junior High School and Bear Creek High School who would be the first students to attend Columbine High School when it opened in 1973.

Massacre

Columbine High School was the site of one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern United States history, and the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. The shootings occurred on April 20, 1999, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed twelve students and a teacher, and wounded 23 others, before they both committed suicide. The massacre made headlines nationwide and around the world, making Columbine a household name, and causing a moral panic in American high schools.

Pumped Up Kicks

"Pumped Up Kicks" is a song by American indie pop band Foster the People. It was released as the group's debut single in September 2010, and the following year was included on their EP Foster the People and their debut album, Torches. "Pumped Up Kicks" became the group's breakthrough hit and was one of the most popular songs of 2011. The song was written and recorded by frontman Mark Foster while he was working as a commercial jingle writer. Contrasting with the upbeat musical composition, the lyrics describe the homicidal thoughts of a troubled youth.

The track received considerable attention after it was posted online in 2010 as a free download, and it helped the group garner a multi-album record deal with Columbia Records imprint Startime International. "Pumped Up Kicks" proved to be a sleeper hit; in 2011, after receiving significant airplay on modern rock stations, the song crossed-over onto contemporary hit radio stations. The song spent eight consecutive weeks at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, making it the first Billboard Alternative Songs number-one single to crack the U.S. top 5 since Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" in 2009. The song was widely praised by critics, and it has been licensed for use in a wide range of popular media since its release. "Pumped Up Kicks" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.