Posted on 10/10/2009 4:18:47 PM PDT by real saxophonist
Dylan Klebold's mom speaks in "O" magazine
"No inkling" of plans for Columbine massacre
By The Denver Post
Posted: 10/10/2009
Susan Klebold wrote an essay in the November issue of O magazine. (Denver Post file photo )An essay by the mother of Columbine killer Dylan Klebold says she had "no inkling" of her son's inner turmoil, and her examination of his journals has prompted her to learn about suicide in an effort to understand the school shooting.
The essay by Susan Klebold, which appears in the November issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, explores her son's role in the 1999 massacre where he and co-conspirator Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher and left two dozen wounded before killing themselves.
Neither family has spoken at length in the aftermath of what at the time marked the most deadly school shooting in U.S. history. Pending litigation contributed to the silence for several years, but even with the lawsuits resolved, repeated requests for interviews have been turned down.
In a news release, Oprah Winfrey also noted that Susan Klebold had declined interview requests but then, several months ago, agreed to write about her personal experience. The magazine released a few advance excerpts.
"From the writings Dylan left behind, criminal psychologists have concluded that he was depressed and suicidal," Susan Klebold wrote in one passage. "When I first saw copied pages of these writings, they broke my heart. I'd had no inkling of the battle Dylan was waging in his mind."
She added: "Dylan's participation in the massacre was impossible for me to accept until I began to connect it to his own death. Once I saw his journals, it was clear to me that Dylan entered the school with the intention of dying there. And so in order to understand what he might have been thinking, I started to learn all I could about suicide."
Susan Klebold received no payment for the essay, said a magazine spokesperson, but hoped to "raise suicide awareness and to generate support for organizations such as The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the American Association of Suicidology."
A spokesperson for the Klebolds' attorney, Gary Lozow, would not field questions and said that the Klebold family would have no further comment.
The magazine hits newsstands on Tuesday.
In another passage, Susan Klebold recounted the early morning before the violence began:
"Early on April 20, I was getting dressed for work when I heard Dylan bound down the stairs and open the front door. Wondering why he was in such a hurry when he could have slept another 20 minutes, I poked my head out of the bedroom. 'Dyl?' All he said was 'Bye.' The front door slammed, and his car sped down the driveway. His voice had sounded sharp. I figured he was mad because he'd had to get up early to give someone a lift to class. I had no idea that I had just heard his voice for the last time."
Another excerpt describes her struggle to come to grips with the tragedy.
"For the rest of my life, I will be haunted by the horror and anguish Dylan caused," she wrote. "I cannot look at a child in a grocery store or on the street without thinking about how my son's schoolmates spent the last moments of their lives. Dylan changed everything I believed about myself, about God, about family, and about love."
This is BS - they had a huge amount of bomb making materials in the two homes and why werent these people investigated and put in jail?
Anti depressants are dangerous because of that, they dull pain. That’s their job. The also can increase energy. They don’t immediately change your perceptions however. At the very beginning it’s very dangerous, usually for suicides. You still are miserable but suddenly it’s duller and you have more energy. The suicidal/homicidal thinking is still there, but suddenly the guilt and lack of energy is gone.
I know this stuff saves many lives, including my own. But of course it can do the opposite sometimes as well.
If I had ever tried anything like "Trench Coat Mafia" or anything weird at all I would have been smacked down and tied up in the closet until I came to my senses. I can't believe what I've seen kids doing for decades now and getting away with it. WTF is wrong with their parents? Or are their parents just as bad in their own way?
Well put it this way, there have been no more chicken-SWAT debacles like this at similar school incidents. Columbine shamed them good.
Unfair.
The SWAT guys followed doctrine, which assumed a standoff, negotiations, etc. Perfectly reasonable doctrine appropriate for what happened in the past.
New situation means the old doctrine was inadequate.
Just as on 9/11 the doctrine was that in a hijacking you did as you were told, flew around for a few hours or days in discomfort, then sold your story for a bunch of money.
SWAT and airline passengers now have different doctrines.
From my understanding they weren’t really in any trench coat mafia, and weren’t really even that unpopular. A lot of that was fabricated early on. Apparently they were just psychotic killers, and that’s about all there is to it.
If local police are going to try to support a quasi-military arm without looking like keystone kops, they should be at least as savvy on war scenarios as our actual military is. You want to “negotiate” with a guy who has been shooting innocents down in cold blood for no reason? Mais non.
Oprah NEEDS money as evidenced by revisiting this tragedy...
I am SO not kidding....I remember it VERY well....she got her HAIR DONE the day after!!! OMG!!
Terrible tragedy.
The hero cops sat hiding, cowering actually, behind squad cars, lightposts and trees while people bled to death. Two high school kids, without military training, kept a thousand cops at bay.
Call 911 and die.
Arm yourself. Learn how to protect your family.
(No disrespect to Texas Rangers, Wyatt Earp, Sheriffs and cops who protected civilians.)
PLUS they had BOMB MAKING STUFF in the GARAGE!! What a bunch of HORRIBLE PARENTS!
Prior to Columbine the doctrine made sense, just as the non-resistance to hijackers did before 9/11.
It isn’t fair to blame people for not anticipating a change in tactics by the enemy. Especially not the on-the-ground cops. If blame needs to be assigned, it should go to those who ordered the SWAT guys to follow what was rapidly becoming outdated doctrine.
I didn;t read the article....who was taking that EVIL PROZAC??
“O” magazine....The validity of the story stopped on the front cover.
I guess i’m not going to judge her.
All I can think is “how would i feel if it were my son?”
Of course i don’t think my son would ever do anything like that but if he had I would feel despair over what he had done but I would also despair over the loss of my son. killer or not.
You must be sick. I will pray for you.
I think I would despair over being such an awful parent and role model......bet they NEVER went to CHURCH.
IIRC,This is the one who supposedly had the stock or barrel of a gun sticking out of a duffel bag in his room and his mom,upon seeing it one day,asked him about it and he simply said, it’s nothing,and she never pressed the issue.I don’t know how true that is,but it wouldn’t be hard to believe.Also,weren’t they building bombs out in their garage?
Seems I read that someplace not long after the massacre occurred.
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