Experts React: The Truth About These Columbine Pictures

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Twenty years after the Columbine shooting, American school buildings have become more secure, but experts and parents say schools are not actually safer than they were on April 20, 1999. How do we judge pictures that take us closer to the grief and shock of people whose lives are directly touched by violence? Photographs convey the emotion of a tragedy, but the images may serve to wound as well as to heal. Such was the case with news photos used after the Columbine shootings in April 1999. On April 20, 1999, Columbine High School in Colorado became the site of a tragic school shooting ‍that would spark national debate and change the way we think about school safety. The photographs from that fateful day have become a haunting reminder of the senseless violence that took the lives of 12⁢ students and one teacher. There have been many newspaper and magazine articles, as well as several books and research papers written about the Columbine High School tragedy. I have amassed a large number of these and present them here to make them more easily accessible to researchers . The 20 award-winning images in this gallery are presented in the order submitted to the prize committee. Higher resolution images are available. Contact the Western History/Genealogy Department for more information. (AP) - The Jefferson County sheriff’s office said it will prosecute those responsible for making photos of the bodies of Columbine teen gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. For example, there were early reports that the two killers were members of the so-called Trench Coat Mafia at Columbine — a clique at Columbine High made up of misfits who supposedly rebelled against the popular students.