"The teacher was crying and pointing to the auditorium, and everybody was running toward the auditorium and screaming," another girl said. "We just ran out of there."

"People were shoving, they were going to the elevators. Then the electricity went off and we were all just running," a third girl added, panic still in her voice.

Waves of what was believed to be automatic gunfire and several explosions quickly followed. The gunmen moved from the cafeteria to the library, where most of the killing occurred. About half the student body of 2,000 fled the school, while 900 sought cover in closets, offices and supply rooms. Sporadic gunfire and explosions continued for more than an hour. Then everything went silent.

Sixty-six students barricaded themselves in the choir room, where senior Matthew Cornwell pulled out his cell phone and quietly called his father, Scott.

Scott quickly called police, who talked Matthew through the standoff. On the advice of police, they piled equipment, a set of lockers and two teachers' desks in front of the door to keep the gunmen from entering, trying to remain quiet and calm. "We just kept hearing boom, boom," said Matthew, an athletic-looking young man who emerged from the choir room shirtless. "We didn't know what was going on. Somebody started yelling, 'Somebody has a gun, somebody has a gun. Half the class took off with the teacher. I decided to stay. The teacher was yelling, 'Stay down, stay down.' I saw a teacher come up with blood all over him."

But the worst moment came several hours later, just after the euphoria of their release, as the SWAT team led them past fallen students on their way to freedom. Students leaving the choir room said they saw at least two dead bodies, the only eyewitness accounts of fatalities that could be confirmed.

"It was horrible, horrible," Matthew said. "Seeing the bodies lying on the pavement. I started crying. I haven't cried for a year. I don't know what I'm going to do," he said, his voice cracking.

For hours the school site was uneasily silent, as parents and observers waited for word about how many students were trapped inside. Throughout the standoff, parents gathered anxiously in a nearby elementary school, where students were asked to sign in as they showed up to be united with parents. Tensions rose as hours passed and hundreds remained unaccounted for, with friends and families assuming the worst. There were rumors that some had been taken hostage.

Then reports began circulating based on cell phone accounts by students hiding inside the school. Police expressed worry about the proliferation of cell phones on the scene. Nearly every parent, sibling or cousin in this affluent community seemed armed with one. At one point Sheriff John Stone expressed concern that the suspects -- still presumed alive inside the building -- might be receiving information via a combination of broadcast media and cell phones.

At about 4 p.m. a stream of 60 students filed out of the building, many arm in arm, crying. That's when outsiders learned that a full 900 had been trapped inside. Soon others came streaming out behind them.

Sheriff's estimates of up to 25 dead could not be confirmed. Some on the scene thought it might turn out to be high. By early evening, officers had yet to remove any bodies because of the danger of explosives and the need to preserve evidence. FBI agents and police SWAT teams slowly made their way through the building. Police, who believe a third suspect may have been involved, also questioned and quickly released three associates of the gunmen, who later talked to reporters. The scruffy, tough-looking young men, with close-cropped haircuts that made them resemble skinheads, denied that their friends had been part of a "Trench Coat Mafia."

Within 40 minutes of the shooting several dozen counselors and ministers had descended on the school. School will be closed Wednesday, but officials say they will make counselors available for students, family and faculty, though they haven't worked out the details.
salon.com | April 21, 1999

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