Columbine killers thank gun providers on video

Mark Manes gets six years in prison for supplying one of the weapons used in the Colorado high school massacre.

By Dave Cullen

Nov 12, 1999 | Seven months after the Columbine massacre, killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold finally got to thank the two young men who enabled them to pull it off. At a sentencing hearing for Mark Manes, who pleaded guilty to selling Klebold one of the guns used in the massacre, lead investigator Kate Battan read a brief transcript from a video the killers made for police.

"I'd like to make a thank you to Mark [Manes] and Phil [Duran]," Klebold said. "I hope you don't get fucked." Harris laughs, and Klebold continues: "We used them. They had no clue ... Don't blame them. And don't fucking arrest them ... Don't arrest any of our friends, or family members or our co-workers. They had no fucking clue. Don't arrest anyone, because they didn't have a fucking clue."

The video was made March 15, more than a month before the April 20 killings.

Hours after the video transcript was read, Manes received six years in prison for selling Klebold the TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun used in the massacre, and three concurrent years on a related charge. He could have received 18 years. Phil Duran is charged with assisting Manes with the gun sale. Both men also participated in training Harris and Klebold to use the weapons.

The video was clearly intended for police, who Harris and Klebold addressed repeatedly, often as "all you fucking cops." Battan's testimony offered the first glimpse at specific content of the video. Prosecutors had only announced its existence two days earlier, anticipating Friday's sentencing hearing.

Last April, violent video games were vilified as a culprit behind the massacre. The game Doom was specifically cited as the means for Harris and Klebold to develop both their shooting skills and their passion for blood. But Friday, prosecutors portrayed the practice sessions with Manes and Duran as the breeding ground for their enthusiasm, allowing them to transform their fantasies into reality. It was the only known time they trained with weapons, according to prosecutors, and their success in those sessions fed their thrill.

Prosecutors also alluded to statements in the video in which the killers gleefully "speculated about the carnage to human beings." Harris described shooting his weapon and exclaiming, "Imagine if that was someone's fucking head!" In another section of the video, according to prosecutors, one of the killers said: "When you saw off shotguns and make them illegal, bad things happen." He then spanked the shotgun, and said "Bad shotgun."

Battan also revealed that Harris began pestering Manes to buy ammunition for the TEC-9 the Thursday before the massacre. He finally sold them 100 rounds the night before the massacre. Manes asked Harris if he was planning to go shooting that night, and Harris answered, "Maybe tomorrow."

Next Page: Tell it to the judge

• View blog reactions