Neil Gardner

Neil Gardner's interviews

Main interview [11k, pp.8067-8076]

Neil Gardner interview transcript [p.11258-11251]

Neil Gardner's ballistics information

[Evidence, volume II, p.12174, 12203]

Shots fired by Neil Gardner

"The fired bullets in items #184, 315, 428, and 508 and the fired cartridge case in item #228 were all microscopically identified as having been fired by item #47 (Sig Sauer 45 auto caliber semi-automatic pistol)."

Handwritten next to this paragraph is: "Gardner"

Source: (Evidence, volume II, p.12203)

Gardner's 5 rounds - CBI/JCSO evidence # & description

CBI Item #184/JCSO #2238 - "One fired copper jacketed bullet."

CBI Item #228/JCSO #2720 - "Eight fired Speer 45 auto caliber cartridge cases."

CBI Item #315/JCSO #940 - "One fired 45 caliber bullet."

CBI Item #428/JCSO #746 - "One fired copper jacketed bullet."

CBI Item #508/JCSO #998 - "One fired copper jacketed bullet."

Where were Gardner's fired rounds recovered?

3 in the library

1 in the West main doors (Source needed)

Neil Gardner admitted possibly firing into the library

El Paso, Case Core, p.44 Neil Gardner

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  Neil Gardner admits to El Paso he may have fired into the library
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There are several big problems with Neil Gardner's story. A big one is that the timeline doesn't match. He was in Clement Park at the smoker's pit when Jay Gallentine called him on the radio, telling him he was needed at the school. A few seconds later, he got the call from Jefferson County about a female down in the parking lot. As he pulled into Columbine's parking lot, he got Peter Horvath's call over the radio that he was needed because there was a shooter in the school.

When Gardner arrived, the library windows had already been shot out. This means the shooters entered the library way before the official timeline states.

The timeline issues will be posted here later.

The other issues with Gardner are that 3 of his bullets were found in the library. Two fired bullets, one on the floor by Steven Curnow and another in the wall above a window on the far side. The third was a live round ejected from the chamber of his weapon.

Gardner lied and said he has no idea how a live round became missing from his magazine.

He also lied and said he made his handgun qualification in February. In fact, he missed 2 quarterly qualifications that year (1999), 6 more recently, and 9 total in his career. He said he had only ever missed a couple qualifications total in his career, but it was a habitual problem. He went without qualifying with his shotgun for three years. It was against department policy for Gardner to be carrying his duty weapon at Columbine that day. They let him slide for years despite his admission that he was a procrastinator and never bothered to go to the range to qualify.

He also said he thought he hit a suspect with a kevlar vest. Well, his mushroomed bullet found in front of the West doors supports this. Bullets don't mushroom and fall to the floor when they hit flesh. They embed themselves into the flesh. Or, they fragment. Bullets also don't mushroom when they hit random hard objects unless it's hard enough to be bullet-resistant, like kevlar, a bulletproof vest. That bullet he fired hit something bulletproof. If his bullet hit something bulletproof (and it did), and he says he hit the shooter, the only logical conclusion is the shooter was wearing a bulletproof vest.

Gardner describes a suspect that matches more of Dylan's description than Eric, yet they told him he shot at Eric and he continued using Eric's name, but that's not who he described seeing.

Gardner also said he never fired into the library, but he actually admitted to "possibly" firing into the library windows to El Paso when they did their independent investigation into Danny R's death. We know he fired into the library. Ballistics don't lie.

This page is a work in progress!