Randy Brown

Controversies

Is Randy a disinformation agent?

Randy Brown has a long history of sharing strange stories and refusing to cite his sources when making claims that contradict known information. He's also quick to call information, stories written by survivors, and crime scene photos "fake." he tends to claim stories and pieces of evidence are fake when people ask questions about specific off-limits topics, like Steven Curnow's death, Dave Sanders' death, the ability to see into the school windows, and Rachel Scott's death. He also makes a serious effort to discredit all of Eric and Dylan's friends. Here are some of his bizarre claims.

Randy Brown's strange claims - a list

Rachel Scott died 12th in a firefighter's arms

Randy Brown claims Rachel Scott died 12th in a firefighter's arms.

Randy Brown, along with Brian Rohrbough, maintain that Rachel Scott was the 12th person to die at Columbine. They have stated this numerous times, including in a podcast interview with Bob Enyart and on Reddit. When pressed for a source, Brown claimed that Rachel Scott died in a firefighter's arms and that firefighter personally told him about this incident.

This is easily confirmed as false. Although we don't have a timestamp on the helicopter footage, the footage clearly shows SWAT officers rescuing Richard Castaldo and placing him on the bumper of the firetruck they borrowed. The officers go back to get Rachel Scott, and she is already dead. However, as they note in their interviews, they decided to rescue her body anyway to protect it.

SWAT can be seen dragging Scott's lifeless body behind the firetruck and later, dragging her off to the side, and finally dragging her body away from the path where students were running. All this happens early on and there are never any firefighters with Rachel - only SWAT members.

A bloody 9mm live round was found on Steven Curnow's body and traced to a police weapon

In the early 2000s, Randy Brown claimed that a bloody, live 9mm bullet was found on Steven Curnow's body and this bullet was traced to a police weapon. When a researcher asked him for a source, he said, "do your own research" and then accused the researcher of trying to steal his research. He has been asked to explain this claim many times since then, and has refused to explain.

There was a copper fragment found embedded in Steven Curnow's t-shirt, but that's not a live, bloody bullet.

This claim is most likely a mixup of the aforementioned fact, plus the fact that a live .45 bullet was found on the floor of the library by a chair and this bullet was traced to Neil Gardner's weapon. The only way a live bullet can be traced to a weapon is if it was ejected from the chamber. This means Neil Gardner was standing in the library when he cleared his weapon.

The Columbine cafeteria is not the Columbine cafeteria

A Reddit user asked if anyone thought the police would have been able to see Eric and Dylan through the cafeteria windows. They used a photo of the Columbine cafeteria and overlaid images of Eric and Dylan just for visual effect. They circled the cafeteria windows, which were crystal clear. Of course, the image wasn't really Eric and Dylan in the cafeteria, but Randy Brown said the picture of Columbine's cafeteria wasn't actually Columbine's cafeteria.

Randy Brown says this is not the Columbine cafeteria.

Dave Sanders is not Dave Sanders

When questioning whether Dave Sanders had been shot outside, a Reddit user pointed out that he had a dark spot on his shirt that remained present as he ran. Another Reddit user posted the photos circling the spot and Randy Brown said the photos were not Dave Sanders.

Randy Brown says this is not Dave Sanders.

Dylan Klebold is not Dylan Klebold

A Reddit poster found an image of Dylan Klebold that was made to look as if it was a video. When asking if it was Dylan, Randy Brown said it was fake. It's possible that he meant it wasn't truly a video, but the poster asked "I was wondering if this is really Dylan K.," to which Brown replied, "Fake."

Randy Brown says this is not Dylan Klebold.

The SWAT helmet cam tour was not filmed in Columbine High School

We do not have this screen shot at the moment, but will update this post when we find it.

A Reddit user posted the video that SWAT made for the JCSO final report documenting the maze of classrooms SWAT members encountered when sweeping the building. This video was filmed from a helmet cam after the shooting, but before all of the repairs were done, as some of the broken ceiling panels are still hanging down. Although this was released in the official report, Randy Brown claimed this video was not Columbine High school and said he has been in the school and the hallways did not look like that.

Devon Adams wrote a fake memory of visiting Rachel Scott's grave

Randy Brown claims Devon Adams' story of visiting Rachel Scott's grave is fiction.

Devon Adams posted a beautifully-written story about visiting Rachel Scott's grave and Randy Brown told Reddit users it was fabricated. He said Adams' description of the cemetery was completely wrong, and anyone who has been there would know this. The problem is, her description is accurate and the creators of this encyclopedia have visited Rachel's gravesite and can verify the accuracy of Adams' description (and so can hundreds of other researchers who have been there).

Here is what Devon Adams published (it's no longer available online)

"I lost Rachel when I was 16-years-old. Torn out of my life like, suddenly, cruelly, irreversibly. No more laughter in the dark theatre, no more ridiculously silly situations.

I visited her often. I visited her until they closed off the back access to the cemetery and I couldn't bear to drive past "Baby Land" any longer. The day I graduated high school, I stopped and left her my program.

I don't remember the occasion nor the day of the week. I can't recall if it was sunny or cloudy, warm or cold. I think was autumn - but I remember leaves on the trees.

I was sitting on Rachel's grave, telling her all of the things that I couldn't tell to anyone else. Filling her in on the gossip. Pretending, for myself more than for her, that she was still alive. In my peripheral, a man lingered. I was always cautious when people approached these two isolated graves. I didn't trust them. Often they were tourists intent on experiencing something of the more gruesome part of our history, or our story here. And when they weren't tourists and they lurked, as this man was lurking, they were media, thirty to capture some untold story. As if any of our stories remain untold. I touched the card I laid against Rachel's gravestone (so it must of been August, her birth month) and stood.

He addressed me first. He asked if I had known her. There's no reason to lie - especially not when one is so close to death.

"Yes." He nodded. "Did you?" It wasn't meant to be hostile, but I held an irrational protectiveness over my friend's grave site. "No. No, I did not." Then why are you here? I didn't ask it, but he answered anyway.

I just don't remember his answer.

But it must have satisfied me because I stayed. He asked where the teacher was buried, so I led him up the small hill to the bench marking the his resting place. We looked down over Rachel and the other student's grave. The grass looked vibrantly green that day. It must have been cloudy else the grass would not been so stunning.

What made me open up to him? Seasoned from (one may say too) many interviews with the police, FBI, private investigators, the media, film writers, counselors, family, friends... I was used to being honest about it. About it all. No, not all. Omission is a form of dishonesty in some cases, in this it was a form of survival.

I had my wall. The things I spoke about, horrific, terrifying, sorrowful things I had created a fortress for where they could reside and I could visit them when I needed to, but I could check my emotions at the door. These were things that had happened to me, that was fact. I've found it's often harder for others to connect with a story when one inserts very personal emotions into it. So I don't. My emotions, my pain, my tears... those were things that others didn't need to be privy to, so I stashed them away for a rainy day.

I think there were thunder clouds in the sky.

We sat. He may have asked me questions, I don't recall. I don't know if he pried or if I just told him what I thought he'd like to know.

There's a standard story. Almost a script now, after so many years, but still a story then. The confusion, chaos, uncertainty, fear, running, screaming, searching, calling out. Being found, being lost. The numbness and the rain and the lights and the insensitivity. So much so fast.

Then I told him about other things, things that happened before. My Subway sandwich disappearing and Rachel being so upset. The expressive way she spoke - so expressive that it literally blew her skirt off. Her speech piece about having sex with a piece of toast. That she had been liked by everyone but her family until after her death. At least, that's what we thought. That I had lost it at her funeral and laughed and laughed as they played the theme from Titanic, her most-hated song. And that she had been friends with the boy who had a hand in killing her. That he wasn't a monster until that day. And that I hadn't just lost her, I had lost him. And, while I got to say goodbye to Rachel, Dylan had been buried without any friends near him. I had betrayed him, and in the process, I had betrayed something inside myself.

How long did we sit there? How long did I weave my story, tragic and yet true, in that cemetery? How long did I allow the broken bits of me tumble out onto that cold, stone bench and down the green hill to settle like so many scattered birthday cards upon Rachel's grave? I couldn't tell you then, and, after all these millions of seconds, I can't tell you now.

From this distance I would almost believe that he was a ghost. He had no car, no companion, he seemed to have materialized and, in memory, to have simply disappeared. I would think that he was nothing more than an apparition except that we embraced.

It was time to go. Hanging around the dead too long leads me down a dark road and I had to leave before I lost the light. I went to hug him goodbye, and he said the only thing that I know he said:

"When you hug a friend, always hug with your left arm raised, because it brings your hearts as close together as they can be."

And I left. I drove away with the sense that I had just experienced something that would change me. A Moment that would be an indelible part of who I was and am for the rest of my life. But it was only after I left that I felt that. I wonder if he did, too.

As much as I miss my friends who are dead, their absence is a finality. I can never see them again, talk to them, laugh with them, touch them. They are gone. My longing for them is something different than what I feel for this man who I met for such a brief time on a dreary autumn afternoon years ago. Who was he? Where did he come from? What quality did he possess to allow me to transcend years of careful suppression?

I will probably never know. Without so much as a name or even a solid memory to begin from, there is little hope that I will know anything beyond my vaporous memories and a passing sense of magic.

And for that, I am sorry."

Sarah Davis' story about Eric Harris is fake

One of Eric Harris' childhood friends, Sarah Davis, contributed to a book titled Gunstories: Life-Changing Experiences with Guns and her story was also published online. To create this book, S. Beth Atkin interviewed dozens of teenagers whose lives had been impacted by guns both positively and negatively. When a Reddit poster shared this information, Randy Brown claimed the entire story had been fabricated.

Randy Brown says the story published by Eric Harris' childhood friend, Sarah Davis, is fake.

No ballistics information was released that would allow us to know how many shots the shooters fired

Randy Brown said no detailed ballistics had been released.

When a Reddit user posted the details of how many shots each shooter fired, Randy Brown claimed those details had never been released. At the same time, he acknowledged having access to the full CBI ballistics report, which tops 2,600 pages and lists thousands of casings, bullets, and fragments along with where each was recovered. The information regarding which casings and fragments came from which firearm were released to the public in the documents titled Evidence Volumes I & II.

Eric and Dylan never bullied anyone and everyone who reported this lied

It's well-documented that both Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold did engage in abusive behavior toward a handful of other Columbine students, including Randy Browns son, Brooks. If Eric didn't have the capacity to be a bully, why were they so afraid of him?

It's interesting that Randy Brown would claim neither were capable of being bullies considering they had threatened to kill their son, Brooks, and they said they were afraid to tell Eric's parents because they knew Eric would kill Brooks once he found out. The Browns claimed to be so afraid of Eric that they reported him to police twice and Judy Brown claimed she knew Eric would be "the next school shooter." Also, Eric wrote about wanting to kill the entire Brown family and urinate on their dead bodies before the shooting.

Let's look at all the reports Randy Brown says are lies:

1. Randy Brown's son, Brooks, said Eric and Dylan shot kids with BB guns

In No Easy Answers, Brooks Brown says that Eric and Dylan sat on the roof and shot at little kids with their BB guns. From page 63:

"I think the story that got me the most was the one they told about Halloween of junior year. That night, the two of them went up on the roof with a BB gun and took shots at little kids who were trick-or-treating. They said the kids would look around, all confused at what had hit them, but because Eric and Dylan were concealed in the darkness of the roof, they never knew. They told us about this over lunch, laughing like it was the funniest joke in the world."

2. Dylan hit his supervisor after being counseled over an infraction

One of their supervisors at Blackjack Pizza, Michelle Hartsough, "Hartsough described Dylan Klebold as a difficult person who was often rude. She said that he hit her once because she had counseled him on an infraction at work." (11k, p.10150)

3. Dylan pushed people in gym class and called a girl a bitch

Tara Zobjeck

"Klebold was in her first semester gym class and they did not get along. Klebold was always cheating at the games in class and was always pushing people." (11k, p.7416)

"She told me that Dylan had been calling her a bitch on campus because of a dispute that occurred in gym class. She told her boyfriend, Wills, about her being called a bitch. Wills then told Dylan he would kick his ass. The name calling stopped." (11k, p.7380)

According to Lacy Koch's boyfriend, he intervened in this incident. His name has been redacted from reports and he was on Eric's "shit list."

"The last semester of 1998 he had Dylan Klebold in his Gym class. One day they were playing flag football with girls and Dylan called a girl a bitch. Not wanting a physical fight to start, [REDACTED] intervened and told Dylan to back off from the girl."(11k, p.10286)

French Class Incidents:

Sara M pg(5036)

4. Dylan got angry with his classmates and teacher in French class and threw things around

Sara Martin told investigators about their junior year in French class: "She said Dylan would get very angry in class with the teacher (Cathy Lutz) and the other students, and would start throwing things around. Sara said she got frustrated by these distracting actions of Dylan Klebold and his inability to get along with others." (11k, p.5036)

Makai Hall recalls Dylan being angry and disrespectful to his French teacher.

"He went on to say that he had a very bad temper and couldn't control it. He further stated that he had an extreme dislike for the French teacher and constantly made comments that were either derogatory or critical of her." (11k, p.8888)

"Hall told me that Mrs. Lutz was the French teacher and he went on to say that Dylan, throughout the course of the class, was very openly 'disrespectful' to her and quite often times swore in the class openly. I asked him what Mrs. Lutz' response was to this and he said she primarily just ignored it." (11k, p.8892)

Laura Steward recalls Dylan being kicked out of French class often.

"Dylan was in her French class last year. She said that Dylan and another student named Zach Heckler got kicked out of that class all the time. They were disruptive." (11k, pp.7214-7215)

5. One of Dylan's teacher's had to ask him to stop slamming the door when he exited class

6. Dylan put Devon Adams on his hit list and wrote about killing her

7. Devon Adams had a meeting with the school administration about being afraid of Eric