Third Shooter Witnesses

This page will take a close look at all of the witnesses whose interviews include information that there may have been three or more suspects involved in the Columbine High School Shooting.

The witness interviews analyzed on this page come from a list of 101 witnesses purported to have seen a third suspect compiled in the early days. However, many witnesses on this list should not have been added for various reasons. For example, some of those witnesses didn't see any suspects and were added based on hearsay repeated by someone else. In some cases, the witness identified someone other than Harris or Klebold simply because they heard that individual was a shooter - not because they think they saw them.

These individuals have been removed from that list and a new list has been created that includes only witnesses whose interviews meet the following criteria:

• They described seeing three or more different suspects, either at once, or separately
• They described suspects that don't match Harris or Klebold's descriptions
• They named a suspect other than Harris or Klebold

In order to analyze the testimony that potentially supports the presence of a third suspect, it's important to first eliminate witnesses who do not belong on the list.

Original witness list

This is the original witness list

Witnesses removed from the original list

The following witnesses have been removed from the list of witnesses whose interviews support the possibility of a third (or more) suspect.

Witnesses who did not see any suspects:

1. Adam Thompson [pp.2213-2215]

"He did not observe any of the individuals involved in the attack, or their victims." (Source: p.2215)

2. Alex Babiniec [pp.1752-1756]

"He said he does not think he saw any of the trench coat students or associates in school the day of the shooting." (Source: p.1754)

Witnesses removed because of hearsay:

1. Amy Evans [pp.2960-2965]

"EVANS stated she briefly saw a male wearing a black trench coat running around outside of the cafeteria. She could not describe the person and said she did not see a weapon." (source: p.2962)

Evans was added to the original list because when investigators interviewed Melissa Couris (10k, p.22205), she told them "Evans said there was a third shooter and it was [redacted]." It's clear that if Evans made this statement to Couris, it was not because she saw [redacted]. Why would she say this? Everyone was talking about additional shooters, and its clear Evans was repeating what she heard from others.

Note: Amy Evans was on Harris' "shit list."

2. Amy Terry [pp.2205-2209]

"Terry never saw any suspects, nor did she see any weapons." (Source: 2208)

Terry was added to this list because her friend, Elisha Encinas, told Terry she saw multiple shooters in the cafeteria wearing trench coats and masks, and when running upstairs, she saw an additional 4 people in trench coats coming through the glass doors at the West end of the main hallway. This was not witnessed by Terry.

Witnesses who identified Harris or Klebold:

1. Alicia Maes [pp.3613-3619]

Alicia initially identified a suspect as [redacted], but revealed she didn't know [redacted] or Klebold before the shooting. If she didn't know [redacted] prior to the shooting, this means she got the name [redacted] from someone else and did not genuinely identify "redacted." She was never shown a lineup when she named "redacted." This means Maes was repeating hearsay. When she saw Klebold's photo on television, she identified Klebold as the suspect she saw.

Another witness, Rachel Nelson, told investigators Maes saw four people with trench coats and guns, but this is hearsay and that's not in Maes' interview.

From Maes' interview:

"She said she saw him reach into his coat and then saw him throw an object into the parking lot. She said she heard an explosion and watched the subject walk toward the soccer field." (Source: p.3614, p.3615)

Note: Other witnesses identified the suspect who threw this bomb into the parking lot as Klebold.

"Alicia stated that when she first observed the male in the black trench coat, she thought it was a person known to her as [redacted]. She advised that now, after seeing pictures of Dylan Klebold, she believes that this person may have been him, not [redacted]." (Source: p.3615)

"She said at this point she looked to the area at the top of the exterior stairs on the west side of the cafeteria and saw a suspect whom she thought was student [redacted]. She clarified that this could have been Dylan Klebold, as she did not know either one of them prior to the shooting." (Source: p.3618)

2. Anthony Sammauro

Sammauro saw one suspect and identified him as Klebold.

From Sammauro's interview:

"...looked out West window and identified Dylan Klebold standing on top of hill by stairs and throwing an object into the West parking lot; saw same looking suspect walking toward West cafeteria door from bottom of stairs moments later; saw no other suspect' saw no guns." (Source: p.4298)

"Identified Dylan Klebold outside the cafeteria when shooting began." (Source: 4300)

"As he was going out the doors, he looked back West and saw who he thought was the same suspect he saw throw the object, Dylan, walking down the bottom of the stairs like he was going to go in the West cafeteria doors." (Source: 4301)

Sammauro allegedly said "two suspects came in the front door and one came in the side door." However, this quote from Sammauro is incorrectly attributed to page 5071, which is the end of Alicia Olejniczak's interview. Like most of these additional quotes that come from the 10k report, this is likely not something Sammauro told investigators, but rather, hearsay from an entirely different witness. If anyone knows the correct page number for this alleged quote, please let us know!

Revised list of testimony that could support a third suspect

1. Ann Marie Hochhalter [pp.215-216]

"...she observed two gunmen. The first gunman she described as a white male, black hair, brown eyes, black hat and boots, black cargo pants, black shirt, black trench coat, carrying a black vinyl duffel bag, round in shape and about two and a half feet long, with a black gun.

Number two gunman was a white male, with a shotgun, carrying a duffel bag, wearing all black to include a black trench coat."

"Hochhalter said at about this time they began to run to the cafeteria when gunman two shot her." (Source: p.216)

2. Ashley Egeland [pp.5247-5268]

"At this time Ashley stated that she observed two male subjects coming around the corner of the library hall into the North hall. Ashley advised that both subjects were armed. According to Ashley as soon as both subjects saw her and "Lacey" they started shooting at them. Ashkey said that they both ran back down the gym hall and into the gym." (Source: p.5248)

"Ashley identified the shooters as Eric Harris and [redacted]. According to Ashley, [redacted] was dressed in a white shirt with a black trench coat over it. She said that Morris was armed with a hand gun while Harris was armed with a shotgun. Ashley said that she was not sure about [redacted]'s identity until her sister Heather showed her a Columbine yearbook and she saw his picture in the book. Ashley is sure the two shooters she observed were Eric Harris and [redacted]." (Source: p.5249)