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
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)
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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 added to the list 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 woud 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."
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.
Additionally, 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.
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"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 as Klebold.
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"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)
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"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)