Witness testimony, interviews with Brooks, and Brooks’ story in his book are inconsistent. Here’s a detailed look at what those inconsistencies are and why they’re significant.
Please note that Brooks was cleared of all involvement in the attack. However, based on his multiple stories, it’s clear that he’s hiding the truth about his encounter with Eric Harris before the attack.
TL;DR version in 8 points:
- Brooks lied about where he met Eric. It appears that Brooks was with Eric at the top of the stairs before the attack, not just in the parking lot as he told police.
- Brooks showed Craig Scott bomb-making instructions on his computer at his house. Did Brooks make bombs with Eric and Dylan? He claims he was never into pipe bombs other than reporting Eric to the police.
- Despite reporting Eric to police for threatening to kill him and his family (and making bombs), and his mother being convinced Eric would be the next school shooter, Brooks sometimes said he had no idea Eric would be violent and he just thought he was a smart, fun guy. Other times, he says he knew immediately Eric was shooting up the school. Which is it?
- Brooks lied to investigators, saying he parked his car between Eric and Dylan’s cars in the parking lot. Brooks didn’t drive to school that day – he got a ride from his brother. Furthermore, Eric and Dylan parked in different parking lots.
- Brooks didn’t call 911 until he got home after 12pm (noon) – the shooting started at 11:17am. When Brooks got a woman to give him a phone, he didn’t call 911 – he called his dad to tell him Eric was shooting up Columbine. His dad didn’t call 911 or the police at that time, either. When Brooks got into his friend’s Jeep minutes later, he didn’t call 911 from the phone he borrowed – Neither Brown called 911 until after 12pm. From the Jeep, Brooks tried to call a memorized number and when the call didn’t go through, he called the operator and asked to be transferred to Arapahoe County (not Jefferson County) – TWICE. That means Brooks knew an officer from Arapahoe County. Another interesting point is that Brooks’ father, Randy, had a family member who worked in the District Attorney’s office. They had law enforcement connections.
- Brooks’ two initial calls to Arapahoe County police reporting the shooting were never released. The Browns have, in the past, denied the existence of these calls, stating that the poor-quality 911 calls from after 12pm are “all there is.”
- Brooks lied about knocking on doors down W. Fair Drive. Most importantly, Brooks never ran down W. Fair Drive knocking on doors in a panic as he told one officer. He walked in the opposite direction and 0.8 miles later, he knocked on doors until he found someone who let him use the phone.
- Brooks and his father tell a different story about where Brooks was picked up. Brooks says his dad picked him up on Upham Street by his drum teacher’s house. This is corroborated by police documentation from the officer Brooks was speaking with as his father drove up and yelled at him to get in his car. However, his father, Randy, says he picked Brooks up in Woodmar Square Park. Also, Brooks was driving the Jeep, but Randy tells the story as if the driver were someone other than his son.
What Brooks Brown told investigators
- He severed his friendship with Eric two years ago (1997).
- All Eric talked about was buying guns when he turned 18.
- That the shooting was a total surprise to him and came unexpectedly.
- He left creative writing at 11:10 A.M. and walked down to Pierce Street where he saw Eric pull into the parking lot and park in someone else’s space.
- At this time, Brooks walked all the way back to Eric’s car and gave him hell about missing the philosophy test.He saw a light blue gym bag on the ground and saw Eric pulling multiple bags from the back seat to the front seat. Then Eric told him to leave.
- He also told investigators Eric pulled into the parking lot right when Brooks exited the building.
- He also told investigators he encountered Eric inside the school corridor, was told to leave, and that’s when he walked out of the building to the parking lot.
- Brooks said he walked away to Pierce Street thinking about what Eric said, heard a loud noise, and ran down West Fair Drive knocking on doors for assistance.
- He left the school with a friend.
- He and said friend were in front of 6610 Upham Street when he (Brooks) called the sheriff’s department.The investigator (Lynn Spears) noted that while he was on the phone with Brooks for 11 minutes, while Brooks was on Upham Street, Brooks’ father showed up and Brooks advised that they were all going back to his (Brooks’) house on Vance street.
Why did Sheriff Stone name Brooks a possible suspect?
After the shootings, Brown was even accused by the police of having been in on the massacre―simply because he had been friends with the killers.
-No Easy Answers
According to Brooks Brown, he was named a possible suspect simply because he was friends with Dylan Klebold.
According to the Denver Post, Brooks was named a possible suspect because he gave “inconsistent statements.”
Stone’s dispute with Columbine senior Brooks Brown and his family repeatedly has made national news. Stone said the 17-year-old Brown is a possible suspect and that Brown’s statements have been inconsistent.
-The Denver Post
May 6, 1999
“I believe Mr. Brown knows a lot more than he has been willing to share with us,” Stone told the newspaper. “He’s had a long-term involvement with Harris and Klebold, and he was the only student warned to stay away from the school on the day of the shooting.”
-Sheriff John Stone, The Denver Post
May 6, 1999
Investigators also found “alarming” poems in Brooks’ notebook describing the desire to murder his father and commit suicide, along with other dark writings.
They had one of my old notebooks, with my poem about Robert Craig in it. I had written that poem the year before, shortly after Robert had committed suicide. The poem was from Robert’s point of view; it talked about depression and death, and his desire to murder his father.
The police had read the poem and interpreted it to mean that I was plotting against my own parents. Trying to keep my cool, I pointed out that underneath the poem, I had written “Dedicated to Robert Craig.”
They asked me about other poems in my notebook that also dealt with dark subjects. “Look, I write a lot, and it isn’t happy all the time,” I said.
-No Easy Answers
Brooks told the media the District Attorney, Dave Thomas, said he was a witness, not a suspect. However, Dave Thomas denies saying anything about Brooks’ status as a witness or suspect.
I’ve never said anything about Brooks Brown. I don’t put people in categories as witnesses or suspects until I have evidence.
-Dave Thomas, The Denver Post
May 6, 1999
Brooks Brown did tell many inconsistent stories to police and media that also contradict the story he tells in his book. Some of the inconsistencies are major, and it’s understandable that he was named a suspect.
In addition to telling different stories about the direction he walked down Pierce Street, and where he was when he knocked on doors, he also told police he left the school with a friend.
In reality, Brooks left the school alone and didn’t meet up with his friend he refers to in his testimony until he was 0.8 miles from the school.
Brown advised that he had left the school with a friend and that he telephoned ACSO from his friend’s cellular telephone.
-Brooks Brown
Witness Testimony, p.10662
Was Brooks in the creek before the shooting began?
Andrew stated that he left school at 11:10 AM to go home for lunch and get ready to go to work. I asked Andrew if there was anything else he could tell me about that day and he stated that he remembered seeing Brooks Brown when he got to his car on Fair St.
Brooks was down by the creek off Fair St. by himself.-Andrew Hunter
Witness Testimony, p.6651
Here is a video of the path from Columbine to the creek:
Walking to the creek would take about 17 minutes, but it would take far less time running. Was Brooks in the creek, or was this witness mistaken regarding who he saw?
Was Brooks on his way to the smoker’s pit or Pierce Street?
Brooks says he was on his way to Pierce Street to smoke when he encountered Eric, but he told Deanna Shaffer–one of the Jeep’s occupants–that he was on his way to the smoker’s pit.
BROWN told them he was going to “the smokers pit”, when he saw HARRIS. He said HARRIS told him that he liked him, and for BROWN to get out of there. BROWN told them that if HARRIS tells you to do something, you do it.
-Deanna Shaffer
Witness Testimony, p.7161
Brooks’ father, Randy, said that Brooks was a contrarian who refused to smoke in the smoker’s pit, and students needed a permission slip to smoke there and he wouldn’t give Brooks permission. Randy said Brooks always walked to Pierce Street to smoke because it was closer.
Smoking was allowed in the smoking pit, on the North side of the school, but Brooks was such a contrarian that he wouldn’t smoke there. He also needed a permission slip from us to use the smoking pit, and we wouldn’t give it to him. He would walk out onto Pierce to have a cigarette. It was closer to the school. It was easier.
-The Inside Story of Columbine
Where and when did Brooks encounter Eric?
Brooks says he met Eric in the parking lot at his car at 11:10am
In his testimony from 4/20/99, Brooks said he walked out of the school entrance by the cafeteria and Eric pulled into the parking lot right in front of him.
In his testimony from 4/26/99, Brooks said he walked down to Pierce Street, and as he reached Pierce Street, he saw Eric pull into the parking lot and he walked back to meet Eric at his car.
In a statement to investigator Gary Muse, Brooks said he encountered Eric inside the school’s corridor, in the building. Eric told him to go home, so he exited the building and walked to Pierce Street.
Keep reading, because there is reason to believe that the story Brooks told investigator Muse is closest to the truth. Although, based on witness testimony, it seems most likely that Brooks encountered Eric just outside of the West corridor at the top of the stairs/hill, and not the entrance by the cafeteria.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Investigator Gary Muse interviewed Brooks Brown, a student of Columbine High School, who states that prior to the shooting beginning he was in the corridor of Columbine High School and recognized Eric Harris wearing a black duster, black jeans, carrying a duffel bag which had an odd shape to it. Eric Harris told Brooks Brown, “I like you, get out of here.”
Brooks Brown believed something bad was going to happen, so he exited the school and went to the parking lot.
-Brooks Brown
Witness Testimony, p.25679
That’s not all he told Muse. Brooks also told Muse that he (Brooks) had parked his car right in the middle of both Eric and Dylan’s cars. Brooks didn’t drive to school on the day of the shooting; he caught a ride with his brother.
Brown recognized Dylan Klebold’s car, an older black 4-door Mercedes Benz, with a “NIN” sticker on the back, parked next to his own car. Brooks Brown recognized Eric Harris’ car, a black Honda Civic 4-door, with a “Rammstein” sticker on the back window, parked on the other side of his own car.
-Brooks Brown
Witness Testimony, p.25679
7:10 a.m. – 7:15 a.m.: Departed home and rode to school with his brother AARON in his yellow Mercedes 240D.
-Brooks Brown
Witness testimony, p.10670
Eric and Dylan parked in completely separate parking lots. It’s not possible for Brooks’ car to have been parked in the middle of their cars, even if he really meant it was his brother’s car.
Here’s a diagram showing where Eric and Dylan parked their cars, along with where Brooks says he met Eric and where Stephanie Wagner saw Brooks and Eric talking – at the top of the stairs.
Either Brooks walked out of the entrance he said he did (#1) and met Eric at his car and followed him all the way up the stairs (#2), or Brooks exited the school out of the West entrance and met Eric at the top while Dylan was gone for that brief period of time.
At around 11:15, multiple witnesses saw Eric crossing the parking lot from his car to the stairs, alone, so it doesn’t seem like Brooks followed him up the stairs. It seems more likely that Brooks ran into Eric at the top of the stairs after exiting through the West doors, and after their exchange, Brooks walked down the stairs and left campus.
Brooks says he met Eric at his car at 11:10am. However, Eric wasn’t seen pulling into the parking lot until just before 11:15, by multiple people. Right after Eric parks, he is seen walking from his car to the top of the stairs wearing his trench coat with a bulge around his waist.
Brooks’ story doesn’t match witnesses who saw him
Deanna Shaffer was in the car with Matt Houck, who saw Brooks walking South on Pierce Street just by the “Mormon House.” She said she got out of class at 11:10am and it took 5-10 minutes for everyone to get into Ryan Schwayder’s Jeep. From there, it took a few minutes to get out of the parking lot.
Once the bell rang, let’s say it took them 7 minutes to gather at Ryan’s Jeep: 11:10-11:17.
Let’s say it took them 3 minutes to get out of the parking lot: 11:17-11:20.
At 11:13, Eric parks.
At 11:15, multiple people reported seeing Eric a the top of the stairs, alone.
At 11:15-11:20, Eric was seen in the parking lot with 2-3 people. Was Brooks with him? Was this right before Eric walked up the stairs?
11:20 is just when the majority of people noticed something was wrong.
It takes about four minutes to get from Columbine High School to the “Mormon House,” which is located on the block just after the school with the wooden fencing. So if Matt Houck saw Brooks walking by that fence at about 11:20, Brooks didn’t leave the school until at least 11:16.
Here is a picture of the fence around the “Mormon House” with a view up the hill to Columbine.
Here is a map showing that it takes about four minutes to walk from Columbine to the “Mormon House.”
Brooks may have met up with Eric in the parking lot at around 11:13 after getting out of class and before Eric crossed the parking lot and went up the stairs. However, one witness saw Brooks talking to Eric somewhere else after hearing the first explosion.
Was Brooks talking to Eric at the top of the stairs?
Stephanie stated that she was out at the “smoking pit” at 11:15-11:20 AM and that she had started to walk to the cafeteria when she heard an explosion, but didn’t think anything of it because she thought it was a senior prank.
Stephanie then stated that she saw Eric Harris at the top of the stairs talking to Brooks Brown.
I asked Stephanie what Eric was wearing and she stated that he was in his black trench coat and black pants. I asked Stephanie what happened next and she replied Brooks went down the stairs and Eric pulled out a “BIG” gun and started shooting into the main hall doors.
I asked Stephanie if she was sure that she had seen Brooks Brown and not someone else and she stated that she was sure.
-Stephanie Wagner
Witness Testimony, p.1255
Billy Arapkiles said that around the same time, 11:20, he saw someone in a white t-shirt pacing just 5 feet from the two suspects at the top of the stairs. Brooks Brown was wearing a white t-shirt that day. Did Arapkiles see Brooks moments before he went down the stairs and left?
He said that he looked toward the school and observed three people near the west entrance to the north main hall. Billy stated that two the [sic] subjects were wearing trench coats, and the third was wearing a white shirt.
According to Billy the two subjects wearing the trench coats had guns. He did not see the subject with the white shirt with a fire arm. Billy related that the subject wearing the white shirt was pacing back and forth and was about five feet away from the two in trench coats.
Billy did not think the subject wearing the white shirt was a victim but was with the other two.
-William Arapkiles
Witness Testimony, p.660
If Brooks was talking to Eric at the top of the stairs just before the shooting, then perhaps he didn’t exit the school from the first level by the cafeteria after all. Maybe he exited the school from the library or West hallway doors and encountered Eric standing near the tree with the light blue duffel bag at his feet, alone.
At this time, between 11:15 and 11:20, Dylan was seen in the cafeteria by multiple witnesses, including Chris Wisher. When Stephanie Wagner saw Brooks talking to Eric at the top of the stairs, Dylan Klebold was in the cafeteria, but only briefly. Right after Brooks walked down the stairs, witnesses saw both Eric and Dylan pull guns out of their bags and start shooting.
This means Brooks and Dylan may have crossed paths. Did Brooks run into Dylan on his way down the stairs? Or did he just barely miss Dylan?
Why did Eric let Brooks go without killing him?
If Brooks was talking to Eric at the top of the stairs, his reason for letting Brooks go suddenly makes perfect sense. Maybe Eric let Brooks go because he knew Dylan was coming back up the stairs at any moment. Maybe Brooks knew Dylan would turn on him if he killed Dylan’s childhood friend; he couldn’t risk losing his partner in crime.
What did Eric really say to Brooks?
Brooks always relays that Eric simply told him he likes him and to go home. According to Eric’s psychology teacher, Thomas Johnson, Brooks Brown said Eric told him to leave the school “to avoid being injured.”
Brooks said that he had seen Eric coming into Columbine carrying a strange duffel bag. Brooks was told to leave the scene to avoid being injured, as he related. I personally believe that he knows much more.
-Thomas Johnson
Witness Testimony, p.6690
Brooks tells a slightly different story.
First I saw Mr. Johnson and Mr. Bath, two of my teachers from Columbine, and waved them down… I just blurted out what I thought: Eric Harris was involved in a shooting of some kind. They both became very quiet. “You know, he’s in my psychology class,” Mr. Johnson said after a beat.
Mr. Bath asked if I was okay. I told them yeah, and they said they would see me later. Then they drove off.
-No Easy Answers
When Brooks called 911 from his house, the dispatcher was trying to find out how Brooks was certain Eric Harris was one of the shooters. The dispatcher asks Brooks, “did you see him?” Brooks replies definitively, “he told me.” Listen to the clip:
Strange things about Brooks’ 911 calls
There are several strange things about Brooks’ 911 calls.
In one call, Brooks tells the 911 operator the there is “no way” the 3 people they just picked up outside the school are the shooters (referring to the Splatter Punks). He goes on to say that he “witnessed one of the shooters walk into the school” right before the shooting.
Maybe he meant he saw one of the shooters at his car, but perhaps he really did witness Eric walking from the parking lot onto school grounds. After all, Stephanie Wagner did report seeing Brooks talking to Eric at the top of the stairs, then walk down the stairs right before Eric pulled out a gun and fired at the West doors. Listen to the clip:
Next, Brooks says something odd. After saying he witnessed one of the shooters walk into the school, he says, “I know his [Eric’s] hair color and none of those guys [the Splatter Punks], none of them matched it.” Listen to the clip:
If he knows Eric is the shooter, why would he speak to the dispatcher telling them the Splatter Punks don’t match Eric’s hair color? If the Splatter Punks aren’t Eric, who cares about their hair color? Wouldn’t a normal response be, “I know Eric and none of those guys are Eric?”
During another call to 911, Brooks starts to tell the operator he’s “pretty sure the other one [shooter] is…” and he stops himself and says, “I don’t wanna name names.” Brooks knows Eric is shooting up Columbine, and he is starting to think of other people who may be involved in killing his classmates, and he doesn’t want to name names? Listen to the clip:
Another thing is odd about what Brooks tells the dispatcher. He calls back just to tell them he thinks the shooters are in the light booth. He begins by explaining that he worked in the light booth with one of the shooters [Dylan] and then proceeds to tell the dispatcher that he thinks the shooters might be on the catwalk because they “like to play games.”
Some have speculated that Brooks is talking about how they like to play video games. However, it sounds more like Brooks has witnessed them playing some kind of game where they sit on the catwalk and pretend to shoot students. Listen to the clip:
Why didn’t Brooks see the bomb in Eric’s car?
Brooks claims to have seen Eric pulling multiple bags from the back seat of his car into the front seat. Eric had one 20-pound (4.5 gallon) propane cylinder with a gas can and timer sitting on one of his seats.
Wouldn’t Brooks have seen Eric’s time bomb if he was talking to Eric at his car?
Evidence items recovered from Eric’s car are numbered 6075-6090:
How did Brooks feel when he left the school?
When telling his story, sometimes Brooks stated he knew something was wrong immediately when Eric told him to go home. He said he walked away immediately and did as he was told because “Eric isn’t someone to mess with.”
Other times, he stated he didn’t think anything of it and kept walking.
Oprah: “And was it Eric Harris who saw you in the parking lot and said get out of here…”
Brooks: “Go home, I like you now.”
Oprah: “What did you think when you heard that?”
Brooks: “Nothin. I mean, I was going outside to have a cigarette, so I just kept walking to have it and…”
I took another drag off my cigarette—and that’s when I got hit by this uneasy feeling. Didn’t know where it came from, but somehow, in the back of my mind, I knew something wasn’t right. The hat. Eric’s demeanor. The test he’d skipped. I couldn’t pin down why alarms are going off in my head. But they were. Something was telling me that I needed to walk away.
Eric was a very serious person. You didn’t screw with him. I knew that from last year, when he’d posted messages on the Internet about how badly he wanted me dead.
-No Easy Answers
Did Brooks run or walk down Pierce Street?
According to No Easy Answers, Brooks was running South on Pierce Street to get as far away from the school as possible. Yet, all three witnesses saw him walking slowly or at a normal gait.
As they left the area, going south on Pierce, they did see Brooks Brown walking along Pierce at the bottom of the hill. Groskopf told me he seemed to be walking at a normal gait, and nothing seemed unusual.
-Leeann Groskopf
Witness Testimony, p.6461
He stated when he returned at about 11:05 or 11:10 hours, while walking on Pierce Street, Brooks Brown was walking southbound and said hello to him… he informed me that Brown looked scared, and his complexion was pale.
-Anthony Doty
Witness Testimony, p.778
HOUCK is very certain that they departed the school at 11:12 A.M.
South of the school’s property, and on the same side of the street (west side) there is a board fence around the back yard of a house known variously as the “Mormon house” and the “seminary house.” The fence is adjacent to the sidewalk. HOUCK recalls seeing Brooks BROWN walking southbound on the sidewalk next to that fence and said BROWN was “walking slow like something was on his mind… he was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.”
-Matt Houck
Witness Testimony, p.6634
Did Brooks leave the school with a friend?
Brooks told investigators he “left the school with a friend,” but he explains in his book that he didn’t connect with anyone until he was 0.8 miles South of the school, where his friend picked him up at a stop sign.
Which way did Brooks walk on Pierce Street?
In his testimony from 4/20/99, Brooks said he headed North and walked down West Fair Drive knocking on doors for assistance.
In No Easy Answers, Brooks explains that he headed South and ran 0.8 miles to South Teller Court before knocking on doors for assistance.
Brooks didn’t run down West Fair Drive knocking on doors
Brooks didn’t run down West Fair Drive “knocking on doors for assistance” as he initially told investigators.
HARRIS tells BROWN, “BROOKS, I like you now, get out of here and go home; now! BROWN walked from HARRIS’ vehicle to Pierce Street, thinking about what HARRIS said. At that point he hears a loud bang and an explosion. BROWN runs down West Fair Drive knocking on doors for assistance.
-Brooks Brown
Witness Testimony, p.10670
West Fair Drive is across the street and slightly North of the parking lot where Brooks said he encountered Eric at his car. Brooks didn’t walk North up Pierce Street–he walked South down the hill and didn’t start knocking on doors until he was 0.8 miles from the school on South Teller Court at Amy Taylor’s house.
Here is a map showing the path in red that Brooks told investigators he took after he encountered Eric in the parking lot:
And here is a map showing the difference between the path to West Fair Drive and the path to South Teller Court, where Brooks actually knocked on doors, called his father, called the sheriff’s department, got into Ryan Shwayder’s Jeep, and then met up with his father before both cars drove back to his (Brooks’) house:
In No Easy Answers, Brooks gives a detailed description of his journey from the school to the place where he knocked on doors and called his father and the police. The story in Brooks’ book doesn’t match his testimony, but the description of his journey down Pierce Street is supported by witness testimony.
Three witnesses saw Brooks walking South on Pierce Street
Anthony Doty (p.778)
Leeann Groskopf (p.6461)
Matt Houck (p.6634)
Another witness, Layne, said her friend Erica Jennings said she saw Brooks walking South on Pierce Street before the shooting, but this is not in her testimony.
He stated when he returned at about 11:05 or 11:10 hours, while walking on Pierce Street, Brooks Brown was walking southbound and said hello to him… he informed me that Brown looked scared, and his complexion was pale.
-Anthony Doty
Witness Testimony, p.778
As they left the area, going south on Pierce, they did see Brooks Brown walking along Pierce at the bottom of the hill. Groskopf told me he seemed to be walking at a normal gait, and nothing seemed unusual.
-Leeann Groskopf
Witness Testimony, p.6461
HOUCK is very certain that they departed the school at 11:12 A.M.
South of the school’s property, and on the same side of the street (west side) there is a board fence around the back yard of a house known variously as the “Mormon house” and the “seminary house.” The fence is adjacent to the sidewalk. HOUCK recalls seeing Brooks BROWN walking southbound on the sidewalk next to that fence and said BROWN was “walking slow like something was on his mind… he was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.”
Matt Houck
Witness Testimony, p.6634
What was Brooks doing on Weaver Avenue?
We know Brooks ended up on South Teller Court (to his right when walking down Pierce Street), but did he take a detour, cross the street to his left, and walk down Weaver Avenue? A witness says she saw Brooks on Weaver Avenue (see below).
According to No Easy Answers, Brooks immediately jumped down into the bicycle underpass on Pierce Street. That’s just past Walker Avenue going South. Walker Avenue is Weaver Avenue on the opposite side of Pierce Street. What was he doing on Weaver Avenue?
She told me as she was proceeding north on Pierce Street, and there were emergency vehicles blocking Pierce. She said she went east down Weaver Avenue and recalls seeing Brooks Brown in the subdivision, southeast of school, on Weaver Street just east of Pierce. She told me that Brooks had a very confused look on his face, and he was giving directions to a motorist who was attempting to get out of the subdivision.
-Rachel Baker
Witness Testimony, p.6082
Brooks walked 0.8 miles South to Mrs. Taylor’s house on South Teller Court
Since Brooks didn’t knock on doors on West Fair Drive, where did he go to use the phone? He explains the details in his book:
I heard more loud cracks. Something that sounded like explosions. A bomb. I wasn’t walking anymore. I was running on Pierce Street, wanting in that instant to get as far away from Columbine as possible.
One block. Another. Loud noises coming from behind me, sounds I knew meant unimaginable horror.
I reached a little green generator next to the sidewalk and sat down for a moment. I could just barely see the front edge of Columbine, at the top of the hill in the distance, and I could still hear the shots.
-No Easy Answers
Here is a video of the path from Columbine to the “generator” box:
Here is a video of the path from the “generator” box to Columbine:
I got up and kept moving away from the school. I was three blocks away from Columbine when I reached a concrete bicycle underpass that goes right under Pierce Street. I jumped down off the sidewalk and disappeared into it.
Christ, I thought. Get it together. Come on. What if I’m the only one who knows? What if the cops don’t have a name? I’ve got to find a phone. I have to get out of here.
I heard police cars driving overhead as I hurried back out from the underpass. I looked out across the empty lots, to where the closest house was, several hundred yards away.
-No Easy Answers
Here is a video of the path from Columbine to the bicycle underpass:
Here is a video of the path from the bicycle underpass to Columbine:
Here is a map of the bicycle underpass (right) through the footpath to the houses where Brooks said he began knocking on doors. He ended up at 6526 South Teller Court.
What’s interesting about the story Brooks tells in his book is that it contradicts the story he told Oprah. During an interview with his family, Brooks told Oprah he heard the gunshots and immediately went to a lady’s house. He starts fidgeting and says he doesn’t remember how he got there because he “blanked out.”
Brooks wrote an incredibly detailed description of his journey for someone who claims to have “blanked out” and therefore doesn’t know how he got to Mrs. Taylor’s house 0.8 miles away.
Oprah: “And was it Eric Harris who saw you in the parking lot and said get out of here…”
Brooks: “Go home, I like you now.”
Oprah: “What did you think when you heard that?”
Brooks: “Nothin. I mean, I was going outside to have a cigarette, so I just kept walking to have it and…”
Oprah: “Did you go home?”
Brooks: “Uh, first I heard the first couple gunshots and then went to (he starts fidgeting here) this lady’s house, I don’t even remember, I remember who it was, but I don’t remember how I got there, I like, blanked out after I heard the shotgun go off.”
I ran to the first house I saw and started hammering on the door. Nothing. I ran for the next one and did the same thing. I don’t know if I was yelling through the door or not. It didn’t seem to matter.
As I ran to the next one, I saw a woman getting into her car with her daughter. She looked like she was rushing.
“I need your phone!” I yelled to her. “Please let me use your phone!”
“No, no,” she said, hurrying into her car. “I have to leave.”
With that, she barreled out of there. I think I scared her.
As she left, I saw two other women outside the house. One of them was Mrs. Taylor; I knew her daughter Anna, a very sweet girl who had been in several classes with me over the years. Her mother recognized me—and saw the look on my face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I need to use your phone.” I was breathing hard, sweating, scared out of my mind. She asked me why.
I said I didn’t want to freak her out, but that I thought there had been a shooting at Columbine.
Mrs. Taylor stayed calm. “Okay,” she said. “You lie down. Lie on your back. I’ll go get the phone. You just try to relax for a second.”
I sat down, burying my head in my lap. Then I lay back with my arm over my face, trying to regain my composure. I still didn’t know for sure what was happening. I still felt panicked.
Mrs. Taylor gave me the phone. I called my dad at work.
-No Easy Answers
Brooks Brown ended up at Marilyn Taylor’s house, the mother of his 5th hour choir classmate, Amy. According to Mrs. Taylor, Brooks ran up to her house at approximately 11:45 a.m. asking to use her phone.
Brown explained he had just come from the school. Brown had just met a friend at the school, who told Brown that he liked him and that he wanted Brown to go home. Brown did as his friend asked and left the school. Brown did not say what the friend’s name was. Brown first referred to the individual as his friend and then started calling him his associate.
-Marilyn Taylor
Witness Testimony, p.7687
Brown continued by saying that his associate had just turned eighteen years old three weeks ago and had gotten his clearance for a gun today. Brown described his associate as an insane psycho. Brown said that as he was leaving school, he thought he heard shots.
-Marilyn Taylor
Witness Testimony, p.7687
6 witnesses observed/interacted with Brooks on or near South Teller Court
Ryan Shwayder (p.7128) – Jeep owner
Deanna Shaffer (p.7158) – Jeep passenger
Matt Houck (p.6634) – Jeep passenger
Marilyn Taylor (p.7686) – Brooks used her phone
Matt Good (p.6436) – Saw Brooks on Walker Street
Rachel Baker (p.6082) – Saw Brooks on Weaver Street
Matt and his friends returned to the school at about 11:40 a.m. and Pierce Street was blocked off by law enforcement. They turned onto Walker Street westbound. They saw Brooks Brown on Walker Street telling people to not go to the school.
-Matt
Witness Testimony, p.6436
Brooks used the phone at Mrs. Taylor’s house
Brooks says he left the school just after 11:10 A.M., long before police arrived on campus, yet Mrs. Taylor overheard him saying he saw 30 police cars at the school.
Taylor heard Brown explain to someone on the telephone that he saw approximately 30 police cars at the school.
-Marilyn Taylor
Witness Testimony, p.
Was Brooks exaggerating? Did he really mean to say he saw police on the way to the school?
How long was Brooks at Mrs. Taylor’s house?
Mrs. Taylor said Brooks was only at her house for about five minutes, which places him there from about 11:45 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. By 11:50 a.m., the shooting had been going on for approximately 35 minutes.
Why didn’t Brooks call 911 from Mrs. Taylor’s phone?
Despite knowing Eric is shooting up the school, Brooks never uses Mrs. Taylor’s phone to call 911. He first tries to call his mother, Judy. She doesn’t answer, so he calls his father, Randy, at work. He arranges for his father to pick him up by his drum teacher’s house nearby on Upham Street and starts walking in that direction.
It should be noted that Brooks told his father he thinks Eric is “shooting up Columbine,” acknowledges that he thought he might be the only person who knows the shooter’s name, and still doesn’t call 911.
Brooks doesn’t call 911, despite his family having reported Eric to the police multiple times for detonating pipe bombs, threatening to kill their entire family and urinate on their dead bodies, and proclaiming to want to kill the entire city of Denver. He doesn’t call 911, despite his mother claiming to know Eric would be the next school shooter.
When Brooks’ father hears Brooks say Eric is shooting up Columbine, he doesn’t call the police, either.
Brooks told his father to pick him up on Upham Street
Brooks’ plan was to meet his father on Upham Street to be picked up in front of his drum teacher’s house.
Here is a map showing the distance between South Teller Street and Upham Street:
Although Brooks has told multiple people by this time that he believes Eric Harris is shooting up Columbine, he doesn’t call 911 after talking to his father. Brooks hands the phone back to Mrs. Taylor and starts walking toward Upham Street, and that’s when Ryan Shwayder stops at a stop sign, notices Brooks in the street, and waves him over.
Brooks gets into Ryan Shwayder’s Jeep
Where did Brooks get into Ryan Shwayder’s Jeep?
Below is a video showing the stop sign where Brooks got into Ryan Shwayder’s Jeep. The location was described as the corner of “Peakview and Walker,” but there is no intersection of Peakview and Walker. Walker turns into Hoover and curves into South Teller Court.
That route is the path Ryan took to get to the stop sign, so it makes sense that he’d say Peakview and Walker.
Here is a video showing the path from the house where Brooks called 911 to the stop sign where he got into the Jeep:
Here is a map of the route Ryan Shwayder took to get to the stop sign where he picked up Brooks:
As they drove back in the vicinity of Kimberley’s house, they observed Brooks Brown enter a sport utility vehicle, possibly blue in color, in the vicinity of Hoover and Teller Avenues in Littleton, only about 4-5 blocks from Columbine High School.
-Kimberly Chlumsky
Witness Testimony, p.6245
Other passengers in Ryan’s Jeep
When Brooks got into Ryan’s Jeep, there were two other passengers: Deanna Shaffer and Matt Houck. He tells them what he thinks is going on at Columbine and then asks to use a phone. Deanna is the only person with a cellphone.
Brooks wrote in his book that he got into Ryan’s Jeep, asked for the phone to call 911, and was given the phone immediately. However, call records show that when Brooks was in the Jeep, Matt Houck called his father first, and Brooks never called 911.
In fact, Brooks dialed a specific phone number that didn’t work. Then, he called the operator and was transferred to Arapahoe County. That call disconnected after 4 minutes and he called the operator again and was re-transferred to Arapahoe.
Brooks never called 911 from the two phones he used after the shooting. He only called 911 when he got home after 12:00 noon. In later recollections of his experience, Brooks speaks as if he only ever called 911. He never discusses the specifics of his eleven minute conversation with Lieutenant Lynn Spears.
“I asked Ryan if I could use his phone to call 911. Almost like a zombie, he handed it to me. I called the police and told them I had information about what was happening. They seemed to have trouble transferring my call at first. I wound up getting forwarded to the Arapahoe County office”
-No Easy Answers
Timeline of Brooks’ calls made in Ryan’s Jeep
- 11:48 A.M. – Matt Houck calls his father for three minutes.
- 11:51 A.M. – Instead of calling 911, Brooks calls a specific number: 303-277-0611. Matt Houck got the impression Brooks was trying to reach a specific police officer. Perhaps he was trying to call the family member the Browns had in the District Attorney’s office on his father’s side. Apparently, it was the wrong number so he hangs up.
- 11:52 A.M. – Brooks dials the operator and is transferred to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department. He is on the line for four minutes. Why does Brooks ask to speak to an Arapahoe Sheriff?
- 11:56 A.M. Brooks hangs up for some reason and dials the operator again. His call is transferred to Lieutenant Lynn Spears from the Aarapahoe County Sheriff’s Department and he is on the line with Spears for at total of eleven minutes until 12:07 P.M.
Brooks’ first two calls to an Arapahoe County Sheriff are missing
The four-minute and eleven-minute calls with Arapahoe County Lieutenant Lynn Spears have never been released. All we have are the 911 calls placed jointly by both Brooks and his father, Randy, after they got to their house on Vance Street an hour after the shooting began.
Brooks’ father drives to his location
According to Brooks’ father, he raced down the highway at 110 MPH to get to Brooks’ location.
Did Brooks’ father meet him in Woodmar Park or on Upham Street?
Brooks tells the detective he is sitting in the Jeep in front of 6610 Upham Street. The detective notes that during the 11-minute call with Spears, Brooks’ father, Randy, shows up.
While this Investigator was speaking with brown, Brown’s father arrived on Upham street. Brown advised that at his father’s direction they were going to leave the Upham location and go to their home on Vance street.
-Brooks Brown
Witness Testimony, p.10662
Brooks noted that when his father showed up, he yelled at Brooks to get in his car, but he couldn’t because he was on the phone with the police and needed to keep the phone plugged in for power.
Brooks’ father then yelled at them all to get out of there and follow him back to their home on Vance Street. Brooks was already sitting in the driver’s seat, so Matt and Deanna got back into the car and Brooks drove the Jeep back to his house, following his father.
Randy Brown tells a slightly different story than Brooks
Randy Brown tells a slightly different story in his book The Inside Story of Columbine. According to Randy, he met Brooks in the Jeep at Woodmar Square Park, 0.7 miles away from 6610 Upham Street. Remember, the police officer said Randy pulled up to Brooks in the Jeep during their call, while Brooks was parked on Upham Street.
Here is a map showing the distance between 6610 Upham Street and Woodmar Square Park, where Randy says he went looking for Brooks:
Driving up to the entrance to Woodmar Square, I raced to find Brooks where I had told him to meet me. He was there, in a friend’s Jeep, on the phone to the police, when I pulled up. I told the driver to follow me, and I led them out of the neighborhood to Wadsworth, avoiding the road block going home.-The Inside Story of Columbine
Why did Randy start looking for Brooks when he got to the entrance of Woodmar Square Park?
What’s strange about this passage is that Randy refers to the driver as “the driver,” but Brooks was the driver and his father knew he was the driver because they spoke to each other.
Brooks was sitting in the driver’s seat and his father yelled at him directly, telling him to get in the car with him and that they need to leave immediately. Yet, in his book, Randy refers to the driver of the Jeep as someone other than Brooks, i.e., “the driver.”
I raced to find Brooks where I had told him to meet me. He was there, in a friend’s Jeep, on the phone to the police, when I pulled up. I told the driver to follow me, and I led them out of the neighborhood.
Speaking about Brooks being in the Jeep and then immediately saying “I told the driver to follow me” sounds like someone other than Brooks was driving.
When Brooks and his father drove back to their house, they drove down Wadsworth to avoid the road blocks. Here is a map of their path:
Since they were speeding, it probably only took them five minutes to get home. That places them arriving at their residence at approximately 12:13 P.M.
We don’t know precisely when they called 911, but they both called together a few times after they got home.
Brooks and his father call 911 from home
They called 911 at least 1 hour after the shooting began
Brooks told the 911 dispatcher Eric told him what he was doing
Here’s the section of the 911 call where Brooks tells the 911 operator Eric “told him” he was a shooter. The dispatcher is trying to verify how Brooks knows Eric is a shooter and Brooks says definitively, “he told me.”
Miscellaneous questions
Did Brooks consider Eric a friend?
Interview video here
1:19: “two of my really good friends shot and killed people”
I thought back to my conversation with Eric. Had I missed something? A detail, something sticking out of his bag? Anything?
And then it hit me—the sick realization.
Eric.
Son of a bitch.
I suddenly remembered all the articles I’d read about Jonesboro and Pearl and Paducah, and Kip Kinkel and Michael Carneal and Luke Woodham. I remembered those times when we’d laughed in speech class that Columbine was next. We’d said that if any school was ripe to get shot up, it was ours.
Now it was happening, and my friend was behind it.
Oh, man. No. No. Jesus, Eric, what the hell are you doing?
-No Easy Answers
Did Brooks ever make pipe bombs?
“I never touched a pipe bomb,” [brooks] said. “I never helped build one. I was never in on the pipe bomb stuff except for reporting it to the police.”
-The Denver Post
May 6, 1999
If Brooks wasn’t into making pipe bombs, why did he show Craig Scott bomb-making instructions online, and why did he tell Craig it was so easy to make pipe bombs?
Scott was at the home of Aaron and Brooks Brown during the summer of 1998 or 1997. They were all up late one night and the two brothers were talking about how easy it was to build a bomb. Aaron and Brooks got onto the internet and began searching for specific words. They were basically researching the different type of bombs that could be made using household products.
-Craig Scott
Witness Testimony, p.583
You know who else talked about making bombs with household products? Joe Stair. Also, Chris Morris participated in their bomb exploits behind Blackjack Pizza and most likely other places, too.
Later, Joe Stair told CRTF posters that he was intentionally misquoted in the above interview. He said he was talking to Katie Couric and he didn’t tell her he and his TCM friends made bombs for fun, but he told her he and his TCM friends would look up the instructions for making bombs for fun.
Stair told CRTF posters, “I, myself, have never made a bomb.”
It’s hard to believe Stair and his TCM friends merely looked up bomb-making instructions for fun, considering Chris Morris and Nate Dykeman admitted witnessing Eric and Dylan explode pipe bombs. Nate even helped Eric depowder his fireworks into a coffee can. And Chris admitted to making bombs, and was discussing cutting power to the school and placing pipe bombs in the school just one week before the shooting.
Is it just a coincidence that Brooks’ friends all made pipe bombs, but Brooks only looked up the instructions for entertainment?
Andrew is also aware of a band which Brooks Brown had in which the graphics on the cover for the recording were of the school being blown up.
-Andrew Robinson
Witness Testimony, p.5637
Did Brooks Brown ever wear a trench coat?
I don’t own a black trench coat, nor do I have a red bike.
-No Easy Answers
Megan said that she knew who Brooks Brown was and that he seemed nice to her. Megan said that Brooks Brown began wearing a trench coat she believed during his junior year at Columbine High School.
-Megan Morrison
Witness Testimony, p.5052
Put the info here about him showing up to an audition in a trench coat
Was the shooting really a surprise to Brooks?
In an NBC interview on April 21, 1999 (the day after the shooting), Brooks Brown told anchor John Gibson, “You could not have seen this coming a million years away.” Listen to the clip:
In an interview with Dan Abrams, Brooks was asked to describe Dylan and Eric as he would have described them before the shooting. Surprisingly, Brooks didn’t mention anything about Eric being scary, violent, strange, or threatening. He didn’t mention that Eric had threatened to kill him and his entire family and urinate on their dead bodies.
Brooks didn’t describe Eric as destructive, even though he knew Eric was detonating pipe bombs around town and running late-night missions with friends to destroy people’s houses for three years prior to the shooting.
Brooks didn’t describe Eric as destructive even though he was certain it was Eric who shot out his’ garage window with a paintball and Eric broke his car windshield with an ice chunk.
Brooks didn’t describe Eric as obsessed with guns and violence, even though he told police all Eric talked about was getting guns when he turns 18. Brooks didn’t describe Eric as potentially violent, even though his mother, Judy, was convinced Eric Harris was going to be the next school shooter.
No, when asked how he would have described Eric Harris before the shooting, Brooks said the following:
“If you had asked me I’d say Eric is a smart guy who is really just fun to talk to and he’s a person that you can actually hold a conversation with who can understand everything you say.
Dylan, you can sit and joke around with and laugh and he’ll make jokes, he’s a fun guy to talk to, they’re both fun people to hang around with. This is just what I would have said.”
-Brooks Brown, to Dan Abrams
Brooks told a different story to Oprah:
“I knew he was my friend for a while and then there he is, threatening my life, building pipe bombs and wanting to kill people. I wasn’t as fearful as it as I should have been I guess. I didn’t take it seriously because it didn’t seem like him.”
-Brooks Brown, to Oprah
If Brooks didn’t take Eric’s threats seriously because it “didn’t seem like him,” then why did he tell his parents about Eric’s website and support them in filing a police report?
Brooks never told his parents not to file a report. In fact, Brooks talks about the police report his family filed as something they all did to try to stop Eric before he went through with violent desires they were all certain he was going to act on.
If Brooks didn’t take Eric’s threats seriously because it “didn’t seem like him,” then why did he tell police he severed his friendship with Eric in 1997? We know the reason was because of Eric’s death threats, but he told a vague version to police.
Brown reported that purchasing guns was all that Harris would talk about. Brown had severed his friendship with Harris (two years ago) because Harris was beginning to act strange.
-Brooks Brown
Witness Testimony, p.10662
Still, Brooks insisted it didn’t make sense that Eric would kill people and had no indication that Eric might become violent.
Brooks: “I just can’t believe it, it doesn’t make sense.”
Oprah: “No indication whatsoever that this was brewing?”
Brooks: “No, nothing. Even in retrospect, like, in retrospect, I figured I’d be able to see something, but I can’t figure out a single thing.”
Brooks says he didn’t have any indication that Eric was capable of, or likely to commit mass murder, yet he told investigators he immediately knew Eric was shooting up the school and he has a history of being the victim of Eric’s targeted death threats.
Brooks also told investigators all Eric talked about was turning 18 and buying a gun.
According to Brown, Harris indicated that he could not wait until he (Harris) turned eighteen because he (Harris) was going to buy a gun. Harris had talked to Brown about the kind of guns Harris wanted to buy, but Brown could not say for certain what type of guns they were.
-Brooks Brown
Witness Testimony, p.10662
If Brooks didn’t think Eric was capable of shooting people, why did he tell his friends he thought Eric skipped class to buy guns that day? If Eric was just a normal, fun-loving kid, why would Brooks’ first thought be that Eric was shooting up the school with guns he skipped class to purchase?
PUT THE TESTIMONY QUOTE HERE
While Brooks was with Ryan Shwayder, Deanna Shaffer, and Matt Houck, he told them he thought Eric had skipped 3rd and 4th hour to go downtown to buy guns.
To recap… Eric threatened to kill Brooks, kill his entire family, urinate on their dead bodies, blow up Denver and kill residents, and then he talked about buying guns, and Eric shooting up the school was the first thing that came to his mind when he heard shots, and Brooks still said he had absolutely no indication that Eric might become violent.
Oprah: “Then you heard the gunshots. Did you know? Did you suspect?”
Brooks: The first thing that came to my mind was Eric was doing it. That’s the first thing that hit my mind.”
Why would Brooks immediately think Eric was shooting up the school if he didn’t have any prior reason to believe Eric was or could be homicidal?
Brooks and his family also had a long history of reporting Eric to the police for destruction of property, making death threats, and exploding pipe bombs.
In February 1997, Eric threw an ice chunk at Brooks’ windshield and broke the glass.
In August, 1997, The Browns reported Eric’s website to the police anonymously as a “concerned citizen.” In addition to bomb-making instructions, Eric’s website declared that he was making and detonating pipe bombs, and that he wanted to kill everyone in Denver, especially Brooks Brown.
On March 31, 1998, the Browns reported Eric to the police again.
On April 11, 1998, Judy Brown called the police to follow up about her previous March 18 report.
The Browns were aware that Eric was more than just a slightly troubled kid. Brooks’ mother, Judy Brown, claims to have known Eric was literally going to be the next school shooter and that he was going to shoot up Columbine.
Oprah: “Last March, Judy was shaken by news coverage of the bloody school shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and she thought then of Eric.”
Judy Brown: “And I remember saying he’s gonna do the same thing that just happened at another school, he’s gonna shoot kids, I know he’s gonna do it.”
Brooks knew Eric wanted to murder him and his family along with the entire city of Denver, all Eric talked about was buying guns when he turned 18, and all Brooks would have said about Eric before the massacre was that he was “smart” and “fun to talk to?”
Hmm…
Did Brooks know Eric and Dylan were planning revenge?
He [Brooks] told news crews that every time somebody messed with them or teased them, they would go home and plan this thing out. It wasn’t something they did after a good day at school according to Brooks, who had no part in it.
-Zachary Johnston
Witness Testimony, p.905
That in December of 1998, Lori was in first hour choir class with Brooks Brown and two other Subjects, identified only as “Robbie” (possibly Sherper) and “Zack” (possibly Heckler), when she Overheard Brooks tell “Robbie” and “Zack” that something big was going to happen on April 20th.
-Lori Reynolds
Witness Testimony, p.4190
Why did Brooks sit in Eric’s seat for 3rd hour philosophy?
Harris was not in class the day of the shooting. On that day, Brooks Brown sat in Harris’ seat so he could sit by Rebecca Heins.
-Crystal Bragazzi
Witness Testimony, p.5226
Why do the inconsistencies in Brooks’ statements matter? It’s unlikely that he was involved, but he may have seen something crucial to the case that he doesn’t want to share.
