Author discusses book, writing process

By Andrew Wigger

awigger@civitasmedia.com

Dave Cullen signs copies of his book, Columbine, for Newberry College students and community members.
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_DSC_0192.jpgDave Cullen signs copies of his book, Columbine, for Newberry College students and community members. Andrew Wigger | The Newberry Observer

Dave Cullen said that when people read his book for the first time they are shocked to learn there were bombs involved and had nothing to do with jocks.
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_DSC_0197.jpgDave Cullen said that when people read his book for the first time they are shocked to learn there were bombs involved and had nothing to do with jocks. Andrew Wigger | The Newberry Observer

NEWBERRY — The Columbine shooting had nothing to do with the bully versus the jock, but rather two youths wanting to show off their greatness, according to Columbine author Dave Cullen.

During the years researching Columbine, and other school shootings, Cullen asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation if they had a profile on a school shooter. They told him they did not have one profile, but had three.

“The most uncommon profile is the psychopath, which was Eric Harris. He is only out for himself, no feelings for others and enjoys inflicting pain. The most common, which was Dylan Klebold, is suicidal depression,” Cullen said. “The third type is schizophrenic, out of their mind, which was the Virginia Tech shooter, Seung-Hui Cho.”

When it comes to analyzing the depressive profile, most people wonder why kill when sad. Cullen says they are not only moping around and sad, but are also really angry. During the 10 years Cullen researched Columbine he was able to read both the journals of Harris and Klebold.

“By far most angry at himself (Klebold), very typical of a depressed person. Why would someone be that way, because someone is horrible to them, degrades them daily. That was Dylan’s life and the person saying that was Dylan,” Cullen said. “Dylan’s journal, he hates life and wants to die.”

In his journal, Klebold downplays what he has and cannot see the good he in his life. Klebold list things that are good in his life including a good house and family along with other positives. However, he down plays what he has.

Cullen said three quarters of shooters in the past three years were deeply depressed, like Klebold. He said they feel impudent, pathetic and want to show they matter and mean something.

“Dylan was a loving kid, the last person you would expect doing this, but was more and more depressed. He hooked up with a best friend who was a psychopath who manipulated him,” he said.

In Harris’s journal, the first line says he hates the world, the complete opposite of Klebold’s journal. Cullen said that Harris had the ability to fake empathy. He cited a letter Harris wrote as an apology to the owner of a vehicle he broke into. In the letter Harris was kind and remorseful for his actions, but in his journal he was the complete opposite.

“He knew how to impress adults, he quoted Shakespeare in papers all the time, which is a great way to impress adults. Psychopaths have no regards for feelings of others, or what happens to others,” Cullen said. “However, they are hardly ever killers because there is no money in it. However he was also sadistic.”

Harris wanted a grand event and spent at least a year planning. He also knew how to con Klebold. Harris found Klebold’s need to be important and exploited it. Cullen said that the journals the youths wrote were like night and day.

“I think Eric would have been shocked if he read Dylan’s journal. It is unusual for two teen boys to have journals. Eric’s was more of a documentary to plan, then he realized why written, he wanted to be a star,” Cullen said.

When it came to the shooting, all Harris cared about were the bodies. His plan was to bomb the school and shoot down the youths running out. According to Cullen, Harris went into the cafeteria to find the time when most people would be there. However, Harris and Klebold were not good bomb makers and what they wanted to happen, did not.

Since the Columbine shooting, others have tried and follow Harris and Klebold’s script, and improve on it. Cullen says there are three things that we as a society can do. He said the first two are what the media typically goes toward when a shooting happens: guns and mental health.

“We know most of the country wants some kind of gun regulation,” Cullen said.

He added that this has more to do with automatic weapons.

When it comes to mental health, Cullen says we will never solve it, but we know how to treat it.

“There are simple forms to help identify depressed kids, and they typically tell the truth, they do want to tell the truth,” he said. “Two people cannot be involved, mom and dad, this is because there could be shame, embarrassment or they do not want them to worry.”

The third method Cullen mentioned is the media itself. He said the media makes a star of the shooter for a week, whether it is CNN, MSNBC or Fox News. However, he says there has been a movement to not show or name the killer in recent years.

“Anderson Cooper does this and he only talks about the victims and his ratings have not suffered. Megyn Kelly on Fox News does it and she is also top rated,” Cullen said. “No one else does this, they need to step it up and cull back the coverage.”

Cullen came out to Newberry as the ninth annual Gerding Author for Newberry College. Students at Newberry College read his book Columbine and had the opportunity to ask him questions. One question was about his book helping Harris and Klebold become known.

Cullen said that was one of his fears, but the two were already famous when he wrote the book.

“Eric and Dylan were failures, and anyone reading the book can see Eric is a horrible person …. I do not think anyone reading the book would be impressed by him,” he said.

Another question was if writing the book affected Cullen’s personal life.

“Yes, literally seven years into writing I wrote the worst chapter, which was Dave bleeding to death, then I wrote the second worse chapter. I did not know Dylan’s funeral would be the hardest, it was heart breaking for the parents,” he said. “I was grieving for Dylan. He was a good kid gone wrong.”

Newberry College student Peter Hackett was impressed with Cullen’s presentation. He said, Cullen did a good job summarizing everything and helping understand events.

Students were not the only ones who came to his reading. Little Mountain mayor Jana Jayroe also came out because she wanted to know more.

“I thought I knew of the Columbine incident, but this was different than anything I had seen,” she said.

Reach Andrew Wigger at 803-276-0625 ext. 1867 or on Twitter @TheNBOnews.