Title : Columbine high school principal speaks on 20th anniversary of most notorious US school shooting
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Columbine high school principal speaks on 20th anniversary of most notorious US school shooting
'I let them down, 13 people died on my watch': Columbine high school headmaster whose 'jock' mentality was blamed for a culture of bullying opens up about his regrets on the 20th anniversary of America's most notorious school shooting
- Frank DeAngelis tells his version of the Columbine High School shooting in his forthcoming memoir They Call Me "Mr De", out on March 31
- On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, opened fire in the school in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 and wounding 24 others
- In his book, DeAngelis describes coming face to face with one of the gunmen
- He and a group of girls hid inside the gym for hours as the shooting continued
- By the time authorities intervened, the two gunman had killed themselves
- After the shooting, DeAngelis said he was blamed for turning a blind eye to bullying at the school because he was a former coach and favored athletes
- He said: 'I let them down. Something that I have to live with is 13 people died on my watch. The damage and the devastation was done by two of my kids'
- Today he works as a counselor for schools affected by mass shootings
Former Columbine High School Headmaster Frank DeAngelis (above) has written a memoir detailing the day America's most notorious mass shooting took place under his watch on April 20, 1999
The headmaster of Columbine High School has opened up about his regrets ahead of the 20th anniversary of America's most notorious school shooting that left 13 people dead in Littleton, Colorado.
'My worst nightmare became a reality,' Frank DeAngelis said of April 20, 1999, the day 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold, wearing trench coats stocked with an arsenal of weapons, opened fire on the halls of Columbine High School.
Twenty years on, DeAngelis is telling the story through his eyes in his forthcoming memoir, They Call Me "Mr De".
'It was a beautiful spring day, 70 degrees, with blue skies,' the former headmaster told The Daily Express.
'My secretary comes running in, and says there's a report of gunfire.'
Harris and Klebold had placed two 20lb propane bombs in the school's cafeteria and were planning to shoot survivors as they fled.
When the bomb timers failed, the pair stormed into the school and started shooting everyone in sight.
'My worst nightmare became a reality,' DeAngelis said of the day 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold opened fire on the halls of Columbine High School
DeAngelis left his office to see the events unfolding at his school, under his watch, with his own eyes.
He soon found himself face to face with one of the gunmen, who wore a backward baseball cap, a white T-shirt and a black vest.
'I remember the gun - a long gun,' DeAngelis said.
Suddenly a flock of girls coming out of a locker room on their way to gym class.
DeAngelis' memoir is set to hit the shelves on March 31, 20 days before the 20th anniversary of Columbine
'They were in the middle of the crossfire, so I ran to them,' DeAngelis said.
The group fled down a side hallway toward the gym, but the door was locked.
'Girls were screaming, the gunman was firing shots and he was getting closer,' DeAngelis said, describing how he scrambled to pull out his keys and miraculously got the right one on the first try.
'I believe it was divine intervention,' he said. 'If I would have had to fumble around to find the key there's a good chance the girls and I would have died.'
For the next three hours, DeAngelis hid in the gym with the girls as the gunfire continued.
Police and SWAT teams waited three hours to intervene, fearing that the shooting wasn't over.
By the time they did, the gunmen had already killed themselves and several of the wounded had bled to death waiting for help.
Once authorities secured the scene, DeAngelis addressed the crowd of hysterical parents outside the school who'd been waiting to hear if their children had survived.
'There's a good chance their kids lost their lives that day,' he said. 'It was one of the most devastating things I've ever had to do.'
Twelve students and one teacher were killed and 24 more were wounded in the shooting, which was the worst school shooting in history at the time
DeAngelis has accepted some of the blame for the 13 deaths, asking: 'What did I miss?'
Twelve students and one teacher were killed and 24 more were wounded on that day, not including the two deceased gunmen.
Speaking 20 years later, DeAngelis' voice shook with emotion as the former sports coach explained how he was blamed for the shooting because many thought his 'jock' mentality meant that he turned a blind eye to bullying.
'I let them down,' he said. 'Something that I have to live with is 13 people died on my watch. The damage and the devastation was done by two of my kids.'
He then asked: 'What did I miss?'
While most Columbine teachers quit after the shooting, DeAngelis stayed on for another 15 years.
He said the shooting created a ripple effect of other tragedies.
A student who held the body of a dying teacher later hanged himself, the mother of a paralyzed student took her own life, and 'many turned to alcohol and drugs and contemplated suicide. DeAngelis himself suffered PTSD.
'People ask: "Does it get back to normal?" It never does,' he said.
After retiring in 2014, DeAngelis became a counselor for schools where shootings have occurred.
He also campaigns for improved gun control regulations nationwide.
'I continue to fight because one more death is one too many,' he said. 'We need to come together as a society to make sure this violence ends.'
After retiring in 2014, DeAngelis became a counselor for schools hit by mass shootings
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