Records reveal minds of Columbine killers

DENVER, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Newly released documents from the Columbine High School shooting investigation further reveal the two killers’ fascination with violence and death.

In a school paper written three months before the massacre, Eric Harris describes a fictitious battle between Marines and aliens with scenes similar to those in the April 20, 1999, attack, the Rocky Mountain News reported Thursday.

Harris and Dylan Klebold gunned down a dozen students and a teacher at the suburban Denver school before taking their own lives in the nation's deadliest school shooting.

Nearly 26,000 documents have been released by the Jefferson County sheriff’s office since the shooting. Harris’ school paper was among 9,735 pages released Wednesday through a special open records task force.

In his paper, Harris describes himself as a soldier, "the only one on humanity’s side," in an intense intergalactic battle with aliens. He is fighting on the moon with a Marine platoon against overwhelming odds.

Harris also describes a "carpet of blood" and "bullet shells sprinkled" on the floor, a scene similar to the aftermath found at Columbine three months later.

"Arms, legs, and heads were tossed about as if a small child turned on a blender with no lid in the middle of the room," Harris wrote.

The newly released records also include a 12-page essay, "The Mind and Motives of Charles Manson," written by Klebold about the California killer’s life from childhood to adulthood, with a graphic account of the murders that shocked the nation in 1969.

Klebold expresses no opinion of Manson's actions.

"The question of whether or not he is insane is a question of opinion, which cannot have a 'true' right answer," Klebold wrote. "However, his beliefs, which fueled his and his family's actions between 1968 and 1975 conflicted with society's morals, around which this country revolves."

The November 1998 paper was not graded but includes an unidentified teacher's remarks.

"Your paper is very good," reads the note. "All the little circles are just little mistakes."

Klebold’s paper was obtained from a fellow student who had traded papers with him as part of a class exercise. She still had the essay when she was interviewed by sheriff’s officers in September 1999 during the investigation.

The Columbine Open Records Task Force has asked all agencies involved in the Columbine investigation to consider releasing documents. More records exist and some documents, such as crime scene photos, may not ever be made public.