This document contains a selection of forum posts, comments, and journal entries believed to have been written by William Atchison, ordered chronologically and annotated. (Special thanks to Aysha Lonich, M.Ed.)
Early in 2016, William Atchison posted a comment in an online forum about “where to find cheap assault rifles for a mass shooting” (reported somewhat differently in different sources). This comment was flagged, and on 24 March 2016, two FBI agents visited Atchison’s home in Aztec, New Mexico. They spoke primarily with Atchison, but also with others, presumably his parents (as can be seen at the start and end of the transcript). Atchison admitted to his interest in school shooters but denied any intent to commit a violent act. Approximately twenty-one months later, on 7 December 2017, Atchison went to his former high school and shot and killed two people. This transcript has been newly edited and annotated for School Shooters .info. The attribution of speech may be unreliable (for instance, the first few speeches assigned to Atchison were probably spoken by one of his parents). For the text of Atchison’s online posts, see the document “William Atchison Online.”
This file contains three documents that Auvinen posted online regarding his likes and dislikes, his philosophy, and the justification for his school shooting. Though he never mentions Eric Harris, his writing quotes, echoes, and refers to Harris. In fact, his focus on “natural selection” is an imitation of Harris’s own writings.
This contains some of Auvinen’s ideology, along with favorite books, movies, hobbies, and other information.
This note was discovered approximately eight years after Bartley’s shooting. It is included in the document “Tennessee v. Bartley 2014.” The date the note was written is unknown.
This includes his entries from 10 August 2006 until 20 November 2006 (the day of his attack).
This is Bosse’s LiveJournal page. It includes entries from 2 September 2004 through 15 August 2005 (in reverse chronological order).
This is a translation from German of the content of Bosse’s website, consisting of his rant against the world.
This is a transcription of video Bosse made of himself ranting against the world (in English).
This is a transcipt of Sky Bouche speaking to reporters at the Marion County Jail on 20 April 2018, the day of his attack.
In this brief message Butler blames the city of Omaha and his school for sending him down the wrong path.
This document contains excerpts of Castillo’s journal, in facsimile.
This play was written by Seung Hui Cho while a student at Virginia Tech. The title is from a song by Guns 'N Roses and the play quotes the lyrics.
This play was written by Seung Hui Cho while a student at Virginia Tech.
In 2005 Cho wrote an essay and read it aloud in class, causing distress among the students and professor. This document includes the essay along with the professor’s letter to Cho in response to the essay.
This document contains short stories by Cho, along with his poem titled “a boy named LOSER.”
Cho sent what has been described as a “multimedia manifesto” to MSNBC on the day of his attack at Virginia Tech. This included 23 pages of photographs and text. This document contains the text. Cho identified himself in this document as Ax Ishmael, which is what was also found written on his arms in red ink (initially this was reported in the media as “Ax Ismail” or “Ismail’s Ax.”)
This is a translation from Portuguese that appeared on many websites.
This was the homepage to Fabrikant’s website as of 2009 and perhaps later. The homepage is still there but it has been changed.
Fabrikant defends his actions and presents himself as unrepentant for committing murder.
Fabrikant wrote two versions of this document—a brief one and an expanded one.
This document combines three files from Fabrikant’s website.
This is the letter Flores mailed to the Arizona Daily Star prior to his attack.
This document contains Gill's pages from the site VampireFreaks.com. This material includes the results of online questionnaires he completed as well as his postings. There has been ongoing controversy regarding whether or not Kimveer Gill played the video game Super Columbine Massacre. Gill lists this as one of his favorite games on page 15 of this document.
These are scans of printed pages; the stray markings on some pages are mine (P.L.). In addition, in some cases words at the edges of the pages did not print and I have written them in.
This document contains the text of Gill's postings. I found the document online and though the content is accurate, the format is not the same as in his actual postings. This document contains most of the same material as the scanned version, but with the advantages that it is easier to read and the content is searchable.
After the attack, Hainstock wrote letters from prison to a journalist in which he claimed he did not intend to kill John Klang, discussed his father, identified as gay, and provided other information.
Dylan maintained a handwritten journal. This document is a transcription of the journal and miscellaneous other writings that were found after his death, along with explanatory comments.
This is a collection of pages from several Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO) documents, including the 1997 and 1998 pre-attack records, as well as the massive collection of post-attack materials. There is some redundancy in these sources, but I have chosen to include different versions of the same content rather than choose one version over another. Note: immediately after the attack, someone posted a fake webpage claiming to be Eric Harris. As far as I know, any online content that is not included in the JCSO material is fraudulent.
This document contains three school assignments in which Harris wrote about his childhood, highlighting the many fun times and pleasant memories he had of his younger years.
Eric kept a handwritten journal that was discovered after his death. This document is a transcription of the journal with explanatory comments.
This was written several weeks before the attack at Columbine. Dylan’s English teacher was concerned about the content and addressed this with him, his parents, and a guidance counselor, but Dylan argued that it was just a piece of fiction. The narrator in the story recounts witnessing a man kill multiple students. The killer is described as 6’4”, left-handed, and wearing a black trenchcoat. Dylan himself was approximately 6’4”, left-handed, and wore a black trench coat.
This document is a collection of quotes from Harris's writings, organized by theme. The themes include his preoccupation with being original and beyond all influence, his grandiose (at times god-like) self-image, his fascination with natural selection and destroying humanity, and more.
In the weeks leading up to the attack at Columbine High School, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold filmed themselves talking about their violent intentions. The videos have been shown to a few people, but never released to the public. This description of them, along with some quoted passages, was compiled and posted online. It has been reformatted for this site.
This is a fascinating window into the perpetrator’s mind. It includes musings about life and death, self-diagnosis and description of mental and physical problems, preoccupation with killing, and plans for his attack.
Hribal cites Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as influences. He also mentions Julius Caesar and Lenin.
Lane posted this on 30 December 2011, approximately two months before his attack.
This document provides crucial information from Lanza himself regarding what appears to have been his first psychotic episode.
This is an annotated transcript of Lanza’s recordings that he posted on YouTube in 2011–2012, but which were not discovered until 2021.
On 20 December 2011, Adam Lanza called in to John Zerzan’s talk radio program AnarchyRadio to discuss a domesticated chimpanzee that turned violent.
This document contains the text of every surviving post made by Adam Lanza to the forum “Shocked Beyond Belief,” under the username “Smiggles,” with commentary by Reed Coleman. To see these posts in the context of the complete discussion threads, see the document “Shocked Beyond Belief”: Complete Threads. (Special thanks to Reed Coleman.)
This is the spreadsheet (or part of it) that Lanza created where he documented information about killers. The file name as it was released to the public was colgam01. According to Reed Coleman, this is an abbreviation of “Columbine Game.” See “Adam Lanza’s ‘Shocked Beyond Belief’ Posts.”
The following are assorted writings by the perpetrator.
This document contains stories that Adam Lanza and a peer wrote in fifth grade at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
This document contains stories by Adam Lanza written in fifth grade at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
This consists of notes and sketches of a screenplay.
These pages contain Lanza’s writing on a variety of topics.
These pages include daily schedules, Lanza’s comments about eating and weight, and a long list of words.
This is a strange piece about fear of babies attacking.
This is a social media conversation between Lanza and an online friend. Lanza posted under the name “Smiggles.”
Lanza wrote a college application essay about pedophilia.
Lanza’s comments on love, sex, and marriage.
A script Lanza wrote involving six characters.
Lanza’s comments about the selfishness of women.
This searchable document contains the entirety of every (extant) thread on the forum “Shocked Beyond Belief” to which Adam Lanza posted (under the name “Smiggles”). The threads are ordered chronologically by the date when Lanza first posted to each one; but keep in mind that he sometimes returned to threads again later on. To read his individual posts in order, please see the companion document Adam Lanza’s “Shocked Beyond Belief” Posts, which contains cross-references to this document. Version 2.0 includes newly discovered posts. (Special thanks to Reed Coleman.)
I have not found any reproductions of Lépine's suicide note, but this document contains the text of the note in the original French and an English translation.
This document consists of pages extracted from the document “Florida State University Shooting: Police Report.” These pages include May’s account of himself as a “targeted individual,” a letter he mailed to multiple people, and other related materials.
This is May’s letter to his employer, dated 6 October 2014 (the day before his former girlfriend contacted the police out of concern for May’s condition).
Pierson’s entire journal has not been made public. These are the excerpts included in the “Investigative Report: Arapahoe High School” — also available on this site.
Evan Ramsey wrote two notes with the expectation that he would die in his attack. As it turned out, however, he decided not to kill himself. These notes were found after the shooting.
Reyes left behind two letters: one to his parents, and one to the teachers and students at his school.
Scans of Elliot Rodger’s handwritten journal, covering the years 2010 through 2014, in two volumes. For the edited text of the journal, please see “Elliot Rodger’s Journal Transcribed.”
Elliot Rodger’s handwritten journal, covering the years 2010 through 2014, transcribed and edited.
This is Elliot Rodger’s autobiography. The document is exactly as he created it, except that we have added page numbers.
Stair created an identity for himself as Andrew Blaze. This document describes his social difficulties in childhood.
This describes the cache of materials Stair left behind him, as well as some comments about his life and beliefs about what will happen to him after death.
Stair kept a journal from 23 November 2016 through 5 June 2017.
Stair created an alternate identity for himself as Andrew Blaze. This is the homepage of his website.
These three documents are copies of Weise's online writings. “Thoughts of a Dreamer” contains journal-like entries. The other two contain his fiction. These two have overlapping, but not identical, content. These pages are included in the document that consists of printed pages scanned, but have the advantage that they can be searched. (The scanned pages, however, include material beyond these three files.)
This document contains Weise’s webpages, postings, and fiction. These are scans of printed pages; the stray markings on some pages are mine (P.L.).
Before his sniper attack from the tower on the campus of the University of Texas on 1 August 1966, Whitman murdered his mother and then his wife. He left letters for his brothers John and Patrick, and notes about killing his mother and wife. He was also in the habit of writing notes and inspirational thoughts to himself. A sample of this, along with a later comment (perhaps added the night of the murders) is included.
Wong’s suicide note is dated 18 March 2009, but it was not postmarked until 3 April, the day of his attack. It is addressed to the news program “News Ten Now,” where it was received several days after the incident.
This document collects several pieces of Woodham's writing. WARNING: this includes a graphic description of extreme cruelty used in killing his pet dog.