Editing Columbine High School massacre (section)

====Basement tapes====
Harris and Klebold were both enrolled in video-production classes and kept five [[Videotape|video tapes]] that were recorded with school video equipment.<ref name="dive">{{cite web |url=http://www.schoolshooters.info/eric-harris-diversion.pdf |title=Eric Harris diversion files |publisher=Office of the District Attorney, First Judicial District, Jefferson and Gilpin Counties |page=49 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141014005724/http://www.schoolshooters.info/eric-harris-diversion.pdf |archive-date=October 14, 2014 |access-date=October 15, 2014}}</ref> Only two of these, "[[Contract killing|Hitmen]] for Hire" and "Rampart Range", and part of a third known as "[[Radioactive decay|Radioactive]] Clothing", have been released.{{efn|''Radioactive Clothing'' depicts them with fake guns and rigging fake explosives to stop radioactive clothes from taking over the world.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kass|2009|pp=129–130}}</ref>}} The remaining three tapes detailed their plans and reasons for the massacre, including the ways they hid their weapons and deceived their parents.<ref name="slatecol">{{cite magazine |last=Cullen |first=Dave |date=April 20, 2004 |title=The Depressive and the Psychopath |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2004/04/the_depressive_and_the_psychopath.html |magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018141017/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2004/04/the_depressive_and_the_psychopath.html |archive-date=October 18, 2014 |access-date=October 15, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> Most were shot in the Harris family basement, and are thus known as the Basement Tapes. Thirty minutes before the attack, they made a final video saying goodbye and apologizing to their friends and families.<ref name=tape333/>

In December 1999, before anyone besides investigators had seen them, [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] published an article on these tapes.<ref name=tape>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.state.co.us:80/columbine/Appendix_E.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207005715/http://www.state.co.us/columbine/Appendix_E.pdf |archive-date=December 7, 2012 |title=The Columbine Tapes |first1=Nancy |last1=Gibbs |first2=Timothy |last2=Roche |date=December 12, 1999 |magazine=Time |via=State of Colorado |access-date=June 30, 2019}}</ref> The victims' family members threatened to sue Jefferson County. As a result, select victim families and journalists were allowed to view them, though the tapes were then withheld from the public and, in 2011, destroyed for fear of inspiring future massacres.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.westword.com/news/columbine-killers-basement-tapes-destroyed-6283043 |title=Columbine Killers' Basement Tapes Destroyed |first=Alan |last=Prendergast |date=February 2, 2015}}</ref> Transcripts of some of the dialogue and a short clip recorded surreptitiously by a victim's father still exist. The pair claimed they were going to make copies of the tapes to send to news stations but never did so.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/columbine_basement_tapes_1.0.pdf|title=Transcript of the Columbine 'Basement Tapes'}}</ref>

When an economics class had Harris make an ad for a business, he and Klebold made a video called ''Hitmen for Hire'' on December 8, 1998, which was released in February 2004. It depicts them as part of the [[Trench coat|Trench Coat]] [[Mafia]], a clique in the school who wore black trench coats and opposed jocks,<ref name=coat/> extorting money for protecting [[Preppy|preps]] from bullies.<ref name=Fatal/><ref name=hithire/><ref name=kass197>{{Harvnb|Kass|2009|pp=197–199}}</ref> Klebold and Harris themselves were apparently not a part of the Trench Coat Mafia but were friends with some of its members.<ref name=Salon>{{cite web |last=Cullen |first=Dave |url=http://www.salon.com/1999/09/23/columbine_4/ |title=Inside the Columbine High investigation |work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |date=September 23, 1999 |access-date=May 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517044320/http://www.salon.com/1999/09/23/columbine_4/ |archive-date=May 17, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=rules/>{{efn|They did not appear in a group photo of the Trench Coat Mafia in the yearbook.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilgoren |first=Jodi |date=1999-04-25 |title=TERROR IN LITTLETON: THE GROUP; Society of Outcasts Began With a $99 Black Coat |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/25/us/terror-in-littleton-the-group-society-of-outcasts-began-with-a-99-black-coat.html |access-date=2022-01-12 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC News &#124; Americas &#124; Who are the Trenchcoat Mafia? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/325054.stm |access-date=2022-01-12 |website=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.denverpost.com/1999/04/21/columbine-high-school-trench-coat-mafia/ |title=Columbine High School shooting focuses on "Trench Coat Mafia" |first1=Susan |last1=Greene |first2=Bill|last2= Briggs|date=April 21, 1999}}</ref> However, Harris's father stated that his son was "a member of what they call the Trench Coat Mafia" in the 9-1-1 call he made on April 20, 1999.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kass|2009|p=219}}</ref>}} They wore black trench coats on the day of the massacre, and the ''Hitmen for Hire'' video seemed a kind of dress [[rehearsal]], showing them walking the halls of the school, and shooting bullies outside with fake guns.<ref name=hithire>{{cite web |url=https://www.columbine-guide.com/columbine-hitmen-for-hire-eric |title=Hitmen For Hire · Eric Harris School Assignment |website=columbine-guide.com}}</ref>

On October 21, 2003, a video was released showing the pair doing [[target practice]] on March 6, 1999, in nearby foothills known as [[Rampart Range]], with the weapons they would use in the massacre.<ref name=evid>{{cite web |url=https://www.columbine-guide.com/columbine-all-evidence |title=All Columbine Evidence Released, w Commentary &#124; Harris & Dylan Klebold |website=The Columbine Guide &#124; Eric Harris Dylan Klebold: journals, evidence}}</ref>