what happened to the columbine shooters

The two Columbine shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, both died by suicide inside Columbine High School on the day of the attack, and neither was arrested, tried, or imprisoned.

Quick Scoop: What Happened to the Columbine Shooters?

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris (18) and Dylan Klebold (17), both seniors at Columbine High School in Colorado, carried out a planned mass shooting and attempted bombing at their school. They murdered 12 students and one teacher and wounded more than 20 others before turning their guns on themselves in the school library.

Their deaths on the day of the attack

• The attack unfolded late in the morning and lasted less than an hour.

• After moving through the school, including the cafeteria and library, they returned to the library, which had been the scene of most of the killings.

• At approximately 12:08 p.m., both Harris and Klebold died from self‑inflicted gunshot wounds to the head in the library, ending the attack.

• Autopsies conducted by the county coroner ruled their deaths as suicides.

What happened to their bodies afterward

• Their bodies were removed from the school after investigators ensured there were no additional explosives or booby traps, a process that took many hours.

• Harris and Klebold’s remains were sent to the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office for examination and official autopsy.

• Dylan Klebold was cremated after a small, private funeral service with family and close friends.

• Reporting later indicated that Eric Harris was also cremated; one account describes his ashes being kept in an evidence locker by a private investigator involved in aspects of the case.

No prison, no trial, and no later “updates”

Because both shooters died on the day of the massacre, there were:

• No criminal trials or sentencing for them.
• No later prison records, parole hearings, or official “where are they now” updates.

The “latest news” connected to them tends to be about:

• Newly released documents, interviews, or books re‑examining the motives, planning, and myths around the shooting.

• Anniversaries of the massacre and how survivors, families, and the community continue to cope and memorialize the event.

• Occasional legal or medical updates about victims, such as a victim whose 2025 death from complications was later ruled a homicide linked to the original shooting, raising the official death toll.

How they are viewed in public discussion now

Over time, the focus of public conversation has shifted away from the shooters themselves and toward:

• The victims and their families, and how they’re remembered.

• Broader debates about school safety, gun laws, bullying narratives, and media coverage of mass shooters.

• Concern about not turning the perpetrators into anti‑heroes or cult figures, which is why memorial efforts largely exclude them.

Many modern discussions and forum threads about “what happened to the Columbine shooters” end up clarifying that they died at the scene in 1999 and then pivot into talking about legacy, policy changes, and how to avoid glorifying them.

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.