Timehost: Welcome to the TIME room. Our guests, Columbine High School student Jen LaPlante and her mother Daryll Strahl are with us, and we're ready to begin. Right now, we'll start with Jen. Her mother will join us later.

Timehost: Welcome, Jen. Many in our audience have asked us to communicate their wishes of sympathy for what you went through yesterday. And to say that their thoughts are with you.

Jen LaPlante: Thank you. I've received lots of e-mails, also, thanks.

Timehost: First of all, how are you doing?

Jen LaPlante: All right. It's not the best of times. I'm just trying to get everything in order. There are lots of people who are saying different things about people who are missing, and I'm just trying to put it all together.

AAAEEEL asks: : I first want to express my grief to all the people there in CO. I am curious if anyone saw this coming?

Jen LaPlante: You know, I don't think anyone saw it coming here. It's happened all over the country. But no one thought it was going to happen here.

clarebear_xoxo asks: Do you know the people that did this or were they not well known? Take care.

Jen LaPlante: I know both of them. I was in bowling class with both of them. I don't know Dylan as well. But I know Eric better. Because Eric was in my composition class, and it was a more accelerated English class, but not an honors class. We've been bowling with them, to Rock 'N Bowl on Saturdays. And my friends worked with Eric at a pizza place. I didn't think they were hostile people. I thought they were out of the ordinary, but there are a lot of people out of the ordinary at our school. People who have their own personality.

Timehost: They've been described in the media as loners, who resented teasing at the hands of classmates.Is that an accurate description?

Jen LaPlante: Well, I think anyone resents teasing. I'd say they are loners, but only to a certain extent. For example, if you're a skater, your're not going to hang out with as many people as a prom king, or whatever.

Little_Bastard7 asks: Will you ever forgive these people?

Jen LaPlante: No. They killed my friends.

Timehost: What can you tell us about the trenchcoat mafia. How much of a presence were they in day-to-day school life?

Jen LaPlante: Okay, first of all, they weren't like a gang. Everyone's been saying that. They didn't talk trash We just knew them as the trenchcoat mafia, just as a group, not as a gang. They always wore shirts with something that was in German on them. There were a bunch of sayings in German -- sayings that I don't know. There was paraphernalia, but there weren't swastikas. They weren't skinheads.The only thing that I saw related to that kind of thing was an anarchy sign.

Timehost: There's been speculation that the shootings were associated with the anniversary of Hitler's birthday yesterday...does that sound credible to you?

Jen LaPlante: Yes, it does. But there was also speculation that it was associated with 4-20 -- the whole pot thing. And it wasn't. And it wasn't connected to the Matrix. But I'm pretty sure that they planned to make it the same day as Hitler's birthday.

LATEACH asks: As a teacher, I'd like to know how did your teachers help you to stay safe and to cope with the tragedy?

Jen LaPlante: The teachers were great. What I just heard on the news is that two weeks ago they all went to a special special training session on crisis management. They were as orderly as could be expected. Mr. Manuelo, a science teacher, I heard that he helped my friends, by bringing them into a back room and making sure they were safe. There was another math teacher who brought paper and pencils, so that they would have something to do, she even told them to play tic-tac-toe, just to get their minds off what was happening.

Marty2634 asks: Hello Jen. Describe the scene inside the high school when the shooting took place.

Timehost: And where were you when the shooting started?

Jen LaPlante: I wasn't in the high school at the time -- I was right outside. I was bombarded by the rush of all the students running outside. My friend was in gym. She said it was like stomping through halls, the alarm went off, someone yelled, "He's got a gun!" They all huddled into one closet. They all thought it was a fire alarm. So they all walked out.

cartman98_187_8 asks: Some people say that they killed jocks and African-Americans first, and some say they didn't. What really happened?

Jen LaPlante: Well, the people in the library, they were the only ones who said that. With as much German paraphernalia as they had, I wouldn't be surprised if they were racist, but they were never hostile or never said anything derogatory beforehand.

Crystal_998 asks: Was there anyone shot that you know?

Jen LaPlante: Yes. Two people I know got shot. They're okay. One of my good friends got grazed in the head by a bullet, but he's fine. There are a lot of rumors about people who are dead, but we don't know. A bunch of people who were running through said they thought they saw someone killed, and it later turned out that they were fine. There's still a lot of confusion and rumors.

no_limit_girl77 asks: What was your first thought when you heard there were people shooting other people in the school?

Jen LaPlante: Well, we wanted to get people out. We were worried about our friends. I was worred about my boyfriend. We just sat on the side of the road and started praying. We had no idea it would go to this extent. We we all scared. Everyone in that school was scared for their lives. They thought it was just a regular day at school, and they were shot at, having to beg for their life. It was scary.

Timehost: We've had several comments similar to this next one....

KindredK asks: I'm in Longmont,Colorado so I just want you to know my prayers are with everyone who had to go through this,and I will be lighting a candle tonight while I am in the mountains.

Jen LaPlante: That's sweet. Thank you.

KoRnGoddess698 asks: I wanted to know If there was anything that you guys could have done to stop the shooting. Would you do it?

Jen LaPlante: I think that we could probably go over what we could have done, but no one did everything. We had a cop at school at the time, and he has a gun that was loaded. And perhaps he could have shot them, but that didn't happen.

Ten_inch_boytoy4u asks: Jen, first of all, I am terribly sorry for what you have had to endure. I am also in high school. My question is whether you feel the police and SWAT teams acted quickly enough.

Jen LaPlante: I think that the teams and the police acted as quickly as they could for the situation. And it was chaos. They didn't know where the shooters were, how many there were, or even who they were, or whether there was a hostage situation. I think they acted as quickly as they could.

Holdens_brother asks: Has this event brought you closer to friends, family, or God?

Jen LaPlante: Yes. If you think about people that you see every day, and then you see them after something like this happens, you're a lot more grateful to see them.

summer_527 asks: How will you be able to go back to school?

Jen LaPlante: I don't know. I don't even know if we're supposed to go back, or if we're graduating on time, or what.

Timehost: It's been announced that the school might be closed for the rest of the year, actually.

Jen LaPlante: Yes, I think that would be a good idea. They said that they found eight or nine clips of ammunition, and that means that there are that many bullet holes in the walls and around the place. I'm glad I'm a senior and that I won't have to go back after this year.

mirandamichelle2 asks: I go to a school that is similar to yours. It's a public school with almost 1600 students and I must say that I feel extremely safe in my school. Before this happened, how safe did you feel in your school?

Jen LaPlante: Probably as safe as any person. It's an upscale, not a rich school. There are security guards, teachers. It's suburbiaville - you don't think that kind of thing is going to happen there. There's a cop there every day. It's an isolated neighborhood and you just don't think something like that is going to happen there.

abercrombiedude98 asks: Do you think that more security precautions at your school would have detoured the killers at all?

Jen LaPlante: No. I think they were going to do it. Whatever their revenge was, they were going to do it.

Ismith72 asks: How long before your mother knew you were not injured?

Jen LaPlante: Only about an hour. I called her and she was crying. She said my dad had called and wanted to know where I was. She saw me first on television, being interviewed. My father said it was the most difficult hour of his life.

Bball_with_Vince asks: Rosie O'Donnell today was crying on her show because of what happened. She is trying to make a no-gun rule in America. How does that make you feel?

Jen LaPlante: I don't know. I think you should be able to protect yourself and your house, but I don't think you should be able to bring a gun to school.

Timehost: We're now being joined by Daryll Strahl, Jen's mother. What are your thoughts about that same question, Ms. Stahl?

Daryll Strahl: Unfortunately, I think when you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns. I don't think that I could have gone out and gotten the types of guns that were used in the shooting. I wish that there could be some more control of guns, but I don't think that it's going to be a possibility.

dmxname asks: What was your reaction, Ms. Strahl, upon hearing about the shootings at the high school?

Daryll Strahl: I was horrified. I didn't realize how fortunate I was to get a phone call as early in the day as I did from Jen letting me know what had gone on . I sat and watched it just like everyone else, and I was a mile away. The worst part was seeing kids you recognize, kids who were here this weekend,running by bodies of fellow students who were on the ground.

DaynaScully asks: How would you like to change the way the school system is about guns? Do you think metal detectors are a good idea?

Daryll Strahl: After yesterday, I think metal detectors would be a good idea. I never thought it would be necessary at Columbine.

Corky_Hayes asks: A question for the mother: How did you feel when you found out there was a shooting going on and you didn't know Jen was OK? I can't imagine. I think my mother would flip out.

Daryll Strahl: I did flip out. And so did her father. But Jenny had just called so I was able to comfort him.

heathershere321 asks: To Jen's mom: I want you to know that I'm thinking of you and how horrible this must be.

Daryll Strahl: I woke up this morning, I had e-mails from people all over the country, from people I didn't know, they just saw that I was in Littleton, and they just wanted to send their condolences. I'd like to thank everybody for their prayers and condolences. It's a small, tight community. My kids have gone through the schools in Jefferson County. Three have graduated from Columbine, and Jenny's supposed to graduate this year.I think the school district has done an awesome thing. When confronted with the crisis, their teachers knew what to do. Their crisis training that they had just had enabled them to save a bunch of kids' lives yesterday. In fact, one of the young men who was shown in the news last night with hands up, he just walked in... I haven't even gotten a chance to hug him yet. His name is Nick Schumann.

irishfan27u asks: Ms. Strahl, what would you like to say to the parents of the two shooters?

Daryll Strahl: My heart goes out to them. They're parents, too. I cant help but wondering where they were when their kids were developing those attitudes. But my heart goes out to them.

Timehost: We're now joined by Nick Schumann, Jen's classmate. Please feel free to submit your questions to him, too. Nick, can you tell us a little bit about your experience yesterday?

Nick Schumann: I was in the school store, which is right off the student entrance from the parking lot, which connects to the cafeteria. Someone came in and said, "There's someone with a gun, get down!" He was follwed by three girls. We got back into the office. I went out into the store, looking for my little brother. I saw a guy running away outside. He wasn't a shooter and he didn't know that he was running towards where the shooters were. The bomb they set off in the parking lot went off. And that's when they came into the building. They came into the side door of the parking lot, not the main entrance. And all the kids ran to get out. Some went out the stairs, some went out the back. I went back in the office. There were six people. I looked out. There was a fire exit to right, and there was nobody between the door I was at and the fire exit. But on the left were all the kids running by from the cafeteria, who were trying to get out. We went back into the classroom, shut the door, locked it, turned off the light, shut the other door, and hid under the cubbards for the computers. And we could hear the explosions and the gunfire, kids screaming, and the fire alarms started to go off. The teacher was saying that maybe it was just a chemistry explosion, but we knew it wasn't. We waited for probably an hour and a half. The first shots sounded like shotguns. And then later we heard this huge explosion, the rooftiles fell off the wall. A teacher went into the office and called 911 and it was busy, so she called the Littleton police. I don't know how she reached them. And we looked out the window, and we couldn't see anyting, no action at all. No one knew we were there.

Nick Schumann: Some of us wanted to run out. Some of us crawled across the floor to call our parents. Some were too scared. After about three hours, our teacher went back into the office to see what was going on. I saw out of the office door that goes back into the store, I saw a black mask, and we started hiding. And we could hear them breaking the window. They still didn't say anything. And then he identified himself as the SWAT team. And he took us out one by one and searched us right there. They took us out and lined us up one by one, single file, grabbing on to each other's chain loops. They had one person behind in stairwell guarding us, and another in front -- there were four or five total, and they took us through the cafeteria, where they had first come in and put all their bombs, which was now a foot deep in water.

Ang_16F asks: What was going through your head the whole time?

Nick Schumann: At first, I wanted to leave. I kept saying, "Let's go, let's go." We could even hear them talking to each other. They were saying "Oh god yes, I'm so glad we're here." And then we didn't hear them for a while. For about fifteen mintues or half an hour. At one point I thought that I would have to fight for my life, or die. We could hear them just shooting. They were shooting so many rounds. It was like orgasmic to these guys. And it was two voices. Two guys and they were getting off on it. People were barricading themselves into rooms. We could hear a couple of gunshots and thumps, and tables moving.

sunsetime asks: As a teacher, I know children can be very cruel to each other. Do you think these boys were treated poorly by the jocks?

Nick Schumann: Yes, I'd say yeah. Just the same as the jocks treat everybody else. I don't think they went out of their way and hazed these kids. Nothing to make them do that -- not that anyone should -- but there was nothing that I ever heard of.

DJElkins asks: Nick, were you close to some of the fatally wounded victims??

Nick Schumann: I still don't know the people who were killed. They haven't released those names. I'm sure the parents know now, though.

Timehost: Thank you for joining us, Nick. And a big thanks to Jen and her mom, too. Do you have any closing thoughts about this tragedy?

Nick Schumann: I'm still in shock over the whole thing. It still hasn't hit me, what we went through. To hear it all happen, and then to have to walk back through it, and still not even feel safe then. The cops guarding me said "Run, run, stay close to the building," trying to keep us from getting shot. The water, the smell... It was something I could never even put into words, something you couldn't understand unless you were there.

Timehost: Thank you very much for taking so much time to talk with us, Nick. Our best wishes for your future. We're now rejoined by Jen who will share some closing thoughts with us, too.

Jen LaPlante: I don't think we'll ever recover. It's weird to see your school on TV, and it's really just beginning to seep in that it's happened. I'd just like to thank all the people who have sent in e-mails, and donations. Everything helps.

Timehost: Well, our entire audience is pulling for you in the road ahead. Thank you very much for joining us.

Daryll Strahl: I'd just like to say to everyone who's listening, please give your kids a big hug.

Timehost: Thank you, Ms. Strahl. Our condolences to the entire Columbine High School community.

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