Colorado Killers' Sky-High Scheme

LITTLETON: For all its madness, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris's suicide mission showed a good deal of planning. They managed to plant a surprising amount of bombs and fend off law enforcement as they killed 13 classmates and finally themselves. But according to police descriptions of the gunmen's diary, that was just the beginning. "They wanted to kill 500 people, hijack a plane and take it to New York City" on a kamikaze-style mission, said sheriff's department spokesman Steve Davis. "If, in fact, they were able to carry out the entire plan, there could have been quite a bit more damage and quite a few more fatalities."

That's a big if -- a huge if -- but if, as District Attorney Dave Thomas pointed out Monday, the propane bomb in the high school kitchen had been detonated, the death toll would have been far higher. As for the plane plan, details were sketchy. Useless speculation? Not to those with some hope left of understanding the killers, and certainly not to police, who are still looking for accomplices. Davis said an 18-year-old, an as-yet unnamed woman described as Klebold's girlfriend, was being questioned about buying guns for the two.

Discuss the issues > >