Jeffco cops to check how tape of cafeteria chaos was released

By Kevin Vaughan
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

An Albuquerque television station aired part of a videotape Monday night purportedly taken from a Columbine High surveillance camera that captured part of the April 20 attack on the school.

Jefferson County authorities said they would investigate how a copy of the tape -- which shows some of the pandemonium in the school cafeteria -- apparently ended up being shown at a conference in Albuquerque.

There, a worker for KRQE-TV copied it at a public forum.

"How it got out, I have no idea," said Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Steve Davis, a department spokesman.

He had not seen the tape Monday night and could not confirm its authenticity.

The tape that aired Monday night in Albuquerque was shown earlier in the day at a conference for emergency workers.

The station aired just a few seconds of the grainy, black-and-white film that appeared to show students fleeing and smoke, according to the Albuquerque Tribune.

Davis said whoever showed the tape did it without the sheriff's department's permission.

"It's something that we definitely wouldn't release," he said.

The investigation into the April 20 shooting has not been completed, and videotape from the school's cafeteria would be considered evidence in the case. As such, investigators would keep it under wraps.

"We haven't authorized any release of anything like that," Davis said.

The Denver Rocky Mountain News reported in April that a tape from the school's cafeteria showed some of the confusion after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold attacked the school with guns and bombs. The tape didn't show the wounding of any of the victims.

It showed students fleeing after teacher Dave Sanders ran into the cafeteria to warn them. It also showed the gunmen as they attempted to set off a large propane and camping fuel bomb.

Harris and Klebold ended up killing a dozen students and a teacher -- Sanders -- and wounding more than 20 other people.