Facebook User Posing As Columbine Killer ‘Friends’ Former Students

Christin Ayers, 7NEWS Reporter

POSTED: 9:26 pm MDT September 30, 2010
UPDATED: 11:20 pm MDT September 30, 2010

LITTLETON, Colo. -- A Facebook user, posing as Columbine killer Eric Harris attempted to “friend” several former Columbine students who attended the school when the tragic shooting happened.

The mother of one student, who wanted to remain anonymous, notified 7News that her son, along with other former Columbine students, had been contacted on Facebook by a user purporting to be Harris.

The user’s profile features disturbing images of Harris wielding guns. Under personal information, the user claims to be from Wichita, Kan., and to be a manager at Blackjack Pizza, like the real Harris was.

“When someone like this posts these things and then tries to contact former students of Columbine, I think that's clearly harassment,” said Brian Rohrbough, whose son Daniel was killed in the shootings.

Rohrbough called on Facebook to more closely monitor fraudulent profiles.

“Facebook, in my opinion, is actually an accomplice to what I consider a crime here,” said Rohrbough.

7News contacted Facebook’s press office. In a statement, Facebook spokesman Simon Axten said:

“Facebook has always been based on a real name culture. This leads to greater accountability and a safer and more trusted environment for the people who use our service. It’s a violation of our policies to use a fake name or operate under a false identity, and we encourage people to report anyone they think is doing this.”

The Columbine parent who contacted 7News said when her son received the friend request, he reported the page to Facebook, but the page remained. It was not until 7News informed Facebook about the page that it was disabled.

But 7News discovered more pages of users purporting to be Harris or Columbine shooter Dylan Klebold. Some pages contained disturbing status updates, including one that read, “Me and Dylan Klebold are shooting up the school.”

Rohrbough said not only should Facebook remove those pages as well, and harassment charges should be brought against the users.

“Facebook has got a real obligation here to stop this from happening, to stop allowing these posts,” said Rohrbough.

Harris and Klebold shot 12 students and a teacher to death during the Columbine massacre on April 20, 1999. A total of 23 others were injured. Harris and Klebold later turned the guns on themselves.

From: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/25234369/detail.html