Cassie René Bernall was a 17-year-old female student at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. On that tragic day, she was in the school library when two fellow students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, began their murderous assault on the school. The attack resulted in the deaths of 12 students and one teacher before the two perpetrators took their own lives.
Cassie was one of the students who did not survive the library massacre.
Before the shooting, Cassie had gone through a turbulent period in her early teenage years, where she experimented with drugs and alcohol and became involved in a Goth scene. Her parents discovered letters she had written that discussed killing them, which prompted them to intervene. They enrolled her in a new school and encouraged her involvement in church youth programs. A turning point for Cassie came after attending a church retreat, where she rediscovered her Christian faith. Her parents felt they had 'got their daughter back' as she became a different person. She later transferred to Columbine High School for a fresh start.
Inside the library, as the chaos of the attack unfolded, Cassie hid under a table with a fellow student. According to a witness who was hiding with her, one of the shooters, Eric Harris, slammed his hand on the table and said, 'Peek-a-boo,' before fatally shooting Cassie in the head with a shotgun. She died instantly from the gunshot wound. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, a story circulated that one of the gunmen had asked Cassie if she believed in God, to which she reportedly answered 'Yes' just before being killed. This narrative led to her being hailed as a Christian martyr, and her mother later wrote a book titled 'She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall'.
However, subsequent investigations and witness accounts revealed that this exchange did not happen to Cassie. The student who was asked about her belief in God was actually Valeen Schnurr, who was wounded but survived the shooting. The witness hiding with Cassie, Emily Wyant, later clarified that the shooter did not ask Cassie any questions before killing her. The two suspects, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were responsible for the deaths of Cassie and the other victims. Their rampage ended when they both died by suicide within the school, and therefore no arrests could be made.
