My name is Robert Tathala.

This is the story of Garrett Markish, a junior at Telford High School in Telford, Missouri

when I was a senior in the year 2004.

What happened with Garrett Markish can be compared, of course, to the story of the Columbine

massacre and others in which the rage of a young man burst forth in a nightmarish way against

his classmates, but it is also a story like no other in history.

Because I knew Garrett, and his fate became so intertwined with mine, I feel I am most able

to speak about the days leading up to the tragedy that killed 77 people on the night of May

5th of that year.

Garrett Markish appeared at our school three weeks into my senior year, and right away he

met the profile of the loner in the outcast, the type who has so much trouble navigating

through the high school years without being bullied or emotionally abused in some way.

Garrett was very thin, kind of short, with long black hair, he had very soft features

making him appear somewhat effeminate.

His clothes were usually mismatched, not that he ever made much of an effort in that

department, normally wearing the same thing most days, old jeans and a plain t-shirt.

He drifted through the halls looking like he wanted to be anywhere else, speaking to

virtually no one.

That lunch he usually went to the library, or sat by himself on the hill, overlooking

the football field where some kids congregated to smoke.

I would sometimes see him out there reading a book, usually science fiction, as I recall.

I heard he played the guitar a little and listened to golf music.

...