Former Columbine High School Headmaster Frank DeAngelis (above) has written a memoir detailing the day America's most notorious mass shooting took place under his watch on April 20, 1999
The headmaster of Columbine High School has opened up about his regrets ahead of the 20th anniversary of America's most notorious school shooting that left 13 people dead in Littleton, Colorado.
'My worst nightmare became a reality,' Frank DeAngelis said of April 20, 1999, the day 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold, wearing trench coats stocked with an arsenal of weapons, opened fire on the halls of Columbine High School.
Twenty years on, DeAngelis is telling the story through his eyes in his forthcoming memoir, They Call Me "Mr De".
'It was a beautiful spring day, 70 degrees, with blue skies,' the former headmaster told The Daily Express.
'My secretary comes running in, and says there's a report of gunfire.'
Harris and Klebold had placed two 20lb propane bombs in the school's cafeteria and were planning to shoot survivors as they fled.
When the bomb timers failed, the pair stormed into the school and started shooting everyone in sight.
'My worst nightmare became a reality,' DeAngelis said of the day 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold opened fire on the halls of Columbine High School
DeAngelis left his office to see the events unfolding at his school, under his watch, with his own eyes.
He soon found himself face to face with one of the gunmen, who wore a backward baseball cap, a white T-shirt and a black vest.
'I remember the gun - a long gun,' DeAngelis said.
Suddenly a flock of girls coming out of a locker room on their way to gym class.
DeAngelis' memoir is set to hit the shelves on March 31, 20 days before the 20th anniversary of Columbine
'They were in the middle of the crossfire, so I ran to them,' DeAngelis said.
The group fled down a side hallway toward the gum, but the door was locked.
'Girls were screaming, the gunman was firing shots and he was getting closer,' DeAngelis said, describing how he scrambled to pull
