Facebook deletes pages glorifying Columbine shooters after survivor says they could inspire other shootings

Facebook has deleted a number of pages glamorising the two Columbine High School shooters after a survivor of the massacre said she feared they could inspire other killers.

Anne Marie Hochhalter, who was shot a paralysed in the 1999 gun attack, said such pages gave mass shooters the notoriety they often craved.

The Telegraph found a number of pages on Facebook, as well as on the social media platform Tumblr, praising and defending the actions of the killers Eric Harris, 18, and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold.

The pair slaughtered 13 staff and students and wounded 24 more during an armed rampage through the Colorado school.

One of the Facebook pages, which had more than 2,000 likes, described its “mission” as to “never forget and always honor these heroes”.

The page had shared CCTV stills of the shooters rampaging around the school, as well as fan art of them clutching their sawn-off shotguns, and even tattoos a fan has of them mid-shooting spree.

Comments on the page talked of posters “admiring” the shooters, praising their looks, describing them as “idols” and accusing the victims’ families of trying to “bury their memories”.

Facebook deleted the pages within hours of them being flagged saying they breached the company’s community standards.

On the social media site, Tumblr, which is popular with teenagers, a quick search turned up scores of posts about the shooters, showing quotes from them, gifs from their homemade videos and even a post advertising T-shirts printed with CCTV stills from the massacre.

Tumblr is yet to respond to a request for comment.

Following the Columbine shooting, the FBI concluded the killers had been primarily motivated by a desire for notoriety.

In their home videos Harris and Klebold had talked about how they hoped to inflict "the most deaths in US history". The attack they originally planned aimed to kill hundreds with a series of bombs that failed to go off.

In an interview with the Telegraph Ms Hochhalter, who was 17 when she was shot, said the pages and posts lionising the shooters gave them what they hoped to achieve.

She also said she feared such posts could give other potential shooters the idea that it would lead to similar posthumous glamorisation.

Ms Hochhalter said: “The motivation is different for each shooter but these people are in some sort of emotional pain. They want to inflict that pain on others and they want to go out in a blaze of glory.

“There are all these videos and also posts on Tumblr and they (the Columbine shooters) are worshipped by these people.”

Her comments come a week after 17 students and staff were gunned down in a shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day.

The shooting is one of the deadliest to take place in a US school and has renewed calls for tighter gun controls.

In a statement Facebook said: “We condemn the terrible tragedy that took place in Florida and our thoughts are with the families of the victims and those who are injured.

“There is absolutely no place on our platforms for people who commit such horrendous acts. We thank The Telegraph for bringing these pages to our attention, which have been removed for violating our Community Standards.”