Tape Suggests Police Knew Columbine Shooter Before Attack

7NEWS Exclusive

Evidence from 911 and dispatch calls made on the day of the Columbine attack raises disturbing questions about the Jefferson County sheriff's department and possible connections with gunman Eric Harris, 7NEWS reported.

Listen To The Taped Conversation A recording of a dispatch conversation provides the first evidence that the sheriff's department may have had a connection with Harris before the attack, 7NEWS reporter Julie Hayden said. Hayden described the timeline of events during a police dispatch call. "Harris and Dylan Klebold have launched their attack on the students and teachers at Columbine. They're shooting in the cafeteria, trying to cause more explosions," Hayden said. "About that time, Jefferson County sheriff's sergeant Dave Baldwin calls dispatch," Hayden said. Baldwin: "Hey what's up, Sergeant Baldwin at dispatch." "It's important to note that this same Sgt. Baldwin is listed as being involved in the 1998 Eric Harris pipe bomb investigation that was inexplicably dropped a year before the school attack," Hayden said. Baldwin: "We need a detention deputy to be sent immediately to R-1 schools to pick up blueprints for Columbine High School." "The dispatcher connects him. Baldwin asks Sgt. Rich Millsapps to pick up the blueprints," Hayden said. Millsapps: "Sgt. Millsaps." Baldwin: "Hey Rich, Dave Baldwin." "They talk logistics -- how to get to the school, where to find keys to a patrol car. Then, there's this," Hayden said. Baldwin: "Just so you know, Rich, while you're driving down there, our suspect -- he's supposed to still be in the school shooting people. He's wearing... he's an 18-year-old wearing all black. Uh, that's all we have at this time." Millsapps: "Is this the sheriff's guy?" Baldwin: "Yes." Millsapps: "Okay." Baldwin: "Okay." The sheriff's department refused to answer when 7NEWS asked what "the sheriff's guy" meant. Walter Gerash, an attorney representing two families suing the sheriff's department says that a phrase like "the sheriff's guy" is how officers typically refer to their informants. "It's important to note that when that dispatch conversation was taking place, the sheriff's department had already figured out that Harris (pictured, right) was one of the shooters," Hayden said.

Gerash speculated that Harris may have been an informant for someone in the department. "One of the theories that seems to be getting close is perhaps he was an informant or had some certain dispensation," Gerash said. Columbine parents Randy and Judy Brown were seemingly the first to take note of the conversation. "Right away I thought, 'Well maybe Sheriff Stone is implicated,' and I thought, 'Maybe he was implicated when he was on the commission. Maybe he called in a favor,'" Judy Brown said. "If there was an interoffice or interdepartmental struggle over whether they should prosecute Eric Harris or not, Baldwin and Millsapps were privy to it, and this is Baldwin and Millsapps saying, 'By the way, that kid shooting in the school is the sheriff's guy,'" Randy Brown said. "Very frankly it looks like a cover-up to me," Gerash said. Sheriff Stone hasn't returned 7NEWS' phone calls. A department spokesman says that no one is going to comment on this, Hayden said. Sgt. Millsapps told 7NEWS that he never had that conversation. When asked if he'd like to hear the audio recording, he said no, and repeated that he never had that conversation, Hayden said. According to the official record, produced by the sheriff's department, he did, Hayden said. Previous Stories: