Tag: Blackjack pizza

The Interview with A Dylan

At last! Complete, Full, version!

Credit goes to Bill Ockam

Finally, on some whim, Bill Ockham decided to post the long awaited, full “Dylan Behind Blackjack Pizza interview” complete with Brooks Brown asking Dylan questions. Yes, folks, now we no longer have to string together pixelated video snippets of the interview and imagine (or attempt lip reading to suss out) exactly what Dylan was saying. And now we don’t have to resort to merging the incomplete audio version of Brooks and Dylan’s Q and A with those disjointed, fuzzy, video clips as was done a few months back to arrive at semi-complete satisfaction at seeing this interview. Yes, now, finally, we have the entire thing in all it’s near HD crystal clearness (well for 90s quality) with Dylan finishing his tale of how he and Zack precociously pranked their favorite theatre teacher Mrs. Caruthers (affectionately known as “Mrs. C”) while prepping the stage and got her to utter a variety of expletives in her frustration.

Speaking of expletives, I was thoroughly amused at when Brooks asked Dylan what swear words Mrs. C used “exactly” while “bitching out the entire cast in the dressing room”, Dylan’s voice goes up a slight octave as he looks a way in thought and considers his words carefully “Umm m… (long pause)….I don’t exactly remember. She didn’t use all the cuss words”. To me, it’s so obvious that Dylan was a tad to sheepishly embarrassed to flat out offer up this information since he knew Mrs. C was eventually going to see him repeating back her swears on the final Frankenstein Roast video to her – that is until Brooks interrupts him and starts blatantly flings out a variety of swear words at him “DAMN” “HELL” “SHIT” and ah, yes! now it’s all coming back to him (as if it was ever that vague in the first place hahaha!) – Dylan (suddenly) remembers in agreement and – ah, well, the hell – repeats back said swear words directly at Brooks and deadpan to the camera). “And… (Dylan muses a tad.. no. definitely no “F*CK” was said) …you..you could hear it from the auditorium.” Brooks laughs amusedly “that was good” he comments. Dylan smiles and smiles and rejoins “so…that was pretty dumb”.
Admittedly, I’m so pleased that we got to see this entire interview (Ockham mentioned to me that this is it for the Blackjack Interview; there aren’t any more questions in this snippet). Glimpsing the bashfulness of Dylan as just an ordinary boy is so bittersweet. It is even more abundantly apparent to me how difficult it has been for his close friends and family to reconcile how he ended up committing the atrocity that chose to partaken in…And it’s hard to fathom that it was merely only roughly 6+ months after this interview.

Ockham also stated in his YT Live last evening that there are other snippets of Dylan on the video tape. Including an innocuous, mundane snippet of Dylan killin’ it eating some Chile’s food. And of course, we all would want to see all of this stuff, wouldn’t we? Not really because it’s gratuitous but because we have to see this extraordinarily ordinary stuff simply because it helps us to process the banality that is evil. That if even someone like Dylan is capable of doing such a horrible thing – then, really, we all are capable, aren’t we? We are all one and the same. It’s important to understand this, to own Dylan and Eric as ourselves, as we all have our own personal, private, dark struggles in life. And ultimately it is all about choices that is the difference. In my opinion, this ‘in the trenches’ approach of identification and relatability is key to prevention.

At last! The audio *and* video

We’ve been imagining this one for a few years now. I recall a lot of lip readers trying to help out on the old Tumblr E-C. Ahh.. feels so great when the puzzle piece is put into place! Here were have the full snippet of Brooks interviewing Dylan behind Blackjack and Dylan recounting a fun time they had pranking Mrs “C” (Caruthers), their beloved theatre teacher.

11/18/2019 – The case for Brooks as the mystery Blackjack interviewer
06/20/2018 – Have you gotten anywhere with the lip reading?
05/03/2017 – Blackjack clip People+Arts (plus we now have the Oprah Browns vid!)
04/28/2017 – Can anyone lip read and put the translation as subtitles?

…and now, we just need the Dylan eating a donut video. Please Universe! *crosses fingers and toes*

Another version of Dylan chatting up a storm behind Blackjack.  
And not so shy after all is he?  well, not when he knows ya’. And watch those expressive hands of his. 

Putting this here for, ahh, lip reading analysis.  Yeeeah,..that’s the ticket.  😉

Wait so Dylan was actually unemployed from December ’97 – December ’98, a whole year?! I had no idea. I thought he quit BJ Pizza, and came back a few months later. Where the hell was he getting his cash for bombs if he was only working maybe 3-4 months before 4/20 + only working 10-15 hours a week? That’s insane.

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Dylan turned sixteen Sept 11, 1997, the legal working age in Colorado. Eric helps Dylan land the job at Blackjack in either Oct/Nov ‘97 which runs to about Dec ‘97/Jan ‘98-ish. This is taking into account that Dylan said his longest period at one job was three months. Dylan brings a pipe bomb into Blackjack and shows it off with instructions on how to make one. He then gets reprimanded for it.  A couple days later, Dylan quits.  The pay sucked anyway and ultimately he really wanted a more ‘dream job’ working in computers. 

In between this time, he lands a short stint as a courtesy clerk at Albertsons. He quits saying ‘Didn’t want to join the union’ which is a P.C. way of saying he fucking hated doing customer service, lol – and Connie annoyed him.

See here for other jobs Dylan worked in ‘98.

In December of ‘98, Blackjack owner, Bob Kirgis, is in a jam for employees and rehires Dylan back on. This was approximately ten months after, give or take, his first employment there, his second and last time working at Blackjack pizza,  Dylan works more hours and is there from Dec ‘98 until April 16, 1999.  His wages on his last pay check are $6.50 per hour. 

No, Dylan wasn’t make a whole lot of money, folks. Before he was seriously saving for NBK, he was just scrapping by. Above you can see the percentages he’s devoting a measly 10-20 hour paycheck to: Gas money – $40, Insurance (he got his BMW not too long ago and puts a “?” by cost. Maybe the parents were still paying it for him at this point, so he didn’t know how much that was eventually going to cost him.)   He mentions ‘Savings” was 50% of the paycheck. Whatever was left over (not a whole hell of a lot) was likely entertainment spending money.  Rock n Bowl on the weekend or buying some cds, video games, or renting or going to the movies.   I don’t believe serious NBK expenses were set aside at this point.  The boys only got serious about NBK right about here actually, with the start of this intake file dated 3/98: after the van theft incident and during the beginning of the Diversion Program which lasted all of ‘98.

Dylan saved when and where he could for NBK which means that Eric probably pretty much contributed to most of the saving during this year. Dylan did odd jobs for his neighbor in June ‘98 and Computer Renaissance in August ‘98. He probably also got some money working the fireworks stand each summer and perhaps, a regular allowance from his parents.  By the time Dylan worked Blackjack his second and final time from Dec ‘98 – April ‘99, he really would’ve been putting in a much more concerted, serious effort to stockpile his paycheck for NBK.  

It’s no wonder that Dyl moped when his pricey signature shades broke on him? Saving another wad of cash to replace the pair wasn’t in the cards of Fate any longer. Saving for a future of death was far more important than his aesthetic.

Dylan’s hands ?? 😉

This post is off the beaten path but I suppose it’s a bit of an addendum to my BlackJack Jason Secor posts.

These Blackjack training videos look to have been made circa early to mid ‘90s. They give an amusingly good idea as to what the job was like for D & E. Imagine them in those dorky Where’s Waldo-ish striped ‘uniforms’ and it will bring you much LOLz.

The old push button phone annoyingly ringing off the hook all day long. Dylan, defiantly wearing his trench over the dork uniform with combat boots tucked half in/out of his pants, quietly but efficiently tossing pizza pie dough to endless Rammstein while dressed-to-code Reb is snarking away at the stupid flippin’ customers, slamming the phone off the hook. Suddenly, a Great Clips chick walks in and Eric transforms into an attentive cooperative worker. Folding cardboard boxes, washing the floors, assembling dry ice bombs, oh, and, yes, planning snippets of NBK – all in a days work! Yeah, you can just kind of see it all, huh..

The Blackjack Pizza that Eric and Dylan worked at was located at 6657 W Ottawa Ave but has been closed down since the tragedy.

In 7:07 of the Driver Part A video, you can see a label for their actual store’s address.

Hmm..could those be Dylan’s hands perhaps? j/k. 😉 These vids were probably made years before E & D started working at BJ. However, some of these interior shots used in the videos could be of the actual location.

Blackjack Pizza Driver Part A

Blackjack Pizza Driver Part B

Blackjack Pizza Driver Part C


Part 2 – Blackjack Pizza – Jason Secor Q/A from the Shock Beyond Belief Forum(now defunct).


Part 1 [x]

UPDATE Part 3 [x]


Jason Secor (Manager of Blackjack pizza) calling JeffCo on 4/20/1999

Dispatch communicating with an officer about searching Blackjack Pizza on 4/20/99

Chris Lau (former owner of Blackjack Pizza) calling JeffCo on 4/20/1999

Credit goes to: mydarkcorner11 for the above audio links!

Y’all should be happy campers that both D and E are getting equal attention in a post here (which.. I actually do upon occasion.. when the mood strikes me.) However, I think it’s pretty much a given that this blog shall remain dedicated. Basically, “All Dylan. All the Time” 😉 And besides, there are plenty of EH blogs that do a fine job of it.

I have been meaning to complete all Parts to this Blackjack post for quite some time. This invaluable Q/A session with Jason Secor is a companion piece to this post [x] Enjoy!

Difficult and Rude

Michelle Hartsough, a friend and co-worker, told investigators that she had learned a lot from her father, a pyrotechnics expert.

Hartsough showed Harris and Klebold how to remove “black,” or explosive powder, from fireworks and use it for other pyrotechnics effects, she said. Littleton fire officials have said some of the killers’ many bombs were made from fireworks explosives.

For a year, Hartsough listened to the boy’s tales of killing the jocks but said she never took them seriously.

“She said they both talked about a senior prank that was going to take place April 20, 1999,” the report said.

When the kids were bored, they would buy dry ice at the nearby Baskin-Robbins ice cream store and make little bombs they detonated behind the Blackjack. Harris used fireworks to build a “trip-wire bomb” to keep kids from going through a hole in the fence.

Klebold was once briefly fired for bringing a pipe bomb to work, the report said. He was hired back when the owner needed workers. 
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