Samuel Granillo was a 17-year-old junior at Columbine High School when the massacre occurred. Now 31, Granillo says he is still recovering from the psychological scars left from that day.  Tragically, on July 20, 2012, Granillo relived much of that pain when a gunman opened fire on an unsuspecting audience – one that included several of his friends – at the Century 16 theater in Aurora, Colo., during a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.” Fifty-eight people were injured and 12 were killed, including Granillo’s friend, 24-year-old Alex Teves.

LINK: His story of what happened on 4/20

Video Part 1 8:38 

“We were trying to figure out what was going on. Did anyone see anybody or notice what was happening.  There was someone in our room that’s like ‘hey, this guy, he had on all black, black, backwards hat, really long sort of  wavy hair and kind of a big nose.  Me and my friend Sarah (Slater) would look at each other "sounds like…Dylan.  No way!  It’s just..that’s got to be coincidence I don’t really know anyone else who looks like that.  Sort of a vague description anyways.  And uh, we’ve known him forever.’ ”

Video Part 2 5:33 – On Growing up with Dylan Klebold

“Um, We actually went to daycare together when I was like, five or six years old.  We went to the same daycare.  And I remember asking him about..he had like a patch of white on his head, in his hair. I remember when I was a little kid, we were sort of playing together – I was like: why is your hair a different color?’ Cuz kids sort of ask everything out of the ordinary. And he’s like "oh, it’s a birthmark. I was like: I have a birthmark on my hand. He’s like: ‘oh, that’s cool.’   My hair doesn’t look any different but ah, wow, I kinda wanted a birthmark on my head so I’d have this radical patch of different colored hair.  That’s something that always stuck with me. Even if..even if what had happened never happened.  I would have always remembered that because..I have a strange memory , I guess.  But, ah, he was on my friend’s baseball team.  My older brother was friends with his older brother and his older brother was I think like a bouncer, security guard at Red Rocks.  Huge guy.  And ah, so my brother and I would go to some shows and we’d talk to him. I worked with Dylan a lot in the theater. I did plays and stuff in high school. And he would always do the lighting and sound..and we’d always just sort of chill out together, um, hang out in the booth..up there with him. And..the weird thing is.. I don’t remember too many conversations with him. Um, I know I had plenty, um, that I’ve hung out with always growing up. He was always in my..only a year ahead of me, he was always in my elementary school, he was ah, in my middle school, high school.  Like, I just, well, just sort of a regular dorky kid ..like any of us. I..got ripped on quite a bit too but I don’t know, people made fun of me. I loved it. Just cuz it made me feel like I was being..myself.  If someone was picking on me.  

I don’t know.. people in these scenarios..I feel everyone always want to say ‘aw, I’d never expect something out of..that person. I couldn’t imagine they’d every do it and they did.’ I guess it’s no different here but I mean, what makes anyone tick. I mean, we all have secrets.  There all scary on there only level..and I think that day. I think That day, he was just..beside himself. I don’t think he was himself. It’s like..their souls just checked out – the part of them that everybody loved sort of left this planet – before that happened. I don’t feel like that was really them. 

You know, and from people that I know..that were really close to Eric, he sounded like a total sweetheart.  Uh, he sounded like..um, I don’t know, I have a lot of friends that I guess had crushes on him. He’s an attractive looking dude, I guess, I mean, he’s..a.. good looking guy. But, you know, he had his own sort of..mental problems. You know, mental health is a big sort of issue.  He had a ..duel self..that he told no one, no one knew.  So..I don’t know..but I guess, everyone’s normal if you really break it down. There’s a very select few, I guess,  that are..completely..gone. And I don’t think either of them were..it was just.. just..reality was gone for them at that time.

"Forgiveness is so..different for everybody.  Means something different for everybody. But, I mean, personally, I’ve had conversations where they ask me: ‘don’t you hate Eric and Dylan?’ They just want to hear how much hate I have towards them.  I mean, they’re too human for me.No matter how hard I try, I can’t bring myself to hate them. At all.  They’re too human for me. I hate what they did, what they did was scary, it changed my life, it destroyed others – it was really awful. But I can’t hate them as individuals. You know, I wanna sort of..I don’t know..forgiving them? I don’t know, that’s a hard thing to forgive. Doesn’t mean I can’t look past it. I think that’s just sort of how I am as a person.  No matter how ..awful ..someone may be.. I always try to see what they’re really like? And uh, yeah, no matter how hard I try, I can’t hate them.  I think that’s really hard for people to believe or understand.  Forgiveness may be out of the question but it’s like, I, maybe, I just don’t think ‘forgiveness’ is the right word.  And..it’s more complex to me..then to just say ‘oh, I forgive you or I don’t forgive you’.  Way deeper.   

Granillo is currently working on a documentary about the Columbine shooting as told from the perspective of survivors. To learn more about the project, "Columbine: Wounded Minds Project,” visit the “Columbine: Wounded Minds Project” website.