The 'Trenchcoat Mafia' was a group from Columbine High School in Colorado who hung out together during and after school. They were goths and gamers and owned trenchcoats they liked to wear -- the root of their name. They were an anti-clique: a group of people who had previously belonged nowhere. But while the group was made nearly synonymous with the Columbine High School massacre by media misunderstanding, they were not responsible for the shootings.

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were behind the guns on April 20 and while they were friends with Trenchcoat Mafia member Chris Morris, they were not members of the group themselves. By the time the incident happened, most of the original "true" members had either graduated or dropped out.

After the shootings, the Trenchcoat Mafia publicly distanced themselves from the shooters in press conferences and interviews that followed. Chris Morris, who had been very vocal in his dislike of Columbine High, was questioned by police but eventually cleared as a suspect. The Trenchcoat Mafia was never formally charged with anything, on the whole or as individuals and have been cleared of any involvement or foreknowledge of what was to happen in Littleton that day.

The group is not in any way associated with the well known mafia.

See also

• Goth
• Columbine shooting
• Trench coat

External links

Who was behind the Columbine High School shootings?

Hoax Trenchcoat Mafia page