John Stone

John P. Stone (July 7, 1949 – November 6, 2022) was an American politician and police officer who served as sheriff of Jefferson County, Colorado, between 1999 and 2003. He was the center of national and international attention soon after taking office when two students of Columbine High School perpetrated the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999.

Stone's handling of the Columbine crisis and police response drew strong criticism, mainly because officers did not enter the building to confront the shooters. Stone defended his officers' actions by saying that his officers simply followed their training.

Early life and career John Stone was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, to Elvon and Norma Stone. In 1967, upon graduating from high school, he moved to Palo Alto, California, and began a career in law enforcement as a police officer for the Palo Alto Police Department, serving as a campus officer at Foothill College. In 1971, Stone earned a degree in criminal justice from the San Jose State University, and he joined the U.S. Army that same year, serving in the Army National Guard.

In 1974, Stone moved to Lakewood, Colorado, and began working for the Lakewood Police Department, remaining there for 13 years. Mink was endorsed by former sheriff Ron Beck (a Republican), who said that Mink had more experience than Stone in law enforcement.

Columbine High School massacre On April 20, 1999, two senior students from Columbine High School—Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, aged 18 and 17, respectively—carried out one of the most infamous school shootings in American history, killing 13 students and one teacher before killing themselves. The attack, which was also an attempted bombing, left lasting consequences in American society, from numerous copycat attacks to idolization of Harris and Klebold by troubled youths, and changes in police response to active shooter situations, with SWAT teams nationwide implementing immediate action rapid deployment.

Harris and Klebold began their rampage at 11:19 a.m. (MDT) and committed suicide inside the school's library at 12:08 p.m. with no police officer entering the school until one hour later, when SWAT members began combing the building at 1:09 p.m. The school was not secured until five hours later, with Stone giving a preliminary number of 25 dead and 50 wounded during a press conference at 4:00 p.m. When asked about a motive, Stone only said "madness" and referred to the attack as a "suicide mission". He subsequently made other inaccurate or controversial comments, including that Harris and Klebold had "fully automatic" weapons and at least one accomplice. In the theory that there had been an accomplice in the shootings, Stone publicly suggested that police suspected that Brooks Brown, a classmate and former friend of Harris and Klebold, was involved in the massacre.

Stone based the claim against Brown on Harris telling him "to go home" minutes before the shootings began.

Stone faced a strong backlash in the aftermath of the shootings, including lawsuits and accusations that his office ignored warning signs about Eric Harris. Among the red flags that Harris had raised in the months leading up to the massacre was a police report by the Browns, who told a Jefferson County police detective that Harris was building homemade pipebombs and that he had threatened to kill their son; Stone's office confirmed that they received multiple reports about Harris, but the district attorney and the Browns said they were never informed about the proceedings or progress in the investigation. Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar confirmed this in Columbine's Report. The Browns gathered signatures to recall Stone in 2000 and remove him from office after he implied their son was involved in the massacre, and because of loss of trust and mismanagement issues; the attempt ultimately failed.

Aftermath Stone's career began to fall apart soon after, as civil lawsuits and crossed accusations ensued.

In April 2002, Stone announced that he would not seek another term in that year's election. The Sanders lawsuit was settled between his daughter Angela and Jefferson County in August 2002 on $1.5 million; however, Stone's office did not admit any responsibility in Sanders' death during the settlement hearing.

Stone defended his department's actions during the shootings, writing a letter to 60 Minutes, where he described the Columbine attack as a "unique set of circumstances, the magnitude of which no one had dealt with before". While he refused to be interviewed on camera, Stone told 60 Minutes that his officers "responded quickly, returned fire, deployed appropriately and safely extracted hundreds of trapped and terrified students and teachers". Shortly after Stone's departure, Attorney General Salazar proposed to disband the Columbine Task Force that was still active investigating the sheriff office's failures on the day of the massacre. Salazar later retracted his decision after facing backlash from families and relatives of the victims.

In 2003, Stone began a career in private security, working at the Denver International Airport (DIA), where he was first employed by Northwest Airlines. He was later transferred by Northwest to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, where he continued to work in security jobs until retiring from Delta Air Lines. Other reactions were mixed, with Randy Brown expressing sadness and saying that while he held "no enmity, no anger" toward him, he considered Stone as "simply not qualified" for a tragedy like Columbine.