Today in History: April 20, the Columbine High School shootings

Today is Monday, April 20, the 110th day of 2026. There are 255 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On April 20, 1999, two students shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher and injured 23 others before taking their own lives at Columbine High School, near Denver, Colorado.

Also on this date:

In 1812, the fourth vice president of the United States, George Clinton, died in Washington at age 72, becoming the first vice president to die while in office.

In 1912, Boston's Fenway Park, now the oldest active stadium in Major League Baseball, hosted its first official baseball game with an estimated 27,000 spectators. (The Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders 7-6 in 11 innings.)

In 1914, private militia and Colorado National Guard members opened fire on an encampment of striking coal miners and their families in Ludlow, Colorado; at least 19 people in the camp, including 12 children, and one National Guard member were killed in what became known as the "Ludlow Massacre."

In 1971, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the use of busing to achieve racial desegregation in schools.

In 1972, Apollo 16's lunar module, carrying astronauts John W. Young and Charles M. Duke Jr., landed on the moon.

In 1986, following an absence of over six decades, Russian-born pianist Vladimir Horowitz returned to the Soviet Union to perform a concert at the Grand Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.

In 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, leased by BP, killed 11 workers and caused a blowout that began spewing an estimated 200 million gallons (757 million liters) of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico in one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history. (The well was finally capped nearly three months later.)

In 2021, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter charges for the killing of George Floyd; Chauvin was later sentenced to 22 ½ years in prison.

In 2023, SpaceX's giant new rocket - the biggest and most powerful ever built - exploded minutes after blasting off on its first test flight from South Padre Island, Texas, and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. The nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship carried no people or satellites.

Today's Birthdays: Actor George Takei is 89. Actor Jessica Lange is 77. Actor Clint Howard is 67. Former MLB first baseman Don Mattingly is 65. Actor Crispin Glover is 62. Actor Andy Serkis is 62. Actor Shemar Moore is 56. Actor-model Carmen Electra is 54. Reggae musician Stephen Marley is 54. Rapper Killer Mike is 51. Actor Joey Lawrence is 50. Model Miranda Kerr is 43. Former NFL linebacker Luke Kuechly is 35.