The video camera continues to film as they both run into the school through its west entrance, armed with three handguns, an M1 carbine, and a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, all stolen from Andre's father and cousin.

[3] The massacre is shown through the viewpoint of several security cameras throughout the building, with audio of a 911 dispatcher playing in the background, who is attempting to persuade the two out of the attack and into surrendering peacefully.

Several days after the shooting, dated May 10, a group of youths film themselves driving to a memorial for those slain in the attack, including Andre and Cal.

In order of appearance: The director of the film, Ben Coccio recalls that he was in a pizzeria in Brooklyn, New York on the day of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, and saw coverage of the event on the eatery's television, commenting, "I remember thinking that I was surprised that it hadn't happened sooner."

Coccio became eager to address a story in a way that was very different and not exploitative, and drew upon his own views of high school as a place of tension where "anything could happen at any time".

Andre Keuck responded to an ad Coccio placed in Backstage Magazine and brought his classmate and fellow theater enthusiast Cal Robertson along to the audition.

[2] An official website was made as a tie-in to promote the film, made to look like an official police report by the fictional "Essex County Sheriff's Department" on the event, describing details about the massacre that were never seen in the final film and glimpses about the perpetrators, the weapons used, and mentions that the movie actually consists of footage sent at the request of Kriegman and Gabriel's parents to an amateur filmmaker friend.