Eric David Harris was born on April 9, 1981, in Wichita, Kansas. Harris's parents were both born and raised in Colorado. His mother, Katherine Ann Poole, was a homemaker. His father, Wayne Harris, was working in the United States Air Force as a transport pilot, forcing the family to move around the country sporadically. In 1983, the family moved to Dayton, Ohio, when Harris was two years old. Six years later, the family relocated to Oscoda, Michigan. The Harris family moved to Plattsburgh, New York, in 1992, then to Colorado the next year when Wayne retired from the military. Kyle Ross, a former classmate of Harris, said, "He was just a typical kid."