March 30th:

On Wednesday afternoon Kurt and Dylan Carlson went to a Seattle gun shop; Stan Baker Sports, on Lake City Way. They purchased by cash a Remington M-11 Sportsman, 20 gauge semi-automatic shotgun for $308.37; set-up for light load, this is what gun dealers recommend for home protection because the shot won’t penetrate walls and endanger those on the other side.

Carlson recalls; "He [Kurt] wanted me to buy it because cops had recently confiscated all his guns [March 18th] and he was afraid they would take it away again if it was in his name.” Kurt also expressed concern to Dylan about intruders at the house – “Guns are protection. I don’t have bodyguards. We know people who have been stalked or murdered. I’m not a very physical person. I wouldn’t be able to stop an intruder without a gun.” – 8/93.

"I'm not against guns at all. I own one. I believe in them for protection. I'm not as much of a hippie as some people would want me to be. I could blow somebody away easily, no problem, if I had to protect myself or my family...It's a necessary thing - it's a defense weapon." - Kurt (CAYA, p. 244)

They take the gun back to Kurt’s house and stash it in a hidden storage compartment inside the bedroom closet. Tom Grant's explanation

According to Dylan’s statement to police on 12th April they [Harvey & Kurt] then went out to Sea-Tac airport where Kurt was to fly later that night to Los Angeles and enter a rehab program at the Exodus Recovery center in Marina Del Ray. Apparently upon arrival at the airport Kurt realised he still had the box of shotgun cartridges in his possession that he had brought with the gun, knowing he wouldn’t be allowed to take them on the plane he elected to give them to the limousine driver, Harvey Ottinger. Ottinger made another statement about his experience to www.nirvanaclub.com on April '04 - this story is the very foundation of the shotgun, if this is bullshit then so could everything else surrounding the issue, its only Harvey's word and he could have easily been swayed.

Kurt was then picked up at Los Angeles airport by Pat Smear and a Gold Mountain employee; Michael Meisel, where he was driven to the Exodus rehab facility and checked in for what was scheduled to be a 28-day program.

March 31st:

Thursday morning, and Kurt supposedly began his course of treatment, which consisted of group therapy, meetings, and individual therapy with his counselor, Nial Stimson. Kurt received a visit from Frances and her nanny Jackie Farry in the afternoon.

"In the two days Kurt spent at Exodus, he talked to several staff psychologists at the facility, none of whom considered him suicidal. Moreover, the last person to visit Kurt at Exodus on April 1st, an old artist friend named Joe "Mama" Nitzburg, told Rolling Stone: "I was ready to see him looking like shit and depressed. He looked so fucking great." - (WKKC?, p.209)