School shooting

"School shooter" redirects here. For the Half-Life 2 mod, see School Shooter: North American Tour 2012.

A school shooting is an incident in which gun violence occurs at an educational institution.

Definition

The term school shooting most commonly describes acts committed by either a student or intruders from outside the school campus. They are to be distinguished from crowd-containment shootings by law-enforcement personnel, such as the shootings at Kent State and Jackson State universities in the United States, or the October 6, 1976 Massacre in Thailand. They are also differentiated from other kinds of school violence, such as the mass killings of the Bath School disaster (which involved a homemade bomb rather than shooting), the Cologne school massacre (which involved a flamethrower); or terror attacks involving multiple kinds of weapons, such as the Ma'alot massacre or the Beslan school hostage crisis.

One of the most prominent school shootings was that at Columbine High School, near Littleton, Colorado. On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered thirteen people (twelve students and one teacher) on the school campus before they committed suicide, for a total of fifteen deaths. 24 others were wounded. The shooting was initially planned as a bombing, followed by the shooting of survivors.

In the United States, one-on-one public-school violence, such as beatings and stabbings or gang related violence, is more common in some densely-populated areas. Inner-city or urban schools were much more likely than other schools to report serious violent crimes, with 17 percent of city principals reporting at least one serious crime compared to 11 percent of urban schools, 10 percent of rural schools, and five percent of suburban schools in the 1997 school year. However school shootings in other countries may take on more national or religious overtones, such as the Mercaz HaRav massacre.

Profiling

School shooting is a topic of intense interest in the United States. Though companies like MOSAIC Threat Assessment Systems sell products and services designed to identify potential threats, a thorough study of all United States school shootings by the U.S. Secret Service warned against the belief that a certain "type" of student would be a perpetrator. Any profile would fit too many students to be useful and may not apply to a potential perpetrator. Some lived with both parents in "an ideal, All-American family." Some were children of divorce, or lived in foster homes. A few were loners, but most had close friends. Some experts such as Alan Lipman have warned against the dearth of empirical validity of profiling methods.

While it may be simplistic to assume a straightforward "profile", the study did find certain similarities among the perpetrators. "The researchers found that killers do not 'snap'. They plan. They acquire weapons. These children take a long, considered, public path toward violence." Princeton's Katherine Newman has found that, far from being "loners", the perpetrators are "joiners" whose attempts at social integration fail, and that they let their thinking and even their plans be known, sometimes frequently over long periods of time.

Many of the shooters told Secret Service investigators that alienation or persecution drove them to violence. According to the United States Secret Service, (see Fein, R.A., Vossekuil, B., Pollack, W., Borum, R., Reddy, M.,& Modzeleski, W. Threat assessment in schools: A guide to managing threatening situations and creating safe school climates. U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Secret Service, May, 2002 for the research and the recommendations therefrom), instead of looking for traits, the Secret Service urges adults to ask about behavior:

1. What has this child said?

2. Do they have grievances?

3. What do their friends know?

4. Do they have access to weapons?

5. Are they depressed or despondent?

One "trait" that has not yet attracted as much attention is the gender difference: nearly all school shootings are perpetrated by young males, and in some instances the violence has clearly been gender-specific. Bob Herbert addressed this in an October 2006 New York Times editorial. Only two female school shooting incidents have been documented.

Another reported similarity is that most of the perpetrators had been taking antidepressant drugs, which have a documented history of producing violence and aggression as a side effect.

School shootings receive extensive media coverage and are infrequent. They have sometimes resulted in nationwide changes of schools' policies concerning discipline and security. Some experts have described fears about school shootings as a type of moral panic.

Such incidents may also lead to nationwide discussion on gun laws.

History of School Shootings in the United States

1700s

The earliest known United States shooting to happen on school property was the Pontiac's Rebellion school massacre on July 26, 1764, where four Lenape American Indians entered the schoolhouse near present-day Greencastle, Pennsylvania, shot and killed schoolmaster Enoch Brown, and killed nine or ten children (reports vary). Only three children survived.

1800s

• November 2, 1853 Louisville, Kentucky A student, Matthew Ward, bought a self-cocking pistol in the morning, went to school and killed Schoolmaster Mr. Butler for excessively punishing his brother the day before. Even though he shot the Schoolmaster point blank in front of his classmates, he was acquitted.

An April 30, 1866 editorial in the New York Times argued against students carrying pistols, citing "...pistols being dropped on the floor at balls or being exploded in very inconvenient ways. A boy of 12 has his pantaloons made with a pistol pocket; and this at a boarding-school filled with boys, who, we suppose, do or wish to do the same thing. We would advise parents to look into it, and learn whether shooting is to be a part of the scholastic course which may be practiced on their boys; or else we advise them to see that their own boys are properly armed with the most approved and deadly-pistol, and that there may be an equal chance at least of their shooting as of being shot."

• June 8, 1867 New York City At Public School No. 18, a 13 year old lad brought a pistol loaded and capped, without the knowledge of his parents or school-teachers, and shot and injured a fellow classmate.

• December 22, 1868 Chattanooga, Tennessee A boy who refused to be whipped and left school, returned with his brother and a friend, the next day to seek revenge on his teacher. Not finding the teacher at the school, they continued to his house, where a gun battle rang out, leaving three dead. Only the brother survived.

• March 9, 1873 Salisbury, Maryland After school as Miss Shockley was walking with four small children, she was approached by a Mr. Hall and shot. The Schoolmaster ran out, but she was dead instantly. Hall threw himself under a train that night.

• May 24, 1879 Lancaster, New York As the carriage loaded with female students was pulling out of the school's stables, Frank Shugart a telegraph operator shot and severely injured Mr. Carr, Superintendent of the stables.

• March 6, 1884 Boston, Massachusetts As news of Jesse James reached the east coast, young kids started to act in the same manner. An article from the New York Times reads, "Another "Jesse James" Gang - "Word was brought to the Fifth Police Station to-night that a number of boys were using the Concord-street School-house for some unknown purpose, and a posse of officers was sent to investigate. The gang scattered at the approach of the police, and in their flight on drew a revolver and fired at Officer Rowan, without effect, however. William Nangle, age 14, and Sidney Duncan, age 12, were captured, but the other five or six escaped, among them the one who who did the shooting. The boys refused to disclose the object of their meeting, but it is thought that another "Jesse James" organization has been broken up."

• March 15, 1884 Gainsville, Georgia In the middle of the day, a group of very drunk Jackson County farmers left the Jug Tavern drinking and shooting their revolvers as they headed down the street driving people into their homes. As they approached the female academy, the girls fled the schoolyard into the school where the gang followed swearing and shooting, firing several rounds into the front door. No one was hurt.

• July 4, 1886 Charleston, South Carolina During Sunday school, Emma Connelly shot and killed John Steedley for "circulating slanderous reports" about her, even though her brother publicly whipped him a few days earlier.

• April 12, 1887 Watertown, New York Edwin Bush, a student a the Potsdam Normal School committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

• June 12, 1887 Cleveland, Tennessee Will Guess went to the school and fatally shot Miss Irene Fann, his little sister's teacher, for whipping her the day before.

• June 13, 1889 New Brunswick, New Jersey Charles Crawford upset over an argument with a school Trustee, went up to the window and fired a pistol into a crowded school room. The bullet lodged in the wall just above the teacher's head.

The first known mass shooting in the U.S. where students were shot, was on April 9, 1891, when 70 year old, James Foster fired a shotgun at a group of students in the playground of St. Mary's Parochial School, Newburgh, New York, causing minor injuries to several of the students. The majority of attacks during this time period by students on other students or teacher, usually involved stabbing with knives, or hitting with stones.

1900–1930s

There are very seldom reports of mass or multiple school shootings during the first three decades of the 20th Century, with the three most violent attacks on schools involving either arson or explosions.

• February 26, 1902 Camargo, Illinois teacher Fletcher R. Barnett shot and killed another teacher, Eva C. Wiseman, in front of her class at a school near Camargo, Illinois. After shooting at a pupil who came to help Miss Wiseman and wounding himself in a failed suicide attempt he waited in the classroom until a group of farmers came to lynch him. He then ran out of the school building, grabbed a shotgun from one of the farmers and shot himself, before running away and leaping into a well where he finally drowned. The incident was likely sparked by Wiseman's refusal to marry Barnett.
• February 24, 1903 Inman, South Carolina Edward Foster, a 17-year-old student at Inman High school, was shot and fatally wounded by his teacher Reuben Pitts after he had jerked a rod from Pitts' hands to resist punishment. According to the teacher, Foster struck the pistol Pitts had drawn to defend himself, thus causing its discharge. Pitts was later acquitted of murder.
• October 10, 1906 Cleveland, Ohio Harry Smith shot and killed 22-year-old teacher Mary Shepard at South Euclid School after she had rejected him. Smith escaped and committed suicide in a barn near his home two hours later.
• March 23, 1907 Carmi, Illinois George Nicholson shot and killed John Kurd at a schoolhouse outside of Carmi, Illinois during a school rehearsal. The motive for the shooting was Kurd making a disparaging remark about Nicholson's daughter during her recital.
• March 11, 1908 Boston, Massachusetts Elizabeth Bailey Hardee was shot to death by Sarah Chamberlain Weed at the Laurens School, a finishing school in Boston. Weed then turned the gun on herself and committed suicide.
• April 15, 1908 Asheville, North Carolina Dr. C. O. Swinney shot and fatally wounded his 16-year-old daughter Nellie in a reception room at Normal and Collegiate Institute. He then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
• February 12, 1909 San Francisco, California 10-year-old Dorothy Malakanoff was shot and killed by 49-year-old Demetri Tereaschinko as she arrived at her school in San Francisco. Tereaschinko then shot himself in a failed suicide attempt. Tereaschinko was reportedly upset that Malakanoff refused to elope with him.
• January 10, 1912 Warrenville, Illinois Sylvester E. Adams shot and killed teacher Edith Smith after she rejected his advances. Adams then shot and killed himself. The incident took place in a schoolhouse about a mile outside of Warrenville after the students had been dismissed for the day.
• March 27, 1919 Lodi Township, Michigan 19-year-old teacher Irma Casler was shot and killed in her classroom at Rentschler school in Lodi Township, Michigan by Robert Warner, apparently because she had rejected his advances.
• April 2, 1921 Syracuse, New York Professor Holmes Beckwith shot and killed dean J. Herman Wharton in his office at Syracuse University before committing suicide.
• May 18, 1927 Bath, Michigan School treasurer Andrew Kehoe, after killing his wife and destroying his house and farm, blew up the Bath Consolidated School by detonating dynamite in the basement of the school, killing 38 people, mostly children. He then pulled up to the school in his Ford car, then blew the car up, killing himself and four others. Only one shot was fired in order to detonate dynamite in the car. This was deadliest act of mass murder at a school in the United States.
• February 15, 1933 Downey, California Dr. Vernon Blythe shot and killed his wife Eleanor, as well as his 8-year old son Robert at Gallatin grammar school and committed suicide after firing three more shots at his other son Vernon. His wife, who had been a teacher at the school, had filed for divorce the week before.
• September 14, 1934 Gill, Massachusetts. Headmaster Elliott Speer was murdered by a shotgun blast through the window of his study at Northfield Mount Hermon School. The crime was never solved.
• December 12, 1935 New York City, New York, Victor Koussow, a Russian laboratory worker at the School of Dental and Oral Surgery, shot Prof. Arthur Taylor Rowe, Prof. Paul B. Wiberg, and wounded Dr. William H. Crawford at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, before committing suicide.
• April 27, 1936 Lincoln, Nebraska, Prof. John Weller shot and wounded Prof. Harry Kurz in a corridor of the University of Nebraska, apparently because of his impending dismissal at the end of the semester. After shooting Kurz Weller tried to escape, but was surrounded by police on the campus, whereupon he killed himself with a shot in the chest.
• June 4, 1936 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Wesley Crow shot and killed his Lehigh University English instructor, C. Wesley Phy. Crow went to Phy's office and demanded that Mr. Phy change his grade to a passing mark. Crow committed suicide after shooting Phy.
• September 24, 1937 Toledo, Ohio 12-year-old Robert Snyder shot and wounded his principal, June Mapes, in her office at Arlington public school when she declined his request to call a classmate. He then fled the school grounds and shot and wounded himself.

1940s

• May 6, 1940 South Pasadena, California. After being removed as principal of South Pasadena Junior High School, Verlin Spencer shot six school officials, killing five, before attempting to commit suicide by shooting himself in the stomach.
• May 23, 1940: New York City, New York Infuriated by a grievance, Matthew Gillespie, 62-year-old janitor at the junior school of the Dwight School for Girls, shot and critically wounded Mrs. Marshall Coxe, secretary of the junior school.
• July 4, 1940: Valhalla, New York Angered by the refusal of his daughter, Melba, 15 years old, to leave a boarding school and return to his home, Joseph Moshell, 47, visited the school and shot and killed the girl.
• September 12, 1940 Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 29-year-old teacher Carolyn Dellamea is shot to death inside her third grade classroom by 35-year-old William Kuhns. Kuhns then shot himself in the chest in a failed suicide attempt. Kuhns had reportedly been courting Dellamea for over a year but the relationship was ended when Dellamea discovered that Kuhns was already married.
• October 2, 1942: New York City, New York “Erwin Goodman, 36-year-old mathematics teacher of William J. Gaynor Junior High School, was shot and killed in the school corridor by a youth...
• February 23, 1943: Port Chester, NY Harry Wyman, 13-year-old, shot himself dead at the Harvey School, a boys’ preparatory school.
• June 26, 1946: Brooklyn, New York A 15-year-old schoolboy who balked at turning over his pocket money to a gang of seven youths was shot in the chest at 11:30 A.M. yesterday in the basement of the Public School 147 annex of the Brooklyn High School for Automotive Trades.
• November 24, 1946: New York City A 13-year-old student at St. Benedict’s Parochial School, shot and fatally wounded himself while sitting in an audience watching a school play.
• December 24, 1948: New York City A 14-year-old boy was wounded fatally by an accidental shot from the .22-caliber rifle of a fellow-student … the youth was shot in the head when he chanced into range where Robert Ross, 17, of Brooklyn, was shooting at a target near a lake on the school property.
• March 11, 1949: New York City A 16-year-old student at Stuyvesant High School was accidentally shot in the arm by a fellow student who was ‘showing off’ with a pistol in a classroom.
• November 13, 1949 Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State University freshman James Heer grabbed a .45 caliber handgun from the room of a Delta Tau Delta fraternity brother and shot and killed his fraternity brother Jack McKeown, 21, an Ohio State senior.

1950s

• July 22, 1950 New York City, New York A 16-year-old boy was shot in the wrist and abdomen at the Public School 141 dance… during an argument with a former classmate.
• November 27, 1951 New York City, New York David Brooks, a 15-year-old student, was fatally shot as fellow-pupils looked on in a grade school.
• April 9, 1952 New York City, New York A 15-year-old boarding-school student shot a dean rather than relinquish pin-up pictures of girls in bathing suits.
• July 14, 1952 New York City, New York Bayard Peakes walked in to the offices of the American Physical Society at Columbia University and shot and killed secretary Eileen Fahey with a .22 caliber pistol. Peakes was reportedly upset that the APS had rejected a pamphlet he had written.
• September 3, 1952 in Lawrenceville, Illinois After 25-year-old Georgine Lyon ended her engagement with Charles Petrach, Petrach shot and killed Lyon in a classroom at Lawrenceville High School where she worked as a librarian.
• November 20, 1952 New York City, New York “Rear Admiral E. E. Herrmann, 56 years old, superintendent of the Naval Post-Graduate School, was found dead in his office with a bullet in his head. A service revolver was found by his side.
• October 2, 1953 Chicago, Illinois 14-year-old Patrick Colletta was shot to death by 14-year-old Bernice Turner in a classroom of Kelly High School in Chicago. It was reported that after Turner refused to date Colletta he handed her the gun and dared her to pull the trigger, telling her that the gun was “only a toy.” A coroner’s jury later ruled that the shooting was an accident.
• October 8, 1953: New York City, New York Larry Licitra, 17-year-old student at the Machine and Metal Trades High School, was shot and slightly wounded in the right shoulder in the lobby of the school while inspecting a handmade pistol owned by one of several students.
• May 15, 1954 Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Putnam Davis Jr. was shot and killed during a fraternity house carnival at the Phi Delta Theta house at the University of North Carolina. William Joyner and Allen Long were shot and wounded during the exchange of gunfire in their fraternity bedroom. The incident took place after an all-night beer party. Mr. Long reported to the police that, while the three were drinking beer at 7 a.m., Davis pulled out a gun and started shooting with a gun he had obtained from the car of a former roommate.
• January 11, 1955 Swarthmore, Pennsylvania After some of his dorm mates urinated on his mattress Bob Bechtel, a 20-year-old student at Swarthmore College, returned to his dorm with a shotgun and used it to shoot and kill fellow student Holmes Strozier.
• April 17, 1956 New York City, New York 18-year-old Henry Smith, a student at a Bronx vocational high school, is stabbed to death by 16-year-old Randolph Lawrence, a fellow student. The stabbing was reportedly sparked over a dispute about a basketball game.
• May 4, 1956 in Prince George's County, Maryland, 15-year-old student Billy Prevatte fatally shot one teacher and injured two others at Maryland Park Junior High School in Prince George's County after he had been reprimanded from the school.
• October 20, 1956: New York City, New York A junior high school student was wounded in the forearm yesterday by another student armed with a home-made weapon at Booker T. Washington Junior High School.
• October 2, 1957: New York City, New York “A 16-year old student was shot in the leg yesterday by a 15-year old classmate at a city high school.”
• March 4, 1958: New York City, New York “A 17-year-old student shot a boy in the Manual Training High School.”
• May 1, 1958: Massapequa, New York A 15-year-old high school freshman was shot and killed by a classmate in a washroom of the Massapequa High School.
• September 24, 1959: New York City, New York Twenty-seven men and boys and an arsenal were seized in the Bronx as the police headed off a gang war resulting from the fatal shooting of a teenager Monday at Morris High School.

1960s

• February 2, 1960 Hartford City, Indiana Principal Leonard Redden shot and killed two teachers with a shotgun at William Reed Elementary School in Hartford City, Indiana, before fleeing into a remote forest, where he committed suicide.
• June 7, 1960 Blaine, Minnesota Lester Betts, a 40-year-old mail-carrier, walked into the office of 33-year-old principal Carson Hammond and shot him to death with a 12-gauge shotgun.
• April 20, 1961 Chicago, Illinois Teacher Josephine Keane, 45, is sexually assaulted and stabbed to death inside a storeroom at Lewis-Champlin elementary school in Chicago. Lee Arthur Hester, a 14-year-old student, is later convicted of the murder and sentenced to 55 years in prison. Led to Supreme court Hester vrs Illinois. This was not a school shooting. There is substantial question about the verdict.
• October 17, 1961 Denver, Colorado Tennyson Beard, 14, got into an argument with William Hachmeister, 15, at Morey Junior High School. During the argument Beard pulled out a .38 caliber revolver and shot at Hachmeister, wounding him. A stray bullet also struck Deborah Faith Humphrey, 14, who died from her gunshot wound.
• August 1, 1966 University of Texas Massacre Charles Whitman climbs atop the observation deck at the University of Texas-Austin, killing 16 people and wounding 31 during a 96-minute shooting rampage.
• November 12, 1966 Mesa, Arizona Bob Smith, 18, took seven people hostage at Rose-Mar College of Beauty, a school for training beauticians. Smith ordered the hostages to lie down on the floor in a circle. He then proceeded to shoot them in the head with a 22-caliber pistol. Four women and a three-year-old girl died, one woman and a baby were injured but survived. Police arrested Smith after the massacre. Smith had reportedly admired Richard Speck and Charles Whitman.
• January 30, 1968 Miami, Florida 16-year-old Blanche Ward shot and killed fellow student Linda Lipscomb, 16, with a .22-caliber pistol at Miami Jackson High School. According to Ward, she was threatened with a razor by Lipscomb during an argument over a fountain pen, and in the ensuing struggle the gun went off.
• February 8, 1968 Orangeburg, South Carolina In the days leading up to February 8, 1968, about 200 mostly student protesters gathered on the campus of South Carolina State University, located in the city of Orangeburg, to protest the segregation of the All Star Bowling Lane. The bowling alley was owned by the late Harry K. Floyd. That night, students started a bonfire. As police attempted to put out the fire, an officer was injured by a thrown piece of banister. The police said they believed they were under attack by small weapons fire. The officers fired into the crowd, killing three young men: Samuel Hammond, Delano Middleton, and Henry Smith, and wounding twenty-seven others.
• May 22, 1968 Miami, Florida Ernest Lee Grissom, a 15-year-old student at Drew Junior High School, shot and seriously wounded a teacher and a 13-year-old student after he had been reprimanded for causing a disturbance.
• January 17, 1969 Los Angeles, California Two student members of the Black Panther Party, Alprentice Carter and John Huggins, were fatally shot during a student meeting inside Campbell Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles. The motive of the shooting regarded who would own the school's African American Studies Center. The shooter, Claude Hubert, was never to be found but three other men were arrested in connection with the shooting.
• November 19, 1969 Tomah, Wisconsin Principal Martin Mogensen is shot to death in his office by a 14-year-old boy armed with a 20 gauge shotgun.

1970s

The two most notable U.S. school shootings in the early 1970s were the Jackson State killings in May 1970, where police opened fire on the campus of Jackson State University and the Kent State shootings also in May 1970 where the National Guard opened fire on the campus of Kent State University.

The mid to late 1970s is considered the second most violent period in U.S. school history with a series of school shootings, most notably were;

• December 30, 1974 Olean, New York, Anthony Barbaro, a 17-year-old Regents scholar armed with a rifle and shotgun, kills three adults and wounds 11 others at his high school, which was closed for the Christmas holiday. Barbaro was reportedly a loner who kept a diary describing several "battle plans" for his attack on the school.

• June 12, 1976 California State University, Fullerton massacre, where the school's custodian opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle in the library on the California State University, Fullerton campus killing 7, and wounding 2.

• February 22, 1978 Lansing, Michigan After being taunted for his beliefs, a 15-year-old self-proclaimed Nazi, kills one student and wounds a second with a Luger pistol.

• January 29, 1979 Grover Cleveland Elementary School Shootings, California, where a 16yr old girl opened fire with the rifle, a gift from her father, killing 2 and wounding 9.

1980s

The early 1980s continued much as the 1970s had been, many single shootings;

• April 7, 1982 Littleton, Colorado Deer Creek Jr. High School, The gunman, 14-year-old Jason Rocha, was a student at Deer Creek. Rocha shot and killed 13 year-old Scott Darwin Michael.

The early 1980s saw only a few multi-victim school shootings including;

• January 20, 1983 St. Louis County, Missouri the Parkway South Middle School, eighth grader brought a blue duffel bag containing two pistols, and a murder/suicide note that outlined his intention to kill the next person heard speaking ill of his older brother Ken. He entered a study hall classroom and opened fire, hitting two fellow students. The first victim, was fatally shot in the stomach, and the second victim received a non-fatal gunshot wound to the abdomen. Then he said, "no one will ever call my brother a pussy again" then committed suicide.

According to the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, in the United States, from September 1986 to September 1990 (four year period):

• At least 71 people (65 students and 6 school employees) had been killed with guns at school.
• 201 were severely wounded by gun fire.
• 242 individuals were held hostage at gunpoint.

According to a 1987 survey conducted by the American School Health Association," 3% of the boys reported having carried a handgun to school at least once during the school year; 1% reported carrying a handgun on a daily basis."

The late 1980s began to see a major increase in school shootings including;

• September 4, 1985 Richmond, Virginia At the end of the second day of school from the East End Middle School a 12yr old boy shot a girl with his mother's gun.

• October 18, 1985 Detroit, Michigan During halftime of the homecoming football game between Northwestern High School and Murray-Wright High School. A boy who was in a fight earlier that day, pulled out a shotgun and opened fire injuring six students.

• November 26, 1985 Spanaway, Washington A 14yr old girl shot two boys dead then kills herself with a .22-caliber rifle at the Spanaway Junior High School.

• December 9, 1985 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania At the Archbishop Ryan High School for Boys, a 22yr old Mental health patient took 6 students hostage with what ended up being a starter pistol. No one was hurt in the ordeal.

• December 10, 1985 Portland, Connecticut At the Portland Junior High School, the Principal was having a heated discussion with a 13-year-old male eighth-grader when he locked the boy inside an office. The student then pulled out a 9mm assault rifle and opened fire. The bullet shattered the glass door and struck the left forearm of the secretary and the glass injured the Principal. The boy fled for the 2nd floor, were he encountered the janitor, and he shot him in the head. The boy then took a seventh-grader hostage. The boy's father and another family member came to the school and talked to him over the intercom system. After 45 minutes, he tossed the gun out a school window and was taken into custody.

• May 16, 1986 The Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis In a ransom scheme, David and Doris Young, both in their forties, took 150 students and teachers hostage on this spring day. Their demand for $300 million dollars came to an abrupt end when Doris accidentally set off a bomb, killing herself and injuring 78 students and teachers. David wounded John Miller, a teacher who was trying to flee, then killed himself.

• March 2, 1987 Missouri an honours student Nathan Ferris, 12, killed a classmate and then himself.

• May 20, 1988 Winnetka, Illinois 30yr old Laurie Dann shot and killed one boy, and wounded five other kids, in an elementary school, then took a family hostage and shot a man before killing herself.

• September 26, 1988 Greenwood, South Carolina In the cafeteria of the Oakland Elementary School 19 year-old James William Wilson Jr., shot and killed Shequilla Bradley, 8 and wounded eight other children with a 9-round .22 caliber pistol. He went into the girls restroom to reload where he was attacked by Kat Finkbeiner, a Physical Education teacher. James shot her in the hand and mouth. He then entered 3rd grade classroom and wounded six more students.

• December 16, 1988 Virginia Beach, Virginia Nicholas Elliott, 15, opened fire with a SWD Cobray M-11 semiautomatic pistol on his teachers at the Atlantic Shores Christian School. His first shots struck teacher Karen Farley in the arm; when she went down he killed her at point blank range. Nicholas then injured Sam Marino. He turned the Cobray toward his classmates, but the gun jammed and he was quickly subdued by M. Hutchinson Matteson, a teacher, before he could fire another round.

• January 17, 1989 Cleveland School massacre of Stockton, California where 5 school children were killed and 29 wounded by a single gunman firing over 100 rounds into a schoolyard from an AK-47

1990s

From the late 1980s to the early 1990s the United States saw a sharp increase in gun and gun violence in the schools. According to a survey conducted by The Harvard School of Public Health "15% said that they had carried a handgun on their person in the past 30 days, and 4% said that they had taken a handgun to school in the past year." a sharp increase from just five years earlier. By 1993, the United States saw some of the most violent time is school shooting incidences.

• May 1, 1992 Olivehurst, California Eric Houston, 20, killed four people and wounded 10 in an armed siege at his former high school. Prosecutors said the attack was in retribution for a failing grade.

According to the National School Safety Center, since the 1992-1993 U.S. school year there has been a significant decline in school-associated violent deaths (deaths on private or public school property for kindergarten through grade 12 and resulting from schools functions or activities):

• 1992–1993 (44 Homicides and 55 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 1993–1994 (42 Homicides and 51 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 1994–1995 (17 Homicides and 20 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 1995–1996 (29 Homicides and 35 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 1996–1997 (23 Homicides and 25 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 1997–1998 (35 Homicides and 40 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 1998–1999 (25 Homicides from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 1999–2000 (25 Homicides from school shootings in the U.S.)

According to the U.S. Department of Education, in the 1998-1999 School Year, 3,523 Students (57% High School, 33% Junior High, 10% Elementary) were expelled for bringing a firearm to school.

The late 1990s started to see a major reduction in gun related school violence, but was still plagued with multiple victim shootings including;

• October 12, 1995 Blackville, South Carolina A suspended student shot two math teachers with a .32 caliber revolver.

• November 15, 1995 Lynnville, Tennessee A seventeen-year-old boy shot and killed a student and teacher with a .22 rifle.

• February 2, 1996 Moses Lake, Washington Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class.

• February 19, 1997 Bethel, Alaska Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16.

• October 1, 1997 Pearl, Mississippi Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan.

. November 27, 1997 West Palm Beach. Florida Conniston Middle School 14 year-old John Kamel was fatally shot in the chest at 8:40 a.m. outside school on a sidewalk by 14 year-old Tronneal Mangum, after an argument over an Adidas watch that Mangum had taken from Kamel.

• December 1, 1997 West Paducah, Kentucky Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School.

• December 15, 1997 Stamps, Arkansas Two students wounded. Colt Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot

• March 24, 1998 Jonesboro, Arkansas Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods

• April 24, 1998 Edinboro, Pennsylvania One teacher, John Gillette, killed, two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged.

• May 21, 1998 Springfield, Oregon Two students killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home

• June 15, 1998 Richmond, Virginia One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway

• April 20, 1999 Littleton, Colorado 14 students (including shooters) and one teacher killed, 27 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves.

• May 20, 1999 Conyers, Georgia Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend

. May 26, 2000 Lake Worth, Florida Lake Worth Middle School Barry Grunow was fatally shot by his student, 13-year-old Nathaniel Brazill, who had returned to school after being sent home at 1 p.m. by the asst. principal for throwing water balloons. Brazill returned to school on his bike with a 5 inch Raven, and four bullets stolen from his grandfather the week before. Brazill was an honor student. Grunow was a popular teacher and Brazill's favorite.

  "" Februrary 27, 2012, Chardon, Ohio, Chardon High School

2000s - Present

• 2000–2001 (19 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 2001–2002 (4 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 2002–2003 (14 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 2003–2004 (29 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 2004–2005 (20 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 2005–2006 (5 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 2006–2007 (38 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 2007–2008 (3 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 2008–2009 (10 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
• 2009–2010 (5 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)

Notable school shootings

Main article: List of school-related attacks

North America

United States

Name	Location	Date	Year	Number of Victims
University of Texas Massacre	Austin, Texas	August 1	1966	16
Olean High School shooting1	Olean, New York	December 30	1974	3
St. James Grammar School	Penns Grove, New Jersey	February 24	1975	1 killed 2 wounded
Princeton Day School	Princeton, New Jersey	April 3	1975	1 wounded
California State University, Fullerton massacre	Fullerton, California	July 12	1976	7
Cleveland Elementary School shooting	San Diego, California	January 29	1979	2
Deer Creek Middle School shooting	Littleton, Colorado	April 7	1982	1
Parkway South Middle School shooting	Manchester, Missouri	January 20	1983	2
Goddard Middle School shooting	Goddard, Kansas	January 21	1985	1
Portland Junior High School shooting	Portland, Connecticut	December 10	1985	1
Pine Forest Senior High School	Fayetteville, North Carolina	May 6	1986	0
Pinellas Park High School	Largo, Florida	February 11	1988	1
Hubbard Woods School shooting	Winnetka, Illinois	May 20	1988	1
Atlantic Shores Christian School shooting	Chesapeake, Virginia	December 16	1988	1
Cleveland School massacre	Stockton, California	January 17	1989	6
University of Iowa shooting	Iowa City, Iowa	November 1	1991	6
Lindhurst High School shooting	Olivehurst, California	May 1	1992	4
Palo Duro High School shooting	Amarillo, Texas	September 11	1992	0
Berkner High School shooting	Richardson, Texas	November 6	1992	1
Edward Tilden High School shooting	Chicago, Illinois	November 20	1992	1
Simon's Rock College of Bard shooting	Great Barrington, Massachusetts	December 14	1992	2
East Carter High School shooting	Grayson, Kentucky	January 18	1993	2
Fairfax High School shooting	Los Angeles, California	January 21	1993	1
Amityville High School shooting	Amityville, New York	February 1	1993	1
Reseda High School shooting	Reseda, California	February 22	1993	1
Wauwatosa West High School shooting	Wauwatosa, Wisconsin	December 1	1993	1
Central Middle School shooting	Sheridan, Wyoming	September 17	1993	1
Margaret Leary Elementary School shooting	Butte, Montana	April 12	1994	1
Grimsley High School shooting	Greensboro, North Carolina	October 12	1994	1
Wickliffe Middle School shooting	Wickliffe, Ohio	November 7	1994	1
Blackville-Hilda High School shooting	Blackville, South Carolina	October 12	1995	2
Richland High School shooting	Lynnville, Tennessee	November 15	1995	2
Frontier Middle School shooting	Moses Lake, Washington	February 2	1996	3
Hamilton High School shooting	Scottdale, Georgia	February 2	1996	1
San Diego State University shooting	San Diego, California	August 15	1996	3
Hetzel Union Building shooting	State College, Pennsylvania	September 17	1996	1
Bethel Regional High School shooting	Bethel, Alaska	February 19	1997	2
Pearl High School shooting	Pearl, Mississippi	October 1	1997	2
Heath High School shooting	Paducah, Kentucky	December 1	1997	3
Westside Middle School shooting	Jonesboro, Arkansas	March 24	1998	5
Parker Middle School dance shooting1	Edinboro, Pennsylvania	April 24	1998	1
Thurston High School shooting	Springfield, Oregon	May 21	1998	2
Columbine High School massacre	Littleton, Colorado	April 20	1999	13
Heritage High School shooting	Conyers, Georgia	May 20	1999	0
Fort Gibson Middle School shooting	Fort Gibson, Oklahoma	December 6	1999	0
Buell Elementary School shooting	Mount Morris Township, Michigan	February 29	2000	1
Lake Worth Middle School shooting	Lake Worth, Florida	May 26	2000	1
University of Arkansas shooting	Fayetteville, Arkansas	August 28	2000	2
Santana High School shooting	Santee, California	March 5	2001	2
Granite Hills High School shooting	El Cajon, California	March 22	2001	0
Martin Luther King, Jr. High School shooting	Manhattan, New York	January 15	2002	0
Appalachian School of Law shooting	Grundy, Virginia	January 16	2002	3
John McDonogh High School shooting	New Orleans, Louisiana	April 14	2003	1
University of Arizona Nursing School shooting	Tucson, Arizona	October, 28	2002	4
Red Lion Area Junior High School shootings	Red Lion, Pennsylvania	April 24	2003	2
Case Western Reserve University shooting	Cleveland, Ohio	May 9	2003	1
Rocori High School shooting	Cold Spring, Minnesota	September 24	2003	2
Columbia High School shooting	East Greenbush, New York	February 9	2004	0
Fairleigh Dickinson University shooting	Florham Park, New Jersey	April 4	2004	2
Randallstown High School shooting	Randallstown, Maryland	May 7	2004	0
Red Lake Senior High School massacre	Red Lake, Minnesota	March 21	2005	8
Campbell County High School shooting	Jacksboro, Tennessee	November 8	2005	1
Pine Middle School shooting	Reno, Nevada	March 14	2006	0
Essex Elementary School shooting	Essex, Vermont	August 24	2006	2
Orange High School shooting	Hillsborough, North Carolina	August 30	2006	1
Platte Canyon High School shooting	Bailey, Colorado	September 27	2006	2
Weston High School shooting	Cazenovia, Wisconsin	September 29	2006	1
Amish school shooting	Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania	October 2	2006	6
Henry Foss High School shooting	Tacoma, Washington	January 3	2007	1
Herbert Henry Dow High School	Midland, Michigan	March 8	2007	1
University of North Carolina at Greensboro	Greensboro, North Carolina	March 24	2007	0
University of Washington shooting	Seattle, Washington	April 2	2007	2
Virginia Tech massacre	Blacksburg, Virginia	April 16	2007	32
Delaware State University shooting	Dover, Delaware	September 21	2007	1
SuccessTech Academy shooting	Cleveland, Ohio	October 10	2007	1
Louisiana Technical College shooting	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	February 8	2008	3
Mitchell High School shooting	Memphis, Tennessee	February 11	2008	0
E.O. Green School shooting	Oxnard, California	February 12	2008	1
Northern Illinois University massacre	DeKalb, Illinois	February 14	2008	6
Davidson High School Shooting	Mobile, Alabama	March 9	2008	1
Central High School shooting	Knoxville, Tennessee	August 21	2008	1
Henry Ford High School shooting	Detroit, Michigan	October 16	2008	1
2008 University of Central Arkansas shootings	Conway, Arkansas	October 27	2008	2
Dillard High School shooting	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	November 12	2008	1
Henry Ford Community College shooting	Dearborn, Michigan	April 10	2009	2
Hampton University	Hampton, Virginia	April 26	2009	0
Covina High School shooting	Covina, California	April 30	2009	0
Wesleyan University1	Middletown, Connecticut	May 1	2009	1
Canandaigua Academy shooting	Canandaigua, New York	May 5	2009	1
Harvard University	Cambridge, Massachusetts	May 18	2009	1
Larose-Cut Off Middle School shooting	Larose, Louisiana	May 18	2009	1
Skyline College shooting	San Bruno, California	September 2	2009	0
Atlanta University Center	Atlanta, Georgia	September 3	2009	1
Deer Valley High School shooting	Antioch, California	September 16	2009	0
Northern Virginia Community College	Woodbridge, Virginia	December 8	2009	0
Discovery Middle School	Madison, Alabama	February 5	2010	1
University of Alabama in Huntsville	Huntsville, Alabama	February 12	2010	3
Deer Creek Middle School	Littleton, Colorado	February 23	2010	0
Birney Elementary School?	Tacoma, Washington	February 26	2010
Ohio State University	Columbus, Ohio	March 9	2010	2
Belleville Township HS East	Belleville, Illinois	August 17	2010	1
University of Texas at Austin	Austin, Texas	September 28	2010	1
Alisal High School	Salinas, California	October 1	2010	1
Mid-Atlantic Christian University	Elizabeth City, North Carolina	October 3	2010	1
Kelly Elementary School	Carlsbad, California	October 8	2010	0
Marinette High School	Marinette, Wisconsin	November 29	2010	1
Millard South High School shooting	Omaha, Nebraska, United States	January 5	2011	2
Martinsville West Middle School	Martinsville, Indiana	March 25	2011	0
Worthing High School	Houston, Texas	March 30	2011	1
Ross Elementary School	Houston, Texas	April 19	2011	0
San Jose State University	San Jose, California	May 10	2011	3
Pearl City Middle School	Pearl City, Hawaii	May 23	2011	1
Cape Fear High School shooting	Fayetteville, North Carolina	October 24	2011	0
2011 Virginia Tech shooting	Blacksburg, Virginia	December 8	2011	2
Walpole Elementary School	Walpole, New Hampshire	February 10	2012	1 self inflicted injury
Chardon High School shooting	Chardon, Ohio	February 27	2012	3 killed, 2 wounded.

Canada

Name	Location	Date	Year	Death toll	Notes
Altona schoolhouse shooting	Altona, Manitoba	October 10	1902	2
Centennial Secondary School shooting	Brampton, Ontario	May 28	1975	2
St Pius X High School School	Ottawa, Ontario	October 27	1975	1
Sturgeon Creek High School	Winnipeg, Manitoba	October	1978	1
École Polytechnique Massacre	Montreal, Quebec	December 6	1989	14
Concordia University massacre	Montreal, Quebec	August 24	1992	4
W. R. Myers High School shooting	Taber, Alberta	April 28	1999	1
Dawson College shooting	Montreal, Quebec	September 13	2006	1
C. W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute shooting	Toronto, Ontario	May 23	2007	1
Bendale Business and Technical Institute shooting	Toronto, Ontario	September 16	2008	0
Central Technical School shooting	Toronto, Ontario	September 30	2010	0

Europe

Name	Location	Date	Year	Death toll	Notes
Bremen school shooting	Bremen, Germany	June 20	1913	5
Cologne school massacre	Cologne, Germany	June 11	1964	10
Eppstein school shooting	Eppstein, Germany	June 3	1983	6
Rauma school shooting	Rauma, Finland	January 24	1989	2
Aarhus University Shooting	Aarhus, Denmark	April 5	1994	3
Dunblane massacre	Dunblane, United Kingdom	March 13	1996	18
Erfurt massacre	Erfurt, Germany	April 26	2002	17
Coburg shooting	Coburg, Germany	July 3	2003	1
Terra College	The Hague, Netherlands	January	2004	1
Grund- und Hauptschule von Rötz shooting	Rötz (Oberpfalz), Germany	March 7	2005	0
Geschwister Scholl School attack	Emsdetten, Germany	November 20	2006	1
Jokela school shooting	Tuusula, Finland	November 7	2007	9
Kauhajoki school shooting	Kauhajoki, Finland	September 23	2008	11
Winnenden school shooting	Winnenden, Germany	March 11	2009	16
OAED Vocational College shooting	Athens, Greece	April 10	2009	1
Kanebogen elementary school shooting	Harstad, Norway	April 28	2009	0
University of Pécs shooting	Pécs, Hungary	November 26	2009	1

South America, Asia and Australia

Name	Location	Date/Year	Death toll	Notes
Ma'alot massacre	Ma'alot, Israel	May 15, 1974	25
Sanaa massacre	Sana'a, Yemen	March 30, 1997	6
University of the Philippines shooting	Quezon City, Philippines	February 19, 1999	1
La Trobe University shooting	Melbourne, Australia	August 3, 1999	1
Monash University shooting	Melbourne, Australia	October 21, 2002	2
Pak Phanang school shooting	Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand	June 6, 2003	2
Islas Malvinas School shooting	Carmen de Patagones, Argentina	September 28, 2004	4
Beirut Arab University shooting	Beirut, Lebanon	January 25, 2007	4
Euro International school shooting	Gurgaon, India	December 12, 2007	1
Mercaz HaRav shooting	Jerusalem, Israel	March 6, 2008	9
Azerbaijan State Oil Academy shooting	Baku, Azerbaijan	April 30, 2009	13
Realengo massacre	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	April 7, 2011	13

Impact

Political impact

School shootings have had a political impact, spurring some to press for more stringent gun control laws. The National Rifle Association is opposed to such laws, and some groups have called for fewer gun control laws, citing cases of armed students ending shootings and halting further loss of life, and claiming that the prohibitions against carrying a gun in schools do not deter the gunmen. One such example is the Mercaz HaRav Massacre, where the attacker was not stopped by police but rather a student, Yitzhak Dadon, who stopped the attacker by shooting him with his personal firearm which he lawfully carried concealed. At a Virginia law school, there is a disputed claim that two students retrieved pistols from their cars and stopped the attacker without firing a shot. Also, at a Mississippi high school, the Vice Principal retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and then eventually stopped the attacker as he was driving away from the school. In other cases, such as shootings at Columbine and Red Lake High Schools, the presence of an armed police officer did nothing to prevent or shorten the shootings.

A ban on the ownership of handguns was introduced in the United Kingdom (with the exception of Northern Ireland) following the Dunblane massacre.

Armed classrooms

For years, some areas in the US have allowed "armed classrooms" to deter (or truncate) future attacks, presumably by changing helpless victims into armed defenders. In 2008, Harrold Independent School District in Texas became the first public school district in the U.S. to allow teachers with state-issued firearm-carry permits to carry their arms in the classroom; special additional training and ricochet-resistant ammunition were required for participating teachers. Students at the University of Utah have been allowed to carry concealed pistols (so long as they possess the appropriate state license) since a State Supreme Court decision in 2006.

A commentary in the conservative National Review Online argues that the armed school approach for preventing school attacks, while new in the US, has been used successfully for many years in Israel and Thailand. Teachers and school officials in Israel are allowed and encouraged to carry firearms if they have former military experience in the IDF, which almost all do. However, statistics on what percentage of teachers are actually armed are unavailable. At least one attack on a school, the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, was halted by an armed student (Yitzhak Dadon) who shot the attacker with a personally owned pistol.

See also

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• List of school-related attacks
• School violence
• Bullying
• School bullying
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
• Chencholai bombing, Sri Lanka
• Counter-terrorism
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Incendiary device
• Mass murder
• Nagerkovil school bombing, Sri Lanka
• Social rejection
• Suicide bombing
• SWAT
• Terrorism
• Youth subculture

External links

• "Are U.S. Schools Safe?" - CNN In-Depth Special
• "School Killers." - Crime Library
• SchoolShooting.org - Map of school shootings in the US and related info.
• The Depressive and the Psychopath: The FBI's analysis of the Columbine killers' motives
• Schoolboy killing stuns Canada (The Guardian)
• BBC timeline of US school shootings
• Identity annihilation as explanation for school shootings
• Indianapolis Star: School violence around the world (November 2004)
• The Scene of the Crime Was the Cause of the Crime - Excerpt from Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion—From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond by Mark Ames.
• Dreading Columbine - Sociological exploration of suburban school shootings.
• Deadly Lessons: Understanding Lethal School Violence
• Teaching Kids to Kill
• Chronology of School Shootings
• Held Hostage at Case Western
• Student Threat Assessment and Management System Guide
• Causes of school shootings. Reviewing the social interaction of pupils
• Horrific School Shootings - slideshow by Life magazine
• SchoolShooters.Info

Reports

• Mass Shootings at Virginia Tech Report of the Review Panel
• U.S. study of school shootings, "The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative"
• Advice for safe schools, Threat assessment in schools: A Guide to managing threatening situations and to creating safe school climates
• School Violence