Texas CHL A Brief History of Violence in Schools
What do these places and events all have in common?
1. Guns are specifically not allowed in the premises by official policy or by law. Quite clearly, these laws did not dissuade the killers. Think about it. The only people obeying the law and the signs were the good people…the victims.
2. Those inside were unarmed and totally helpless. The terrorist would call these gun-free places “soft targets.” Notice how none of these terrorists ever pick a gun store, a police station, or even a shooting course?
3. The police were called to each one of these events. But unless the police happen to be exactly there when the shots are fired, and have the mental perspective and courage to run to the sound of the guns for the sole purpose of locating and killing the gunman outright, the delay in response will be several minutes in the best case scenario.
4. The events were eventually resolved by the police presence, but not without deaths. Repeatedly, we see that in the majority of these events, the killing is done fairly quickly in the beginning moments of the event BEFORE police presence.
The following list covers school shootings from 1996 to the present. Included is the date, location, and a short description of each incident.
- Feb. 2, 1996 / Moses Lake, Wash.
Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class. - March 13, 1996 / Dunblane, Scotland
16 children and one teacher killed at Dunblane Primary School by Thomas Hamilton, who then killed himself. 10 others wounded in attack. - Feb. 19, 1997 / Bethel, Alaska
Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16. - March 1997 / Sanaa, Yemen
Eight people (six students and two others) at two schools killed by Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri. - Oct. 1, 1997 / Pearl, Miss.
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. One armed principal stopped the attack. - Dec. 1, 1997 / West Paducah, Ky.
Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School. - Dec. 15, 1997 / Stamps, Ark.
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, Ark.
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, Pa.
One teacher, John Gillette, killed, two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged. - May 19, 1998 / Fayetteville, Tenn.
One student killed in the parking lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-year-old honor student Jacob Davis. - May 21, 1998 / Springfield, Ore.
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, Va.
One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway. - April 20, 1999 / Littleton, Colo.
14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 23 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. - April 28, 1999 / Taber, Alberta, Canada
One student killed, one wounded at W. R. Myers High School in first fatal high school shooting in Canada in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school after he was severely ostracized by his classmates. - May 20, 1999 / Conyers, Ga.
Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend. - Nov. 19, 1999 / Deming, N.M.
Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School. - Dec. 6, 1999 / Fort Gibson, Okla.
Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School. - Dec. 7, 1999 / Veghel, Netherlands
One teacher and three students wounded by a 17-year-old student. - Feb. 29, 2000 / Mount Morris Township, Mich.
Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun. - March 2000 / Branneburg, Germany
One teacher killed by a 15-year-old student, who then shot himself. The shooter has been in a coma ever since. - March 10, 2000 / Savannah, Ga.
Two students killed by Darrell Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School. - May 26, 2000 / Lake Worth, Fla.
One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes. - Sept. 26, 2000 / New Orleans, La.
Two students wounded with the same gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School. - Jan. 17, 2001 / Baltimore, Md.
One student shot and killed in front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School. - Jan. 18, 2001 / Jan, Sweden
One student killed by two boys, ages 17 and 19. - March 5, 2001 / Santee, Calif.
Two killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High School. - March 7, 2001 / Williamsport, Pa.
Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School; she was depressed and frequently teased. - March 22, 2001 / Granite Hills, Calif.
One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman shot and wounded Hoffman. - March 30, 2001 / Gary, Ind.
One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School. - Nov. 12, 2001 / Caro, Mich.
Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself. - Jan. 15, 2002 / New York, N.Y.
A teenager wounded two students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School. - Jan. 16, 2002 / Grundy, VA
Peter Odighizuwa, a student of Appalachian School of Law, kills the dean, 1 professor, 1 student and injures 3 others. Two armed students stopped the attack. - Feb. 19, 2002 / Freising, Germany
Two killed in Eching by a man at the factory from which he had been fired; he then traveled to Freising and killed the headmaster of the technical school from which he had been expelled. He also wounded another teacher before killing himself. - April 26, 2002 / Erfurt, Germany
13 teachers, two students, and one policeman killed, ten wounded by Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, at the Johann Gutenberg secondary school. Steinhaeuser then killed himself. - April 29, 2002 / Vlasenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina
One teacher killed, one wounded by Dragoslav Petkovic, 17, who then killed himself. - April 14, 2003 / New Orleans, La.
One 15-year-old killed, and three students wounded at John McDonogh High School by gunfire from four teenagers (none were students at the school). The motive was gang-related. - April 24, 2003 / Red Lion, Pa.
James Sheets, 14, killed principal Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself. - Sept. 24, 2003 / Cold Spring, Minn.
Two students are killed at Rocori High School by John Jason McLaughlin, 15. - Sept. 28, 2004 / Carmen de Patagones, Argentina
Three students killed and 6 wounded by a 15-year-old Argentininan student in a town 620 miles south of Buenos Aires. - March 21, 2005 / Red Lake, Minn.
Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather and companion, then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead. - Nov. 8, 2005 / Jacksboro, Tenn.
One 15-year-old shot and killed an assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously wounded two other administrators. - Aug. 24, 2006 / Essex, Vt.
Christopher Williams, 27, looking for his ex-girlfriend at Essex Elementary School, shot two teachers, killing one and wounding another. Before going to the school, he had killed the ex-girlfriend's mother. - Sept. 13, 2006 / Montreal, Canada
Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon at Dawson College. Anastasia De Sousa, 18, died and more than a dozen students and faculty were wounded before Gill killed himself. - Sept. 27, 2006 / Bailey, Colo.
Adult male held six students hostage at Platte Canyon High School and then shot and killed Emily Keyes, 16, and himself. - Sept. 29, 2006 / Cazenovia, Wis.
A 15-year-old student shot and killed Weston School principal John Klang. - Oct. 3, 2006 / Nickel Mines, Pa.
32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts IV entered the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School and shot 10 schoolgirls, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years old, and then himself. Five of the girls and Roberts died. - Jan. 3, 2007 / Tacoma, Wash.
Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot fellow student Samnang Kok, 17, in the hallway of Henry Foss High School. - April 16, 2007 / Blacksburg, Va.
A 23-year-old Virginia Tech student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed two in a dorm, then killed 30 more 2 hours later in a classroom building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting rampage the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others were wounded. - Sept. 21, 2007 / Dover, Del.
A Delaware State Univesity Freshman, Loyer D. Brandon, shot and wounded two other Freshman students on the University campus. Brandon is being charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless engagement, as well as a gun charge. - Oct. 10, 2007 / Cleveland, Ohio
A 14-year-old student at a Cleveland high school, Asa H. Coon, shot and injured two students and two teachers before he shot and killed himself. The victims' injuries were not life-threatening. - Nov. 7, 2007 / Tuusula, Finland
An 18-year-old student in southern Finland shot and killed five boys, two girls, and the female principal at Jokela High School. At least 10 others were injured. The gunman shot himself and died from his wounds in the hospital. - Feb. 8, 2008 / Baton Rouge, Louisiana
A nursing student shot and killed two women and then herself in a classroom at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. - Feb. 11, 2008 / Memphis, Tennessee
A 17-year-old student at Mitchell High School shot and wounded a classmate in gym class. - Feb. 12, 2008 / Oxnard, California
A 14-year-old boy shot a student at E.O. Green Junior High School causing the 15-year-old victim to be brain dead. - Feb. 14, 2008 / DeKalb, Illinois
Gunman killed five students and then himself, and wounded 17 more when he opened fire on a classroom at Northern Illinois University. The gunman, Stephen P. Kazmierczak, was identified as a former graduate student at the university in 2007. - Sept. 23, 2008 / Kauhajoki, Finland
A 20-year-old male student shot and killed at least nine students and himself at a vocational college in Kauhajok, 330km (205 miles) north of the capital, Helsinki. - Nov. 12, 2008 / Fort Lauderdale, Florida
A 15-year-old female student was shot and killed by a classmate at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. - March 11, 2009 / Winnenden, Germany
Fifteen people were shot and killed at Albertville Technical High School in southwestern Germany by a 17-year-old boy who attended the same school.
Robert S. Flores Jr., 41, a student at the nursing school at the University of Arizona, shot and killed three female professors and then himself.
How can we prevent the next one? (and there will be a next one.)
1. Understand that your safety is your own responsibility. Carry a weapon… everywhere. Can’t have a gun under your circumstances? Then carry a knife and learn how to use it offensively. Even a ball-point pen in the right hands is a very effective weapon.
2. Make those who pass these useless “no gun” laws responsible for their decisions. The parents and family members of the victims should file law suits against the institutions that support such policies. Sue the school, sue the principal of the school, the board of education, the police chief, the mayor, the governor, everyone. I’m certain that there are plenty of pro-gun attorneys here. Put your skills to use. If these people do not understand morality and the Constitution, perhaps they will understand poverty.
3. Many of these kids were actually corralled by the school officials into rooms ready for the gunmen. A locked door will not dissuade anyone who really wants to get in. Teach kids about cover, and how to RUN!