What was the gun of choice for people who shoot up schools before the AR-15 was available?
That's a good question. As far as I know, there weren't any school shootups before the ar-15 arrived.
Here you go you lying, disingenuous computer genius....
18th century
Colonial America
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
July 26, 1764 Greencastle, Pennsylvania 10 2 Enoch Brown school massacre: Perhaps the earliest shooting to happen on school or college property, in what would become the United States, was the notorious Enoch Brown school massacre during the Pontiac's War. Four Delaware (Lenape) American Indians entered the schoolhouse near present-day Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and shot and killed schoolmaster Enoch Brown and nine children (reports vary). Only two children survived. However, this incident may only incidentally be considered a school "shooting" because only the teacher was shot, while the other nine victims were killed with melee weapons. [1][2]
19th century
1840s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
November 12, 1840 Charlottesville, Virginia 1 0 John Anthony Gardner Davis, a law professor at the University of Virginia, was shot by student Joseph Semmes, and died from his wound three days later.[3][4]
1850s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
November 2, 1853 Louisville, Kentucky 0 1 Student Matthew Ward took a pistol to school, where he shot the schoolmaster Mr. Butler as revenge for what Ward thought was excessive punishment of his brother the day before. Ward was acquitted.[5]
August 16, 1856 Florence, Alabama 2 0 The schoolmaster had a tame sparrow and had warned the students not to harm it, threatening death. One of the boys stepped on the bird and killed it; he was afraid to return to school but did so. After lessons, the master took the boy into a private room and strangled him to death. The boy's father went to the school and shot the schoolmaster dead.[6]
July 8, 1858 Baltimore, Maryland 1 0 The 15-year-old son of Col. John T. Farlow (Baltimore's Marshal of Police 1867–70), was killed during a Sabbath School gathering. The perpetrator escaped, but several arrests were made.[7]
1860s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
January 21, 1860 Todd County, Kentucky 1 0 A son of Col. Elijah Sebree was killed by another student. Young Sebree was threatening the other boy and said he intended to kill him. The other student got a gun and walked up to Sebree in the schoolhouse, where he killed him.[8]
February 6, 1864 Ashland County, Ohio 1 0 George W. Longfelt, the school teacher of the Pyfer's School House, killed student Alfred Desem and fled.[9]
February 16, 1867 Knights Ferry, California 2 0 Mr. McGinnis was killed by his daughter's teacher after McGinnis threatened the teacher for expelling his daughter from school. When McGinnis' son learned of this, he went to the school and killed the teacher.[10]
April 2, 1867 Madison, Florida 1 0 Frank Pope, a pupil at the St. John's seminary, killed his teacher Mr. Bristow with a pistol.[11]
June 8, 1867 New York City, New York 0 1 13-year-old Arthur Day, secretly took a loaded pistol to Public School No. 18 to shoot a dog he said had bitten him. While playing with the pistol, Day accidentally injured classmate Robert Morton.[12]
December 22, 1868 Chattanooga, Tennessee 3 0 A boy who refused to be whipped by his teacher left the school. The next day he returned with his brother and a friend for revenge. Not finding the teacher at the school, they continued to his house, where a gun battle took place and three died. Only the original boy who initiated the attack survived.[13]
1870s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
January 27, 1871 Knoxville, Tennessee 1 0 John Roberts, aged ten or twelve, accidentally had one of his eyes shot out at school and died.[14]
February 1, 1872 Washington, Pennsylvania 0 1 At the all-girls Union School, 17-year-old Thomas McGiffin shot and seriously wounded the principal, Prof. Wilson, in the hip because the professor refused to deliver a note to one of the young ladies for him. McGiffin was a son of Col. Norton McGiffin, and brother of US naval hero Philo McGiffin.[15]
February 11, 1873 Wisconsin 0 1 Chris Foote[not in citation given] shot the school mistress for whipping his son.[16][better source needed]
February 20, 1874 Agency, Montana 1 0 After being ejected from school for disobedience, 20-year-old Thomas Squires, fatally shot Prof. Hayes in the abdomen three times without warning.[17]
April 9, 1874 Lebanon, Tennessee 1 0 John R. Breckinridge, son of the late Robert Jefferson Breckinridge, attending classes in law at Cumberland University in Lebanon Tennessee, was killed by John L. Anderson, the Mayor's son. The latter was reportedly "crazed with liquor."[18][19]
May 24, 1878 St. Paul, Minnesota 0 1 A 12-year-old boy, Luckert, accidentally wounded Allie McDonald, another boy at the Neill school. The bullet passed out, and the youth was expected to recover. His mother Mrs. McDonald went to the police station, but did not file a formal complaint.[20]
May 24, 1879 Lancaster, New York 0 1 Telegraph operator Frank Shugart, severely injured Mr. Carr, superintendent of the stables at a girls' school.[21]
1880s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
December 1, 1881 Santa Monica, California 1 0 While working late on the program for the children's concert at the schoolhouse, the school master Mr. O'Donnell and one of the parents got into an argument. The parent, Mr. Williams, pulled a gun and fatally shot O'Donnell in the back.[22]
December 22, 1881 Shelby County, Indiana 0 0 School teacher Charles J. Gregory shot at a pupil at close range because he refused to write on a slate. The bullet missed the boy. The teacher was arrested.[23]
January 16, 1882 Iola, Kansas 0 0 A group of boys shot into a schoolhouse, but no one was hurt. Two of the boys were arrested and pleaded guilty three weeks later. They were fined $9.00 each.[24]
April 13, 1882 Huntsville, Texas 0 1 G.W. Gray, a student at the Sam Houston Normal School, wounded another student, M.J. Jordan. They were arguing over a comic valentine.[25]
February 14, 1883 Florence, Nebraska 0 3 As some children were playing and throwing snowballs outside the Ponca Creek schoolhouse, three young men pulled up in a wagon. They engaged the children in a snowball fight. When they were leaving, one of the men, Lem Harbaugh, pointed his .45 caliber needle gun at the children, accidentally shooting and wounding three of them. Feeling great remorse, Harbaugh later surrendered himself to the authorities.[26]
November 20, 1883 Barber County, Kansas 0 0 A bunch of drunken cowboys stopped at several schoolhouses, forcing two teachers to drink whiskey and firing numerous shots at three schoolhouses.[27]
February 28, 1884 Danville, Virginia 0 2 As Allen Wamack, a 15-year-old boy, drove by a "Negro" schoolhouse, he called out "school butter." (an insult meaning a cobbing, or a whipping).[28] The school students ran out and attacked him, firing several shots at him, he returned fire hitting two students.[29]
March 6, 1884 Boston, Massachusetts 0 0 As news of outlaw Jesse James reached the East Coast, young boys started to imitate him. For instance, boys armed with guns shot at police investigating their activities at the Concord-street schoolhouse.[30]
March 15, 1884 Gainesville, Georgia 0 0 In the middle of the day, a group of very drunk Jackson County farmers were shooting their revolvers as they headed down the street, driving people into their homes. As they approached the female academy, the girls fled from the yard into the school. The gang followed and fired several rounds into the front door, but no one was hurt.[31]
June 12, 1887 Cleveland, Tennessee 1 0 Will Guess went to the school and killed Miss Irene Fann, his little sister's teacher, for whipping her the day before.[32]
June 13, 1889 New Brunswick, New Jersey 0 0 Charles Crawford, upset over an argument with a school trustee, went up to the window and fired a pistol into a crowded schoolroom. The bullet lodged in the wall just above the teacher's head.[33]
1890s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
April 24, 1890 Brazil, Indiana 0 1 While the pupils of the Meridian Street School were at play, Ben Corbery drew a revolver and seriously wounded 10-year-old Cora Brubach, in the face. The girl had told the teacher of Ben's misconduct.[34]
December 27, 1890 Staunton, Virginia 1 0 At the Kable's Military Academy a 15-year-old student, A.H. Hathaway of Dennison, Texas, was accidentally killed by his 17-year-old classmate James Whitworth of Sulphur Springs, Texas, while they were playing with an old pistol.[35]
March 30, 1891 Liberty, Mississippi 0 14 During a school exhibition and concert given at the Parson Hill schoolhouse, where the large audience was composed of blacks and whites: teachers, pupils, and spectators, an unknown gunman fired a double barreled shotgun into the assemblage. Fourteen people were wounded, some seriously.[36]
April 9, 1891 Newburgh, New York 0 ? 70-year-old James Foster, fired a shotgun at a group of students in the playground of St. Mary's Parochial School, causing minor injuries to several of the students.[37]
June 29, 1892 Van Wert, Ohio 1 0 Convoy teacher, B.L. Richie, was killed by 14-year-old student, Shirley Longsworth, son of Dr. Longsworth.[38]
October 10, 1892 Lawrence, Kansas 0 2 At the University of Kansas, two students, E. Higgins and Jack Craycroft, were injured as they were walking back to their dorm rooms after football practice. Law student Fred Bassett fired a double barreled shotgun as they passed his home, he said he had warned them not to trespass on his farm, which students frequently did.[39]
March 26, 1893 Plain Dealing, Louisiana 4 1 During an evening school dance at Plain Dealing High School, a fight broke out. When the smoke cleared, two students were killed, two more were fatally wounded, and the high school's Professor Johnson was wounded in the arm.[40]
October 17, 1894 Parkersburg, West Virginia 2 0 When school was let out, 15-year-old Willis Gardner, was killed and his 8-year-old brother fatally stabbed in a quarrel among a group of boys.[41]
December 13, 1898 Charleston, West Virginia 6 1+ During the school exhibition, a group of young men tried to break up a student performance. When the teacher Fisher tried to throw them out, they turned on him. Audience members joined the fray. The fight resulted in deaths: Harry Flasher was shot in the heart and instantly killed, Henry Carney was fatally shot in the back, Ralph Jones and two others were also fatally shot, and George Gibson was shot in the hand; Haz Harding had his skull crushed and several others received minor wounds.[42]
20th century
1900s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
February 24, 1903 Inman, South Carolina 1 0 Edward Foster, a 17-year-old student at Inman High School, was fatally wounded by his teacher Reuben Pitts after jerking a rod from Pitts' hands to avoid punishment. According to the teacher, Foster struck the pistol Pitts had drawn, and caused it to fire. Pitts was acquitted of murder on grounds of self-defense.[43]
July 21, 1903 Jackson, Kentucky 2 1 At the Cave Run School, James Barrett and Mack Howard argued over a card game and fought a duel with pistols, they killed each other. 12-year-old student, James Vires, was shot in the abdomen while sitting at his desk during the gunfight.[44]
April 6, 1904 Chicago, Illinois 1 0 Two students had been fighting for most of a year over a girl. In their last fight, Henry Schaze threw 16-year-old Paul Jelick to the ground, drew a revolver, and killed his rival.[45]
November 16, 1904 Riverside, California 2 1 At the Indian School, a gun fight broke out between pupils. Charles Colby was shot in the head with a pistol, then returned fire, killing Tom Bucanoros instantly, and fatally wounding Fred Smith.[46]
December 16, 1904 Magee, Mississippi 1 1 Parent, E.E. Mangum, was shot through the head and killed by the principal of the high school, Professor J.E. Woodward. Mangum had argued with Woodward, who had given Mangum's 15-year-old son a severe whipping. Mangum lost his temper, shooting Woodward through the wrist.[47]
February 9, 1905 Colusa, California 0 1 At the request of his childhood friend, Pearl Cruse, 17-year-old Elmer Hildreth, who did not attend her school, went to a meeting between Miss Cruse and her teacher. It ended in "a hand to hand" encounter between teacher and pupil. When Ingrim went after Hildreth with an axe, Hildreth shot him in the stomach. Hildreth was arrested and bail was posted by five prominent men in the community. Hildreth was found to have acted in self-defense and no charges were filed. Ingrim survived.[48]
October 5, 1905 Hickman, Kentucky 0 0 While returning from church, Professor Emmet W. Roach, was ambushed by an assassin.[49]
March 23, 1907 Carmi, Illinois 1 0 Parent George Nicholson killed John Kurd at a schoolhouse during a school rehearsal. Kurd had made a disparaging remark about Nicholson's daughter during her recital.[50]
December 20, 1907 Chico, California 1 0 9-year-old Arthur Roberts, was shot in the head and killed outside his school during a military drill by school children of the Dayton school district. Armed with old guns believed to be empty, the children had pulled their triggers. The Roberts boy threw his hands to his head and cried, "I'm shot."[51]
January 10, 1908 Council Bluffs, Iowa 0 0 At around 6 a.m., as George O Mortensen, 35-year-old janitor of the Washington street school building, was unlocking the outer door of the school, someone discharged a shotgun from only a few feet. The shot riddled the door within a foot of his head.[52]
March 11, 1908 Boston, Massachusetts 2 0 Suffering from melancholia, due to overwork, thirty-nine year-old Miss Sarah Chamberlain Weed, killed thirty-four year-old Elizabeth Bailey Hardee, then shot herself, at the Laurens School, a fashionable boarding school.[53]
March 19, 1909 Mount Vernon, Illinois 0 1 During a school performance of "The Grand Central", John Moake, portraying the villain, was shot in the forehead and dangerously wounded by the hero, Roy Slater. The cartridge was thought to have been blank.[54]
June 10, 1909 Trinidad, Colorado 1 0 Walter Harris, 11-year-old student, accidentally shot his teacher, B.C. Briggs in the head while on a school field trip, killing him.[55]
August 18, 1909 Bakersfield, California 0 0 After hunting doves, a group of six young men deliberately shot out the glass at the Fruitvale School. They also shot at the nearby residence of A.J. Hunter, narrowly missing several children in the rear yard.[56]
September 11, 1909 Gravette, Arkansas 1 0 John Butram, a student at the Bear Hollow School, told his fellow students that school was cancelled. The teacher A.T. Kelly insisted that the day's lesson was not over. When Butram drew a knife on his teacher, Kelly drew his gun and shot him.[57]
1910s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
January 12, 1910 New York City, New York 2 0 "A black bearded maniac drew an automatic pistol" and fired five shots into a crowd of boys at the Harlem School, who were taunting him. 6-year-old Robert Lomas, was hit and died instantly, 6-year-old Arthur Shively, was critically wounded.[58]
March 10, 1910 Ione, California 0 0 At the reform school, known as Preston School of Industry, students Albert Brown and Eugene Griffin tried to escape, stealing a revolver from the school's bakery shop. They shot at Captain William H. White when he pursued them. No one was hurt, but the boys were transferred to the penitentiary, which held adults.[59]
August 16, 1910 Lexington, Kentucky 1 ? A general fight broke out during school board elections. Lewis Napier was killed, and several other persons were hurt. Several were arrested.[60]
April 27, 1911 Manhattan, Kansas 1 0 During a school play rehearsal, a boy accidentally loaded his revolver. An 18-year-old girl who was to use it in the play said she was afraid to handle it. The teacher said there was no need for her fear and pointed it at the girl, Pearl Reedy, squeezing the trigger. She was fatally wounded.[61]
January 31, 1912 San Francisco, California 1 0 During a stone throwing confrontation near the Oriental School on Clay Street, a group of white boys found themselves trapped between two groups of Chinese boys. In an attempt to escape, Jose Aguilar, fired a BB shot air rifle twice hoping to frighten the Chinese. However, 10-year-old Wong She, had a gun and fired back. One bullet passed through Aguilar's coat sleeve as he ran and fatally struck 14-year-old James Kane in the school's rear yard.[62][63]
February 16, 1912 Lagrange, New York 1 0 14-year-old May McQuade, was killed by classmate Raymond B. Carroll. Carroll alleged the shooting was accidental and he did not think the gun was loaded.[64]
November 19, 1914 Sayre, Pennsylvania 1 0 While walking to school, 14-year-old Charles Listman, killed 15-year-old Andrew Milton, over the affections of classmate, 13-year-old Minnie London.[65]
January 13, 1915 Vancouver, Washington 0 1 During a parent-teachers' meeting, 15-year-old student, Murlan Decker, was accidentally shot by his younger brother, Luther.[66]
February 3, 1915 Jasper, Florida 1 1 20-year-old Will Yates, teacher of Clear Pond school in Hamilton county, Fla., was killed in a fight with Claude Holtzendorff and his two sons. A whipping administered in school to one of the Holtzendorff boys started the trouble. After punishing the boy Yates armed himself, and when accosted by the Holtzendorffs, shot the father through the mouth. He was in turn shot through the body, dying an hour later.[67]
September 20, 1916 Bemidji, Minnesota 0 1 Olga Dahl, the 19-year-old teacher at the Round Lake District School, was found tied to a tree near the school, assaulted and shot twice in the face. She had been working late after school, and a man with a revolver entered the school house and ordered her to obey him. He raped and shot her; she was expected to live. All available men in Itasca County joined in hunting the assailant.[68][69]
December 26, 1916 Danville, Kentucky 1 ? During the Christmas tree celebration at the Harris Creek School, with a packed room of children and visitors, a fight broke out. William Benedict, Sr. was instantly killed, William Benedict, Jr. was shot in the ankle, Bourdon Galloway was shot in the right arm, and Mike Gaddis was shot in the leg. Many others were injured. The disturbance was said to be started by Thomas Thornton, who had been drinking and was told to calm down by Benedict. Thornton's brother George left the room and returned with a revolver.[70]
June 5, 1917 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 0 1 16-year-old freshman, Earl Wolf, was accidentally shot in the leg with a revolver around noon time, in the company of his classmates at the Central High School.[71]
October 28, 1917 Chicago, Illinois 1 0 Overnight two brothers, 16-year-old William and 15-year-old Ralph Carter, broke into the May public school, robbing the phone boxes and teachers' desks. Discovered by janitor Howard Parks and policeman Thomas Conway, a gunfight broke out. William was critically wounded and not expected to live; Ralph Carter was taken to jail.[72]
November 29, 1917 Manes, Missouri 0 1 At the Perkins school's Thanksgiving night pie supper, 21-year-old teacher Joe Todd, was mysteriously shot. He was expected to recover.[73]
March 29, 1918 Jefferson City, Missouri 1 0 At the Lincoln Institute, State Negro Normal School, 31-year-old Professor Romeo West, was killed in the dormitory by superintendent of school Theodore Martin. They were arguing over which dishes to use at a social. Martin said he shot in self-defense, fatally hitting West with three of five shots.[74]
April 6, 1918 Reeder, North Dakota 1 0 During the afternoon recess, a boy was looking over a 22-caliber rifle; it discharged, striking the head of the Coyne boy in the seat to the front, killing him instantly.[75]
January 9, 1919 Monroe City, Missouri 0 0 While school was in session, Hugh Claggett shot through the school house's front door while on his way home from work. No one was hurt, and he was fined $20.[76]
April 12, 1919 Ogden City, Utah 0 1 During a high school assembly, six boys shot off their guns. Permission had been given in the belief the guns were loaded with blanks but they had live shot. Teacher Verna Davidson was shot in the foot.[77]
August 4, 1919 Berkeley, California 0 2 Roger Sprague, an assistant in the department of chemistry at the University of California, despondent and desperate over his inability to obtain a position, slightly wounded 59-year-old Professor Edmond O'Neill, head of department, and 37-year-old Dr. Joel Henry Hildebrand, professor of chemistry, in the administration offices of Gilman Hall. He then went to California Hall and attempted to shoot 57-year-old May L. Cheney, appointment secretary, but struck only one of her hair combs before he was subdued.[78]
1920s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
February 14, 1920 Durant, Oklahoma 0 1 At the Durant Normal School, teacher Albert McFarland, was seriously wounded by one of his pupils.[79]
March 4, 1920 Cincinnati, Ohio 0 1 14-year-old student, Lawrence Angel, shot his teacher, Beatrice Conner, through the arm for sending him to the principal's office.[80]
May 1, 1920 Summerville, Georgia 0 0 At the High School, 15-year-old student Alexander Potter, fired six shots at his teacher, Prof. Ransom, but missed. Potter was upset over having received a severe thrashing and expulsion. Potter was sentenced to six years at a reform school.[81]
May 15, 1920 Bowling Green, Ohio 1 0 While attending her son's school track meet, Mrs. F. Mahl was killed accidentally by shot from the starter's pistol.[82]
August 1, 1920 Ogden, Utah 0 1 Mike Smults, the night watchman at the Utah school for the Deaf and Blind, shot a 10-year-old boy, Dennis McDonald, as he and his brother Clinton cut through the campus. The watchman said he fired into the air as a warning.[83]
October 22, 1920 Chicago, Illinois 0 1 Mrs. Carmila Rindoni went to the school and twice shot Rosalind I. Reynolds, her son's teacher, for spanking her son the day before. Mrs. Rindoni was arrested, and Miss Reynolds was expected to recover.[84]
November 4, 1920 Middlesboro, Kentucky 1 0 Prof. Barnes of Middlesboro High School was fatally shot by Adolphus Oaks, for whipping his sister the week before. Barnes had already submitted his resignation to the school board, as his students had boycotted his class in protest over the whipping. He intended to leave the city that weekend. Oaks went to jail.[85]
February 17, 1922 Valdosta, Georgia 2 0 John Glover broke into the school house, where he killed a girl and fatally wounded a boy. A mob tracked and killed Glover 7 miles (11 km) away in Indianola, now Naylor, Georgia.[86]
August 1, 1922 Ardmore, Oklahoma 1 0 Bryant Hignight and four other students were hanging out at the outhouse of the Mount Zion school. Hignight fired two shots. One entered Raymond Guin's head, killing the boy instantly. Three of the boys were questioned, but all said it was an accident.[87]
December 29, 1926 Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 0 1 12-year-old Frederick Heilman was shot through the right instep when Gettysburg College janitor, Joseph Carver, fired in the direction of a group of boys attempting to force their way into the college gymnasium. Carver had shot into the ground, attempting to scare the boys, and was not aware that a bullet had ricocheted. Mr Heilman chose not to prefer criminal charges.[88]
1930s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
May 22, 1930 Ringe, Minnesota 1 0 24-year-old Douglas Petersen, killed 20-year-old teacher, Margaret Wegman, who was standing in the doorway of a rural schoolhouse.[89]
May 28, 1931 Duluth, Minnesota 1 0 Katherine McMillen, 24-year-old teacher at the Howard Gensen rural school near Duluth, was accidentally killed by a pupil who brought a revolver to school.[90]
September 14, 1934 Gill, Massachusetts 1 0 Headmaster Elliott Speer was murdered by a shotgun blast through the window at Northfield Mount Hermon School. The crime was never solved.[91]
May 7, 1935 Irvington, New York 1 0 Dr. Paul Kyle, head of the Kyle School for Boys, was found killed in the school, just before classes were to begin that day.[92]
May 19, 1936 Williamstown, Massachusetts 2 1 Lewis Jack Somes, Jr. shot and killed classmate Robert Henneberry and wounded William Hartz, Jr. before killing himself in Lehman Hall at Williams College.[93]
June 4, 1936 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 2 0 Wesley Clow killed his Lehigh University English instructor, C. Wesley Phy. Clow went to Phy's office and demanded that Phy change his grade to a passing mark. Clow committed suicide after shooting Phy.[94]
June 4, 1937 Isabel, Kansas 1 0 16-year-old Robert Douthitt, was accidentally killed backstage during high school play practice. The revolver was to have been loaded with blanks, but it held live ammunition.[95]
September 24, 1937 Toledo, Ohio 0 2 12-year-old Robert Snyder wounded his principal, June Mapes, in her office at Arlington Public School when she declined his request to call a classmate. He fled the grounds, and wounded himself.[96]
January 24, 1938 Blencoe, Iowa 1 0 17-year-old Edward Marley was accidentally killed by a fellow actor while rehearsing for a play at Blencoe High School.[97]
1940s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
May 6, 1940 Pasadena, California 5 2 South Pasadena Junior High School murders: Outraged by his dismissal, following conflicts with other staff, thirty-eight-year-old Verlin H. Spencer shot and killed 62-year-old superintendent of the South Pasadena city schools George C. Bush, 50-year-old principal of South Pasadena High School John E. Alman, and 52-year-old School District business manager Will R. Speer. He then attempted to kill Bush's secretary, 32-year-old Dorothea Talbert; she was struck near the shoulder. He later shot and killed 45-year-old art teacher Ruth Sturgeon, with whom he'd been in conflict, fatally wounding her in the chest and, following an intense struggle, 35-year-old mechanical arts teacher Verner V. Vanderlip, another with whom he had a grievance. Spencer was cornered by police as he attempted to escape through the school cafeteria; as one officer aimed, Spencer pressed the .22 caliber automatic pistol against his right side and fired twice, critically wounding himself. Police later found a suicide note from Spencer to his wife, Polly. He survived his wounds and was tried for murder. Pleading guilty to all charges, he received 5 consecutive life terms. He was discharged from California's Department of Correction in 1977, aged 75. Verlin Spencer died January 11, 1991.[98][99][100][101]
July 4, 1940 Valhalla, New York 1 0 Angered by the refusal of his daughter, 15-year-old Melba, to leave a boarding school and return home, 47-year-old Joseph Moshell, went to the school, where he killed his daughter.[102]
October 2, 1942 New York City, New York 1 0 Irwin Goodman, 36-year-old mathematics teacher at William J. Gaynor Junior High School, was killed in the school corridor by a youth.[103]
June 26, 1946 New York City, New York 0 1 A 15-year-old student, who refused to give his pocket money to a gang of seven youths, was shot in the chest in the Public School 147 annex of Brooklyn Automotive Trades High School.[104]
February 2, 1947 Madill, Oklahoma 2 0 62-year-old Ellis Laird killed his estranged wife, 40-year-old teacher, Jessie Laird, inside her first grade classroom. He then took his own life. All of this took place in the presence of several pupils.[105]
December 24, 1948 New York City, New York 1 0 A 14-year-old student was fatally wounded in the head by a shot from fellow student, 17-year-old Robert Ross. The youth was accidentally shot when he chanced into range where Ross was target shooting near a lake at the school.[106]
March 11, 1949 New York City, New York 0 1 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.[107]
November 12, 1949 Columbus, Ohio 1 0 Ohio State University freshman James Heer grabbed a .45 caliber handgun from the room of a Delta Tau Delta fraternity brother, and killed 21-year-old Jack McKeown, a senior and also a fraternity brother.[108]
1950s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
July 22, 1950 New York City, New York 0 1 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.[109]
January 24, 1951 Alton, Illinois 1 0 61-year-old Henry Suhre, quartermaster at Western Military Academy, was killed in the cadet store on campus.[110]
March 12, 1951 Union Mills, North Carolina 2 0 Professor W.E. Sweatt, superintendent and teacher at the Alexander School, was killed by students, 16-year-old Billy Ray Powell, and 19-year-old Hugh Justice, whom he had reprimanded. The boys fled and also shot Wade Johnson, 15, for telling on them about a rule infraction.[111]
June 4, 1951 New York City, New York 1 0 Carl Arch, a 50-year-old intruder to a girls' gym class, was killed by a police officer at Manhattan's Central Commercial High School.[112]
November 27, 1951 St. Louis, Missouri 1 0 15-year-old student, David Brooks, was fatally shot as fellow pupils looked on. Two former students were sought by police.[113]
April 9, 1952 New York City, New York 1 0 A 15-year-old boarding school student shot a dean rather than give up his pin-up pictures of girls in bathing suits.[114]
July 14, 1952 New York City, New York 1 0 Bayard Peakes walked into the offices of the American Physical Society (APS) at Columbia University, where he killed secretary Eileen Fahey. Peakes was reportedly upset that the APS had rejected a paper of his.[115]
October 2, 1953 Chicago, Illinois 1 0 14-year-old Bernice Turner, killed 14-year-old Pasquale Coletta inside the science classroom at Kelly High School. The shooting was later ruled to be accidental.[116]
March 31, 1954 Newton, Massachusetts 1 0 14-year-old John Frankenberger, was accidentally killed in a classroom at Day Junior High School when a pistol being held by a classmate discharged.[117]
May 15, 1954 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 1 2 Putnam Davis Jr. was killed during a fraternity house carnival at the Phi Delta Theta house at the University of North Carolina. William Joyner and Allen Long were wounded during the exchange of gunfire in their room. The incident followed an all-night beer party. Long told police that, while the three were drinking beer at 7 a.m., Davis pulled out a gun and started shooting.[118]
January 11, 1955 Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 1 0 After some of his dormmates urinated on his mattress during hazing, Robert B. Bechtel, a 22-year-old student proctor at Swarthmore College, returned to his third floor Wharton Hall dorm with a shotgun and killed fellow student, 19-year-old Francis Holmes Strozier.[119] Betchtel was acquitted of murder by reason of insanity and spent five years in a psychiatric hospital.[120]
May 4, 1956 Seat Pleasant, Maryland 1 2 15-year-old student, Billy Ray Prevatte, fatally shot 32-year-old teacher, Frazer Cameron, and injured 25-year-old athletic coach, Francis Daniel Wagner, and 31-year-old teacher, Robert Hicks, at Maryland Park Junior High School. He just left, after growing tired of waiting outside the principal's office awaiting a reprimand for failing to turn in a written physical education assignment, and returned with a rifle.[121]
October 20, 1956 New York City, New York 0 1 A Booker T. Washington Junior High School student was wounded in the forearm by another student armed with a home-made weapon.[122]
October 2, 1957 New York City, New York 0 1 A 16-year-old student was shot in the leg by a 15-year-old classmate at a city high school.[123]
March 4, 1958 New York City, New York 0 1 A 17-year-old student shot a boy in the Manual Training High School.[124]
May 1, 1958 Massapequa, New York 1 0 A 15-year-old Massapequa High School freshman was killed by a classmate in a washroom.[125]
September 24, 1959 New York City, New York 1 0 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 at Morris High School.[126]
1960s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
February 2, 1960 Hartford City, Indiana 3 0 44-year-old school principal Leonard Redden killed teachers Harriett Robson and Minnie McFerren inside their classrooms at William Reed School. Redden then fled to a wooded area where he killed himself.[127]
March 30, 1960 Alice, Texas 1 0 14-year-old Donna Dvorak, brought a target pistol to Dubose Junior High School, and fatally shot 15-year-old Bobby Whitford, in their 9th-grade science class. Dvorak believed Whitford posed a threat to one of her girlfriends.[128]
June 7, 1960 Blaine, Minnesota 2 0 41-year-old mail-carrier, Lester Betts, confronted 33-year-old principal, Carson Hammond, in his Blaine Elementary School office, and shot him dead with a 12-gauge shotgun.[129][130]
January 4, 1961 Delmont, South Dakota 1 0 Donald Kurtz, 17-year-old senior at Delmont High School, was fatally wounded by a .22 caliber bullet from a rifle. The shot, intended as a sound effect for a school play, hit him in the chest during a rehearsal just minutes before the play was to take place.[131]
October 17, 1961 Denver, Colorado 2 0 14-year-old Tennyson Beard, got into an argument with 15-year-old William Hachmeister, at Morey Junior High School, and wounded him. Another shot fatally struck 14-year-old Deborah Faith Humphrey.[132]
April 27, 1966 Bay Shore, New York 1 0 48-year-old teacher, John S. Lane, was fatally wounded when he tried to stop 16-year-old student James Arthur Frampton. The youth was walking through the halls of Bay Shore Senior High School with a shotgun, searching for boys whom he had argued with earlier that day. Lane died about six weeks later of his wounds.[133]
August 1, 1966 Austin, Texas 17 31 University of Texas massacre: 25-year-old engineering student, Charles Whitman, got onto the observation deck at the University of Texas-Austin, from where he killed seventeen people and wounded thirty-one during a 96-minute shooting rampage. He had earlier murdered his wife and mother at their homes.[134][135][136] It was the deadliest shooting on a U.S. college campus until the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.
October 5, 1966 Grand Rapids, Minnesota 1 1 Grand Rapids High School student, 15-year-old David Black, killed school administrator Forrest Willey and seriously wounded fellow student, 14-year-old Kevin Roth.[137][138]
November 12, 1966 Mesa, Arizona 5 2 18-year-old Bob Smith, took seven people hostage at Rose-Mar College of Beauty and ordered them to lie down in a circle. He shot each in the head. Four women and a 3-year-old girl died, a woman and a baby were injured but survived. Police arrested Smith, who reportedly admired Richard Speck and Charles Whitman.[139]
May 3, 1967 Northlake, Illinois 1 1 18-year-old dropout, Michael Pisarski killed his former girlfriend, 17-year-old Christine Mitchell inside West Leyden High School. The school's athletic director was wounded.[140]
January 30, 1968 Miami, Florida 1 0 16-year-old Blanche Ward killed fellow student, 16-year-old Linda Lipscomb, 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.[141]
February 8, 1968 Orangeburg, South Carolina 3 27 In the days leading up to February 8, 1968, about two hundred mostly student civil rights protesters gathered on the campus of South Carolina State University to protest the continued racial segregation of the All Star Bowling Lane after passage in 1964 of federal legislation prohibiting such action. That night, students started a bonfire. As police attempted to put out the fire, an officer was struck and injured by an object. Police later said they believed they were under attack by small weapons fire. The officers fired into the crowd, killing 18-year-old Samuel Hammond Jr., 17-year-old Delano Herman Middleton, and 19-year-old Henry Ezekial Smith, and wounding twenty-seven others.[136][142]
March 25, 1968 High Point, North Carolina 1 0 15-year-old David Lee Walker, was killed just outside Central High School, by 15-year-old Gerald Locklear.[143]
May 22, 1968 Miami, Florida 0 2 Ernest Lee Grissom, a 15-year-old student at Drew Junior High School, seriously wounded a teacher and a 13-year-old student after he had been reprimanded for behavior.[144]
January 17, 1969 Los Angeles, California 2 0 Alprentice Carter and John Huggins, two student members of the Black Panther Party, were fatally shot during a student meeting inside Campbell Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles. Reportedly there was disagreement over who would control the school's African American Studies Center. The shooter, Claude Hubert, was never found; three other men were later arrested in connection with the shooting.[145]
January 23, 1969 Washington, D.C. 1 0 45-year-old Cardozo Senior High School assistant principal, Herman Clifford, was killed in the school's hallway, by 18-year-old Ronald Joyner, while trying to stop him and two other youths who had robbed the school's bank.[146]
May 13, 1969 Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1 0 13-year-old Ernest Napoleon Carter Jr. was accidentally killed, by a 13-year-old classmate at Hanes Junior High School who was armed with a pistol. The shooter was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Carter's mother filed a lawsuit against the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education for $50,000 in damages.[147]
November 19, 1969 Tomah, Wisconsin 1 0 46-year-old Martin Mogensen, principal of Tomah Junior High School, was killed in his office by a 14-year-old boy.[148]
1970s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
January 5, 1970 Washington, D.C. 1 1 15-year-old Tyrone Perry, was killed at Hine Junior High School.[149]
February 11, 1970 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1 2 University of Pennsylvania professors, 40-year-old Walter Koppelman, and 45-year-old Oscar Goldman, were shot by 33-year-old disgruntled graduate student, Robert Cantor, during a seminar. Cantor then took his own life. Koppelman died March 5 from his injuries, but Goldman recovered.[150]
May 4, 1970 Kent, Ohio 4 9 Kent State shootings: During protests of the Vietnam War at Kent State University, armed National Guard Soldiers opened fire on unarmed students, killing four people.[136][151][152]
May 15, 1970 Jackson, Mississippi 2 12 Jackson State killings: Two students were killed and twelve others injured when police opened fire on students gathered to protest the US military presence in Cambodia.[153][154][155]
November 20, 1970 Chicago, Illinois 0 2 Two students were shot while standing in a second floor hallway of Harlan High School. 15-year-old Kenneth House, was shot in the lower left abdomen, his condition was described as serious. 14-year-old Portia Walls, suffered a superficial wound on her lower back. The incident was thought to have involved gang recruiting in the school.[156]
February 2, 1971 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1 0 56-year-old teacher, Samson L. Freedman, was killed as he left Morris E. Leeds School, by 14-year-old student, Kevin Simmons. Freedman had suspended Simmons earlier in the day for cursing in the hallway.[157]
November 11, 1971 Spokane, Washington 2 4 21-year-old former MIT student, Larry J. Harmon, armed with a rifle, killed 68-year-old caretaker, Hilary Kunzon, who came upon him wrecking St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church, then fled onto the campus of Gonzaga University, where he wounded four more people before police officers killed him. Harmon was described by his father as a religious fanatic claiming to have visions.[158]
February 26, 1973 Richmond, Virginia 1 0 17-year-old Wayne Phillips, was killed when he was caught between two youths who were fighting in the hallway of Armstrong High School.[159]
November 6, 1973 Oakland, California 1 1 School superintendent Marcus Foster, was killed and his assistant Robert Blackburn, was wounded when members of the Symbionese Liberation Army opened fire on them as they exited a school board meeting. Two members of the SLA were later arrested and convicted of the crime. Both were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The SLA had reportedly believed that Foster supported a measure to install police on school grounds and make students carry identification cards. In reality, Foster opposed both measures.[160]
January 17, 1974 Chicago, Illinois 1 0 52-year-old elementary school principal, Rudolph Jezek Jr., was killed in his office by 14-year-old Steven Guy, a former student said to be angry about being transferred to a social adjustment center.[161]
March 22, 1974 Brownstown, Indiana 1 0 48-year-old Jessie Blevins, athletic director at Brownstown Central High School, was fatally shot in the school parking lot by a 17-year-old student waiting for him. He gave the police no motive.[162]
October 4, 1974 Kent, Ohio 0 1 19-year-old McKeesport student, Ray D. Gilmore, was wounded in a scuffle with two men in his third floor campus dormitory room. 26-year-old Benjamin F. Goodman and 22-year-old Carl Bell, who were not students, had their .32 caliber pistols taken and were wrestled to the floor by other students.[163]
December 30, 1974 Olean, New York 3 11 During a two-and-a-half-hour siege, 18-year-old honor student, Anthony Barbaro, the best on his rifle team, killed three adults in and around his high school and wounded eleven other persons.[155][164] He shot from the windows out at the street and neighborhood. The school was closed for the Christmas holiday.[165]
February 24, 1975 Penns Grove, New Jersey 1 1 24-year-old David Gary killed the 33-year-old Reverend Thomas Quinlan, inside a classroom at St. James School. Quinlan was the school's principal. A teacher was also wounded.[166]
March 18, 1975 St. Louis, Missouri 1 0 16-year-old Stephen Goods, a bystander, was killed during a fight between other teens. Three youths were convicted for the homicide.[164]
September 11, 1975 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1 5 Student James Briggs killed fellow student Randy Truitt at Grant High School, wounding several others.[167]
February 12, 1976 Detroit, Michigan 0 5 Intruders entered Murray-Wright High School, shooting and wounding five students after an apparent dispute over a girlfriend of one of the intruders.[168]
July 12, 1976 Fullerton, California 7 2 The gunman, 37-year-old Edward Charles Allaway, was a custodian at the California State University, Fullerton library. Allaway killed seven people and wounded two others in the library's first-floor lobby and at the building's Instructional Media Center (IMC), located in the basement.
November 10, 1976 Detroit, Michigan 1 0 46-year-old Al Lewis, killed his estranged wife, 46-year-old Betty McCaster, as she was teaching thirty-six 6-and-7-year-old students at Burt Elementary School.[169]
April 7, 1977 Whitharral, Texas 1 0 High School principal, M. O. Tripp, was killed on the front steps of the school by 17-year-old student, Ricardo Lopez, for unknown reasons.[170]
January 11, 1978 Hopkinsville, Kentucky 0 1 At 8:10 a.m., 13-year-old student, Andre Davis, was wounded while watching a fight between two students in the front lobby of Christian County Middle School, one of whom had a gun. A 16-year-old was charged with the assault.[171]
February 9, 1978 St. Albans, West Virginia 1 0 14-year-old Hayes Junior High School student, Stuart Wayne Perrock, killed 14-year-old schoolmate, Arthur Clinton Smith.[172]
February 22, 1978 Lansing, Michigan 1 1 After being taunted for his beliefs, 15-year-old Roger Needham, self-proclaimed Nazi, killed one student and wounded a second with a pistol at Everett High School.[164][173]
April 26, 1978 Dallas, Texas 1 0 38-year-old Woodrow Porter, a janitor at Paul Dunbar Elementary School, was killed by the 56-year-old grandmother of an 8-year-old who was allegedly spanked by Porter earlier.[174]
May 18, 1978 Austin, Texas 1 0 13-year-old John Daniel Christian, son of Lyndon B. Johnson's former press secretary George Christian, killed his English teacher, 29-year-old Wilbur Grayson, with his father's rifle in front of approximately thirty classmates at Murchison Junior High School.[155][164] Christian was arrested and charged but not prosecuted; he was committed to a mental hospital where he was treated for a period and released.[175]
October 17, 1978 University City, Missouri 0 4 18-year-old Larry Ward and two companions were escorted from the halls of University City High School following a fight with 18-year-old student, Carl Triplett. Ward ran back into the building with a gun and fired shots into a group, critically injuring Triplett in the chest and hip, and wounding 17-year-old Angela Darden and 16-year-old Jennifer Pride. Ward sustained a head injury as he was tackled by assistant principal, Franklin McCallie. His companions grabbed the gun and fled.[176]
October 17, 1978 Lanett, Alabama 1 0 13-year-old Robin Robinson, was paddled by Lanett Junior High School principal, Lewis Hoggs, after having a disagreement with another student. Robinson left the school, and returned with a .22-caliber handgun and shot Hoggs, grazing the top of his head.[155][177][178] Robinson was arrested two hours later about two blocks from the school, and later charged in juvenile court.[175][179][180]
January 29, 1979 San Diego, California 2 9 Cleveland Elementary School shooting: 16-year-old Brenda Spencer opened fire on Grover Cleveland Elementary School from her home across the street, killing two adults and wounding nine people.[164][181][182][183][184][185]
April 16, 1979 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 0 1 17-year-old Timothy Stahle was critically wounded in the leg and upper thigh, with shot gun pellets, as he threw rocks at the windows of Wisconsin Lutheran High School. 28-year-old school janitor, Kenneth B. Stein, was arrested.[186]
September 28, 1979 Charlestown, Massachusetts 0 1 15-year-old sophomore, Darryl Williams, was shot in the neck by a sniper during the half-time interval, while standing with teammates and coach in the end zone of the Charlestown High School football field. The player for the predominantly black Jamaica Plain High School team was left paralysed. A racial motivation was determined by Mayor Kevin White.[187] 17-year-old white youths, Joseph Nardone and Stephen McGonagle, were charged with the shooting and received ten year sentences.[188]
1980s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
January 7, 1980 Stamps, Arkansas 1 0 16-year-old Evan Hampton, high school freshman student at Stamps High School, waited in a classroom for 19-year-old student Mike Sanders, whom he immediately killed. Hampton went to the principal's office, turning in the gun and waiting for his arrest by police.[189]
March 20, 1980 Dallas, Texas 1 0 49-year-old fifth grade teacher, Rosie Pearson, was killed in J. Leslie Patton School by an unknown assailant.[190]
March 26, 1980 Big Rapids, Michigan 1 0 Business professor Robert Brauer was killed in class by his 20-year-old student, Thomas Kakonis, at Ferris State College; Kakonis had failed an exam in his class. Kakonis is the son of an associate dean at the college.[191]
October 31, 1980 Hueytown, Alabama 1 1 17-year-old Rudy Farmer, pulled out a .22 caliber pistol and wounded a fellow student in the art room of Hueytown High School, he then turned his gun on himself.[192]
January 27, 1981 Fayetteville, Arkansas 1 1 19-year-old former freshman, James Howard Taylor, brought a 12-gauge single-shot shotgun into the Delta Delta Delta sorority house on the University of Arkansas campus. He entered the house at 5:45 p.m. and terrorized an initiation dinner. After attempting to negotiate a surrender, he was shot by police when he aimed his shot gun into the dining room.[193]
April 17, 1981 Ann Arbor, Michigan 2 0 As students fled their rooms, after a homemade firebomb set a minor blaze on the sixth floor hallway of Bursley Hall dormitory, 22-year-old psychology student, Leo E. Kelly Jr., fired a sawn-off 12-gauge shotgun at his University of Michigan schoolmates at point-blank range. 19-year-old pre-medical student, Edward Siwik, and 21-year-old resident advisor, Douglas C. McGreaham, died at hospitals a few hours later. Kelly had been dismissed from UM once and was on the verge of another dismissal because of falling grades.[194][195] In 1982, he was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life.[196]
December 16, 1981 Portland, Oregon 2 0 Shortly before noon in Engineering Hall on the school's campus in north Portland, 34-year-old University of Portland night janitor, John C. Holbrook, killed 37-year-old engineering teacher, Brian D. Massey, before taking his own life.[197]
March 19, 1982 Las Vegas, Nevada 1 2 17-year-old Valley High School student, Patrick Lizotte, killed his teacher Clarence Pigott and wounded two students.[164][198]
April 7, 1982 Littleton, Colorado 1 0 13-year-old Deer Creek Junior High School student, Scott Darwin Michael, was killed by 14-year-old classmate, Jason Price Rocha. Rocha was tried as an adult and sentenced to twelve years, plus one year of parole.[199]
November 12, 1982 Jackson, Mississippi 2 0 18-year-old school dropout, James Hartzog, killed his girlfriend, 17-year-old Faye Williams in her algebra class at Wingfield High School. Hartzog then took his own life.[200]
January 20, 1983 St. Louis County, Missouri 2 1 Eighth grade Parkway South Middle School student David F. Lawler entered a study hall classroom and opened fire, killing 15-year-old Randall Koger, and injuring 15-year-old Greg Saffo. Lawler then took his own life.[164][198]
February 24, 1984 Los Angeles, California 2 12 Tyrone Mitchell killed two people and wounded twelve others when shooting at students leaving 49th Street Elementary School.[164]
April 20, 1984 Detroit, Michigan 1 0 13-year-old Kelly Crittendon, was accidentally killed by two classmates in a classroom at the Precious Blood School.[201]
May 17, 1984 Pleasant Hill, Iowa 2 0 17-year-old student, Todd Dunahoo, killed 16-year-old Valerie Rockafellow in the hallway at Southeast Polk High School, then turned the gun on himself.[202]
October 24, 1984 Celina, Ohio 1 0 45-year-old Shirley Shindeldecker, killed school bus driver 54-year-old Gene Green, as he stopped to pick up the son of Shindeldecker's estranged husband. After serving nineteen months of her sentence, Shindeldecker was found innocent by reason of insanity, and released.[203]
January 21, 1985 Goddard, Kansas 1 3 Armed with a rifle and a handgun, 14-year-old James Alan Kearbey, killed principal, James McGee, and wounded two teachers and a student at Goddard Junior High School.[164][198][204]
October 18, 1985 Detroit, Michigan 0 6 Murray-Wright High School shooting: During half-time of the homecoming football game between Northwestern and Murray-Wright high schools, a youth opened fire with a shotgun, injuring six students with whom he had fought earlier in the day.[205]
November 27, 1985 Spanaway, Washington 3 0 14-year-old Heather Smith, killed 15-year-old Gordon Pickett, who was her ex-boyfriend, and 14-year-old Christopher Ricco, in the gymnasium at Spanaway Junior High School. She later took her own life.[206]
December 3, 1985 Concord, New Hampshire 1 0 At Concord High School, Louis Cartier, a 16-year-old dropout, entered the school with a shotgun and took students hostage, 18-year-old Patrick Lena Lena and 16-year-old Scott Hayes. Responding police officers fatally shot him after he aimed at football coach, Don LeBrun.[207][208]
December 10, 1985 Portland, Connecticut 1 2 After being suspended for refusing to take off his hat while at school, 13-year-old student Floyd Warmsley pulled out a firearm at Portland Junior High School, shooting and wounding the 53-year-old school secretary Lynn Haddad, and killing 36-year-old janitor David Bangston.[209][210]
March 6, 1986 Dolton, Illinois 0 1 At about 9:40 a.m., as 52-year-old math teacher Norma Cooper`s third-period algebra class was beginning in a second-floor classroom in the C Building at Thornridge High School, she was shot in the shoulder by a freshman student, with a large-caliber handgun, registered to the youth`s father, a security guard. He is charged with attempted murder, unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated battery. The freshman, a resident of Harvey, was enrolled in the class and apparently had recently received poor grades.[211]
April 29, 1986 Senath, Missouri 1 0 A new student, 16-year-old Ritchie Overman, killed studious 15-year-old Leslie Lynn Wyatt, using a 20-gauge shotgun, in front of twenty-six "totally horrified" science class students and teacher Sheila Adams, at Senath-Hornersville High School.[212][213]
May 9, 1986 Fayetteville, North Carolina 0 3 A 17-year-old student shot three classmates at Pine Forest High School with a .25-caliber handgun wounding them. One student was critically injured and treated for a neck wound.[214]
May 16, 1986 Cokeville, Wyoming 2 74 Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis: 43-year-old former town marshal David Young, and his 47-year-old wife, Doris Young, took 136 children and eighteen adults hostage at Cokeville Elementary School.[164][215][216]
December 4, 1986 Lewistown, Montana 1 3 14-year-old Kristofer Hans intended to shoot his French teacher at Fergus High School, for a failing grade. Instead, Henrietta Smith, who was substituting for LaVonne Simonfy, was shot in the face and died.[217] Hans fired several other shots as he fled, wounding vice principal John Moffatt,[218] and two students.[177] He then ran about a mile to his home, where he was arrested after the police surrounded his house. A classmate said Hans had repeatedly threatened to kill Ms. Simonfy, saying, "I'm going to blow Simonfy's head off."[219] He was charged as an adult, convicted and sentenced to 206 years in prison.[164][220]
February 4, 1987 Northridge, California 2 0 35-year-old associate professor of Computer Science Djamshid (Amir) Asgari was confronted in the Engineering Building of California State University, Northridge by 25-year-old graduate student Fawwaz Abdin. Abdin was angry about a low grade Asgari had given him a year earlier, which caused him to be put on academic probation. After Asgari refused to change his grade, Abdin shot him twice, then himself. Asgari later died at the Northridge Hospital.[221]
March 2, 1987 De Kalb, Missouri 2 0 After constant teasing about his weight, 12-year-old honors student Nathan Ferris killed a 13-year-old classmate, Timothy Perrin, after he bullied him, then turned the gun on himself.[164][198][222]
April 16, 1987 Detroit, Michigan 1 2 Murray-Wright High School second shooting: A ninth-grade student at Murray-Wright High School killed 17-year-old Chester Jackson, a student athlete, and wounded 17-year-old Damon Matthews, and 18-year-old Tomeka Turner.[223]
September 28, 1987 Lansing, Illinois 0 1 After being kicked off the soccer team for smoking on school grounds, 16-year-old student Blake Docter, of Illiana Christian High School wounded 44-year-old John Hoogewerf in the chest, the teacher who had reported him for smoking.[224]
December 16, 1987 Katy, Texas 1 0 After being refused a date from his classmate, 15 year-old Ramesh Guzman Tumalad shot and killed himself with a .357 Magnum revolver before 23 of his fellow freshman Algebra students at Mayde Creek High School. The evening prior to the shooting, the boy discussed committing suicide to the girl after she informed school administration of his obsession with her.[225]
February 11, 1988 Largo, Florida 1 2 Pinellas Park_High shooting: 15-year-old students, Jason Harless and Jason McCoy, took stolen .38-caliber revolvers to Pinellas Park High School. Harless shot two assistant principals and a student-teacher inside the school's cafeteria. 53-year-old Richard Allen died from his injuries, Nancy Blackwelder and intern Joseph Bloznalis were wounded.[164][198][226]
May 20, 1988 Winnetka, Illinois 1 5 30-year-old Laurie Dann, killed 8-year-old Nick Corwin, inside Hubbard Woods School. Five additional students were wounded. Dann later committed suicide after taking hostages in a nearby home.[164][198][227]
July 10, 1988 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 0 1 25-year-old Robin Jenkins, was shot in the elbow after a basketball game turned violent about 7:45 p.m.at Siefert Elementary School. A 28-year-old man was taken into custody the following day.[228]
September 26, 1988 Greenwood, South Carolina 2 9 Oakland Elementary School shooting: 19-year-old James William Wilson entered Oakland Elementary School and started firing shots in the cafeteria. Two students were wounded and a first-grade teacher. After reloading his gun in a girls' restroom, he was confronted by physical education teacher, Kat Finkbeiner, who tried to stop him; she was wounded twice. He then entered a third-grade classroom and shot toward the students, killing 8-year-olds Shequila Tawoon Bradley and Tequila Maria Thomas, and wounding five others.[164][198][229]
November 22, 1988 Abilene, Texas 0 1 16-year-old student Mason Staggs shot Cooper High School teacher, Rick Maloney in the face with a pistol, severely injuring the teacher. Staggs left the school and went fishing.[230]
December 16, 1988 Virginia Beach, Virginia 1 1 At Atlantic Shores Christian School, 16-year-old student Nicholas Elliott shot two teachers with a Mac-10 9-millimeter machine pistol, killing 41-year-old Karen Farley, and critically wounding 37-year-old Sam Marino, then began firing on a classroom full of students before the gun jammed and any students were hit.[198][231][232]
January 17, 1989 Stockton, California 6 32 Stockton schoolyard shooting: 24-year-old Patrick Edward Purdy fatally shot five children and wounded 32 others at the Cleveland Elementary School, before taking his own life. The victims were children of refugees from Southeast Asia. Purdy had a history of violence, alcoholism and drug addiction, and criminality.[232][233]
February 10, 1989 Kearns, Utah 0 0 At Thomas Jefferson Junior High School, a 12-year-old boy fired a handgun at a vice principal, William Crumbaugh. No one was injured.[234]
December 5, 1989 McKeesport, Pennsylvania 1 1 While riding the school bus, 16-year-old Serra Catholic High School student, Robert Butler, shot 16-year-old schoolmate, Adam Ference, in the back of the head before fatally shooting himself.[235] Ference was in critical condition but survived.[236]
1990s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
March 27, 1990 Brooklyn, New York 0 1 A black youth was taunted with racial slurs by three white youths in the stairwell of a public school in the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn. The 14-year-old was then shot and slightly wounded.[237]
September 11, 1990 San Antonio, Texas 0 3 3 students were wounded when gunfire broke out at Sam Houston High School. The incident took place at 11:55 a.m. and was gang related. 17-year-old John Campbell was wounded in the right foot, 18-year-old Larry Johnson was wounded in the right thigh and calf, and a 16-year-old received a chest wound. 18-year-old Kenneth Wolford, and two other male students were arrested and charged.[238]
February 6, 1991 Donna, Texas 1 0 15-year-old Raul Calvo fatally shot himself while playing Russian roulette inside a biology classroom at Donna High School.[239]
April 23, 1991 Compton, California 1 0 A teenager aimed and fired a handgun at a security guard who had chased him and three friends off the grounds of Ralph J. Bunche Middle School. He instead killed 11-year-old Alejandro Vargas, a bystander and student at the school.[240]
September 18, 1991 Crosby, Texas 1 0 17-year-old Arthur Jermel Jack, was killed by 15-year-old LaKeeta Cadoree, in the cafeteria at Crosby High School.[241]
November 1, 1991 Iowa City, Iowa 6 1 University of Iowa shooting: 28-year-old former graduate student, Gang Lu, killed four members of University of Iowa's faculty and a research student, and seriously wounded another student. 47-year-old professor of physics and astronomy, Christoph K. Goertz, 45-year-old associate professor of physics and astronomy, Robert Alan Smith, 44-year-old chairman of the physics and astronomy department, Dwight R. Nicholson, 56-year-old associate vice president for academic affairs, Dr. Theresa Anne Cleary, shot in the head and died the following day, and 27-year-old research investigator in physics and astronomy, Dr. Shan Linhua. 23-year-old Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, Dr. Cleary's temporary student receptionist in the grievance office, survived but was left paralyzed from the neck down. Lu then shot himself in the head, he died shortly after police arrived.[242][243][244][245]
November 25, 1991 Brooklyn, New York 1 0 Thomas Jefferson High School shooting: During an argument between two teens, a stray bullet killed a third, uninvolved 16-year-old student. In 1992, 14-year-old shooter Jason Bentley, was sentenced to three to nine years in prison.[232]
December 12, 1991 Kent, Ohio 1 0 51-year-old custodian, John Frazier, was killed outside a campus auditorium of Kent State University.[246]
January 29, 1992 Kent, Ohio 0 1 26-year-old graduate student, Sarah Smith, was wounded in the chest as she was waiting for her husband to pick her up at Kent State University.[247]
February 26, 1992 Brooklyn, New York 2 0 Thomas Jefferson High School second shooting: 15-year-old Kahlil Sumpter, killed fellow students, 16-year-old Tyrone Sinkler and 17-year-old Ian Moore, on the school's second-floor hallway.[248] In 1993, he was sentenced to between 6⅔ and twenty years in prison. He was released on parole in 1998.[232]
May 1, 1992 Olivehurst, California 4 10 Lindhurst High School shooting: Former student, 20-year-old Eric Houston, killed three students and one teacher, and wounded nine other students and teacher before surrendering to police.[177][232]
October 19, 1992 The Bronx, New York 0 3 Two 14-year-old girls and a 16-year-old boy were shot at outside a Bronx high school.[249]
November 4, 1992 Detroit, Michigan 0 11 11 students were hit by gunfire during a four-hour period in three separate school incidents, five were hospitalized. Six students at Finney High School were grazed by buckshot after three ski-masked gunmen opened fire in a crowded hallway. A 14-year-old was in custody for shooting three Foch Middle School students as they passed by the Marcus Garvey Academy. In the third incident, 16-year-old DeWayne Boyd was hit in the chest, when shots were fired at two Mumford High School students.[250]
January 6, 1993 Brentwood, New York 0 1 Brentwood High School. Former student, Matthew Hunter, was shot by two gunmen during a basketball game between Brentwood High School and Sachem High School. The assault was over a dispute about the theft of a gold chain.[251]
January 18, 1993 Grayson, Kentucky 2 0 East Carter High School shooting: 17-year-old Scott Pennington, a student at East Carter High School, fatally shot his 48-year-old English teacher, Deanna McDavid, and 52-year-old head custodian, Marvin Hicks.[252]
February 22, 1993 Los Angeles, California 1 0 15-year-old Robert Heard, fatally shot 17-year-old Michael Shean Ensley in the corridor of the Reseda High School's science building.[253]
April 15, 1993 Acushnet, Massachusetts 1 0 44-year-old David Taber entered Ford Middle School and took three hostages. He killed school nurse Carol Day. He was found not guilty of the murder by reason of insanity.[232]
May 14, 1993 Irving, Texas 1 0 17-year-old Max Alexander Martinez, killed 17-year-old Jose Balderas, with a .38 caliber revolver in a hallway in Nimitz High School during a dispute over girls.[254][255]
May 24, 1993 Pennsburg, Pennsylvania 1 0 15-year-old student Jason Smith killed another student who had bullied him at Upper Perkiomen High School. He was charged as an adult and sentenced to between twelve and twenty-five years in prison.[232][256]
September 17, 1993 Sheridan, Wyoming 1 4 29-year-old Kevin Newman, wounded four students before killing himself at Central Junior High School.[257]
November 4, 1993 New Britain, Connecticut 1 0 18-year-old Miguel DeJesus, was gunned down on the steps of New Britain High School.[258] Rival gang members, 24-year-old Maurice Flanagan and 23-year-old Thomas Mejia, were charged.[259]
December 1, 1993 Wauwatosa, Wisconsin 1 0 Wauwatosa West High School shooting: 21-year-old former student, Leonard D. McDowell, shot 46-year-old associate principal, Dale Breitlow, three times with a revolver in a second-floor hallway of Wauwatosa West High School.[260] McDowell was found guilty of the murder and sane at the time of the shooting, he was sentenced to life in prison.[232] His sentence was upheld by the state Court of Appeals in April 1997.[261]
January 24, 1994 Columbia, South Carolina 1 0 18-year-old Floyd Eugene Brown, shot fellow Eau Claire High School student, 17-year-old Earnest Dunlap, following an argument the week before. Brown was arrested shortly after at his home. A 16-year-old boy was also arrested for kicking Dunlap after the shooting.[262]
January 31, 1994 Seattle, Washington 1 0 24-year-old Darrell Cloud, a former student at Whitman Middle School in North Seattle, killed 45-year-old Neal Summers, who had sexually abused Cloud since he was thirteen. Cloud served nine years in prison. He later received a $250,000 settlement in a civil suit against Seattle Schools, charging that Summers had not been adequately supervised.[263]
February 18, 1994 Spartanburg, South Carolina 0 1 At around 10 p.m., 24-year-old Roosevelt Johnson was shot in the leg, after a basketball game at Spartanburg High School.[264]
March 1, 1994 Boonville, Missouri 2 0 33-year-old Dante D. Hayes, a hunter and ex-convict, killed 58-year-old Richard Vancena, a cafeteria manager, and 33-year-old Robin Michelle Coleman, a cook, in the mess hall of Kemper Military School and College. He was drunk and looking for his wife Anna Hayes with whom he had a fight the night before. No students were harmed.[265]
April 12, 1994 Butte, Montana 1 0 10-year-old Jason Osmanson, teased because his parents have AIDS, killed an 11-year-old student on the playground of Margaret Leary Elementary School. Osmanson was sent to a private residential treatment center.[232][255]
April 21, 1994 Nashville, Tennessee 1 0 14-year-old Jeremy Bryant, killed 13-year-old Terrence Murray, in music class at J.T. Moore Middle School.[266]
October 12, 1994 Greensboro, North Carolina 1 1 After being suspended for smoking, 16-year-old Nicholas Atkinson, returned to Grimsley High School with a 9 mm pistol. After wounding assistant principal, Bill Whites, Atkinson took his own life.[177][267][268]
October 17, 1994 Chicago, Illinois 0 1 A 16-year-old female student was shot in the thigh outside Hubbard High School when a teenage boy rode past on a bicycle and fired into a crowd. It is believed the shooting was meant for rival gang members, but the girl was hit instead. The boy lived in the neighborhood.[269]
November 7, 1994 Wickliffe, Ohio 1 4 Wickliffe Middle School shooting: 37-year-old former student, Keith A. Ledeger, killed 41-year-old custodian, Pete Christopher, at Wickliffe Middle School, and wounded 47-year-old assistant principal, Jim Anderson, 47-year-old police officer, Thomas Schmidt, and 50-year-old teacher, Lowell Grimm, before being injured and taken into custody.[232][255][270]
December 14, 1994 Albany, New York 0 1 Ralph J. Tortorici, 26, a military veteran and psychology major at the State University of New York at Albany held hostage a large lecture hall from 9:10 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. Tortorici, armed with a .270-caliber rifle with more than two dozen rounds of ammunition and a hunting knife, walked into the ancient history class of Hans Pohlsander, saying, "Don't worry. Nobody move. You guys are getting held hostage." The standoff ended when Tortorici had his gun taken away by Jason McEnaney, a 19-year-old student. McEnaney was shot in the leg, groin, and abdomen in the exchange. Tortorici suffered from a well-document history of mental illness, argued during the hostage crisis that the government had implanted a control chip in his head during a procedure at Albany Medical Center, and ultimately committed suicide in 1999 in prison while serving a 15 1/2 year sentence.[271][272][273][274]
January 12, 1995 Seattle, Washington 0 2 A 15-year-old student at Garfield High School left school during the day and returned with his grandfather's handgun. He wounded two students.[275]
September 29, 1995 Tavares, Florida 1 0 14-year-old student Keith E. Johnson, killed 13-year-old Joey Summerall, at Tavares Middle School with a handgun that he had stolen from his neighbor's home. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.[276]
October 12, 1995 Blackville, South Carolina 2 1 Blackville-Hilda High School shooting: Suspended student, 16-year-old Toby R. Sincino, killed 56-year-old math teacher, Phyllis Senn, and wounded 38-year-old math teacher, Johhnny Thompson, before committing suicide at Blackville-Hilda High School.[232][255][277][278]
November 15, 1995 Lynnville, Tennessee 2 1 Richland High School shooting: 17-year-old James Rouse, killed a student and teacher at Richland High School and seriously wounded another teacher with a rifle.[232][277][279]
January 19, 1996 Washington, D.C. 1 0 Two masked gunmen killed 14-year-old Damion Blocker in a stairwell at Winston Education Center. 16-year-old shooter, Darrick Evans, was sentenced to 41 years to life in prison.[232]
February 2, 1996 Moses Lake, Washington 3 1 Frontier Middle School shooting: 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis, killed a teacher and two students and wounded another student when he opened fire on his algebra class. Loukaitis was sentenced to life in prison.[279][280]
February 29, 1996 St. Louis, Missouri 1 1 30-year-old Mark Boyd, hired 23-year-old Malik Nettles, to kill 15-year-old Kyunia Taylor, as she rode on a school bus bound for Beaumont High School. Taylor was pregnant with a child fathered by Boyd, a baby girl was delivered by emergency caesarean section, but died 23 days later. The bus driver was also shot, he survived.[281]
August 15, 1996 San Diego, California 3 0 San Diego State University shooting: At San Diego State University, 36-year-old graduate student, Frederick Martin Davidson, killed three professors, 32-year-old Chen Liang, 44-year-old D. Preston Lowrey III, and 36-year-old Costas Lyrintzis, that he believed were involved in a conspiracy against him.[279][282][283] Davidson was sentenced to serve three life terms.[284]
September 17, 1996 State College, Pennsylvania 1 2 19-year-old Jillian Robbins, killed one student and injured two outside Pennsylvania State University's HUB–Robeson Center.[279][285][286]
September 25, 1996 Decatur, Georgia 1 2 16-year-old David Dubose Jr., killed English teacher, Horace Morgan, on the steps of Dekalb Alternative School. Dubose was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was committed indefinitely to a state mental hospital.[164]
October 9, 1996 Sherwood, Arkansas 1 0 14-year-old Willis Ward Johnson, killed 20-year-old James Earl Routt, as they rode a school bus.[287]
January 27, 1997 West Palm Beach, Florida 1 0 14-year-old Conniston Middle School student, Tronneal Mangum, fatally shot 14-year-old classmate, John Pierre Kamel, just minutes before school started, over a $40 debt.[288]
February 19, 1997 Bethel, Alaska 2 2 Bethel Regional High School shooting: 16-year-old student, Evan Ramsey, killed Bethel Regional High School principal, Ron Edwards, and 15-year-old student, Joshua Palacios, and wounded two other students.[279][289]
October 1, 1997 Pearl, Mississippi 3 7 Pearl High School shooting: 16-year-old Luke Woodham, murdered his 50-year-old mother, Mary, at home before killing his ex-girlfriend, 16-year-old student, Christina Menefee, and 17-year-old student, Lydia Kaye Dew, then wounding seven others at Pearl High School.[279][290][291][292]
October 15, 1997 Palmetto, Florida 0 1 After an argument between them the day before, 13-year-old Brandon Hartsoe took a .38 revolver from his mother's dresser drawer and shot 13-year-old Lincoln Middle School classmate, Trent Murray, in the back causing serious injury, then continued to fire three more shots in the general area of other students.[293] Hartsoe was sentenced in 1998 to serve until his 18th birthday. His probation was set to end in October 2009.[294]
December 1, 1997 West Paducah, Kentucky 3 5 Heath High School shooting: Three students were killed and five wounded by 14-year-old Michael Carneal, as they participated in a prayer circle. Carneal was sentenced to life in prison.[279]
December 15, 1997 Stamps, Arkansas 0 2 Concealed in a wooded area on school grounds, 14-year-old Joseph "Colt" Todd, wounded two students as they were entering Stamps High School.[279][295]
March 1, 1998 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1 3 At around 4:15 p.m., gunfire broke out as a crowd streamed from the Palestra after a high school championship basketball game near the University of Pennsylvania. A 22-year-old man was shot in the back and killed, and a student working at the fine arts building was shot in the leg.[296]
March 24, 1998 Craighead County, Arkansas 5 10 Westside Middle School shootings: 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson, and 11-year-old Andrew Golden, killed a teacher and four students, and wounded ten others, as Westside Middle School emptied during a fire alarm intentionally set off by Golden.[297][298]
April 24, 1998 Edinboro, Pennsylvania 1 3 Parker Middle School dance shooting: 14-year-old student, Andrew Wurst, fatally shot 48-year-old teacher, John Gillette, and wounded two students and another teacher at an 8th grade graduation dance. He is serving a thirty to sixty-year sentence in a prison for young offenders.[298][299]
May 19, 1998 Fayetteville, Tennessee 1 0 18-year-old Jacob Lee Davis, shot 18-year-old Robert Creson, at Lincoln County High School in a dispute over a girl.[300] Davis received a life sentence on July 29, 1999.[301]
May 21, 1998 Springfield, Oregon 4 23 Thurston High School shooting: After killing his parents at home, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel, drove to Thurston High School, where he killed two students and wounded 23 others.[298] After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to 111 years of prison.[302]
June 15, 1998 Richmond, Virginia 0 2 14-year-old student, Quinshawn Brooker, wounded 45-year-old basketball coach and history teacher, Gregory Carter, and 74-year-old Head Start volunteer, Eloise Wilson, in the hallway of Armstrong High School.[298][303]
December 10, 1998 Detroit, Michigan 1 0 52-year-old Professor Andrzej Olbrot, was killed by 48-year-old graduate doctoral student, Wlodzimierz Dedecjusat, at Wayne State University.[304]
January 8, 1999 Carrollton, Georgia 1 1 15-year-old Andrea Garrett was found dead, and 17-year-old Jeff Miller seriously wounded in the girls' restroom at Central Carrollton County High School, after a suicide pact because Garrett's mother had previously forbidden her to see Miller.[305]
April 16, 1999 Notus, Idaho 0 0 15-year-old Shawn Cooper, fired two shots from a shotgun near the front desk at Notus Jr. Sr. High School. There were no serious injuries, but some students were close enough to the blast to be grazed by shrapnel from the tile floor. Cooper had been undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder.[306]
April 20, 1999 Littleton, Colorado 15 21 Columbine High School massacre: 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold, students at Columbine High School, killed twelve students and one teacher. They injured 21 additional people, and three more were injured while attempting to escape the school. The pair committed suicide at the end of the massacre. [298][307]
May 20, 1999 Conyers, Georgia 0 6 15-year-old student Thomas "T.J." Solomon Jr., wounded six students at Heritage High School. A 15-year-old girl was hospitalized in critical condition, and the other victims suffered from non-life-threatening injuries.[298] Solomon initially faced up to 351 years of prison if convicted of aggravated assault and other charges. In 2000 he was found guilty but mentally ill and was sentenced to forty years in prison and sixty-five years of probation.[308]
November 19, 1999 Deming, New Mexico 1 0 13-year-old Victor Cordova Jr., fatally shot 13-year-old Deming Middle School schoolmate, Araceli Tena. Cordova said he had intended to commit suicide but was jostled by others and his gun moved.[298][309]
December 6, 1999 Fort Gibson, Oklahoma 0 6 Before his middle school opened, 13-year-old Seth Trickey opened fire in the courtyard. While there were no fatalities, several students felt sparks from the bullets hitting the building walls. Five were injured, including a girl who was shot in the face.[298] Trickey brought the gun from home.[310]
21st century
2000s
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
February 29, 2000 Flint, Michigan 1 0 Shooting of Kayla Rolland: At Buell Elementary School, 6-year-old Dedrick Owens fatally shot 6-year-old classmate Kayla Rolland. Owens has since been the youngest documented school shooter.[311]
May 26, 2000 Lake Worth, Florida 1 0 13-year-old honor student, Nathaniel Brazill, was sent home for throwing water balloons, but returned to his Lake Worth Middle School with a family pistol. He fatally shot teacher Barry Grunow, a popular teacher, he was Brazill's favorite.[311][312]
August 28, 2000 Fayetteville, Arkansas 2 0 36-year-old James Easton Kelly, a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at University of Arkansas, killed 67-year-old Dr. John R. Locke, the English professor overseeing his coursework. Kelly had been dismissed from this PhD program for lack of progress toward his degree. Kelly shot Dr. Locke three times before committing suicide in the director's office, which had been isolated by campus police.[313]
September 26, 2000 New Orleans, Louisiana 0 2 13 year-olds Darrel Johnson, and Alfred Anderson were initially charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of 15 year-old William Pennington. Pennington, after being shot, managed to gain control of the gun and shoot Johnson in the back.[314] Charges were later reduced to Aggravated Battery.
December 1, 2000 San Diego, California 0 1 A 15-year-old Junipero Serra High School student who showed off a handgun on campus and threatened to shoot a classmate, ended up accidentally shooting himself, causing minor injuries.[315]
March 5, 2001 Santee, California 2 13 Santana High School shooting: 15-year-old student, Charles Andrew Williams, killed two students, 14-year-old Bryan Zuckor, and 15-year-old Randy Gordon, at Santana High School and wounded thirteen others. He was arrested and convicted of murder and attempted murder. He was sentenced to life with the chance of parole after serving fifty years.[316]
March 7, 2001 Williamsport, Pennsylvania 0 1 14-year-old student, Elizabeth Catherine Bush, wounded fellow student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School.[317]
May 16, 2001 Parkland, Washington 2 0 40-year-old music instructor and organist James D. Holloway was shot multiple times with a .22-caliber handgun at Pacific Lutheran University by a 55-year-old man from Tacoma. The shooter was not a student or employee of the university and also killed himself. The victim was apparently chosen at random as the shooter had a personal dispute with a different staff member who was not on campus that day.[318]
March 22, 2001 El Cajon, California 0 5 18-year-old former student, Jason Hoffman, opened fire at Granite Hills High School, injuring five people. He was convicted of assault and sentenced to prison, where he committed suicide in 2002.[319]
March 30, 2001 Gary, Indiana 1 0 17-year-old Donald Ray Burt Jr., fatally shot Neal Boyd, IV with one bullet to the head in a parking lot outside Lew Wallace High School.[320]
January 15, 2002 New York City, New York 0 2 17-year-old Vincent Rodriguez, wounded two students at Martin Luther King, Jr. High School in Manhattan, with a semi-automatic pistol. He was retaliating for the victims having harassed his girlfriend. In February 2003, Rodriguez was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of assault and attempted assault.[321]
January 16, 2002 Grundy, Virginia 3 3 Appalachian School of Law shooting: Recently dismissed graduate student, 42-year-old Peter Odighizuwa, killed three at the Appalachian School of Law. 42-year-old dean Anthony Sutin, and 41-year-old professor Thomas Blackwell were killed along with 33-year-old student, Angela Dales. Three other students were also wounded.[322] Odighizuwa received three life sentences and an additional 28 years without the possibility of parole until 2005.[323]
February 20, 2002 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1 0 16-year-old Washington High School student, Joseph Johnson Jr., was killed by Phillip D. Jackson Jr., when violence erupts between rival fans in the parking lot, after a basketball game between Vincent High School.[324]
June 11, 2002 Conception, Missouri 3 2 71-year-old Lloyd Robert Jeffress opened fire at random in the halls of Conception Abbey, a monastery in northwest Missouri.
He killed two monks and seriously wounded another two before fatally shooting himself. Two weapons, a Chinese-made replica of the AK-47 and a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle, were found near the body.[325]
October 7, 2002 Bowie, Maryland 0 1 In the Beltway sniper attacks, one victim of several was 13-year-old Iran Brown, who was wounded as he arrived at Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Maryland. His aunt, a nurse who had just dropped him off, rushed him to a hospital emergency room. Despite serious injuries, Brown survived the attack.[326][327]
October 28, 2002 Tucson, Arizona 4 0 Failing nursing college student and Gulf War veteran, 40-year-old Robert Stewart Flores Jr., killed three assistant professors of nursing at the University of Arizona, 50-year-old Robin Rogers, 44-year-old Cheryl McGaffic, and 45-year-old Barbara Monroe, before turning the gun on himself.[328]
October 29, 2002 Jersey City, New Jersey 0 1 A 15-year-old student was shot in the abdomen and wounded inside a basement of Lincoln High School, during an argument with another student. Another 15-year-old student was arrested and charged with attempted murder.[329]
April 14, 2003 New Orleans, Louisiana 1 3 John McDonogh High School shooting. 18-year-old Steven Williams, and 17-year-old James Tate opened fire with an AK-47 and a handgun in the gymnasium of John McDonogh High School, killing a 15-year-old student and wounding three female students. Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Tate was sentenced to fifteen years.[330][331][332]
April 24, 2003 Red Lion, Pennsylvania 2 0 14-year-old student James Sheets, entered Red Lion Area Junior High School armed with his stepfather's pistols. He killed the school's principal, Eugene Segro, before killing himself.[333][334]
May 9, 2003 Cleveland, Ohio 1 2 On May 9, 2003, Biswanath Halder, a 62-year-old business school alumnus of Case Western Reserve University, killed a graduate student and wounded a professor and another student using a semi-automatic rifle. He held the building and its nearly 100 occupants hostage for seven hours before being apprehended by a SWAT team. He was sentenced to life in prison.[335][336]
September 24, 2003 Cold Spring, Minnesota 2 0 Rocori High School shooting: 15-year-old John Jason McLaughlin, shot 15-year-old freshman Seth Bartell and 17-year-old senior Aaron Rollins at Rocori High School. Rollins was killed immediately, and Bartell died from his wounds sixteen days later. McLaughlin was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole in 2038.[311]
February 2, 2004 Washington, D.C. 1 0 Thomas J. Boykin was acquitted of the murder of 17-year-old James Richardson, a football player at Ballou High School in Southeast Washington.[337]
February 9, 2004 East Greenbush, New York 0 1 Jon W. Romano in East Greenbush, New York fired two rounds from a shotgun, wounding one teacher. He was tackled by the assistant principal and charged with one count of attempted murder.[338]
May 7, 2004 Randallstown, Maryland 0 4 Two students were charged with a school shooting that arose from a dispute after a basketball game at Randallstown High School. Four persons were injured, two seriously. One student was paralyzed from the waist down.[339]
February 8, 2005 Chicago, Illinois 0 1 An 18-year-old student at Bowen High School was shot in the leg as she left the school around 2:30 p.m.[340]
March 2, 2005 Dover, Tennessee 1 0 14-year-old Jason Clinard, killed his bus driver, 47-year-old Joyce Gregory, as she stopped to pick him up. Gregory had earlier reported Clinard for using snuff on the school bus. Clinard was given a life sentence.[341]
March 21, 2005 Red Lake, Minnesota 10 7 Red Lake shootings: 16-year-old student Jeffrey Weise, killed his grandfather and grandfather's companion at their home, where he had been living, at the Red Lake Indian Reservation. He drove to Red Lake Senior High School. Armed with his grandfather's police weapons, Weise killed five students, one teacher, and one security guard, wounding seven others, before committing suicide.[342]
September 13, 2005 Chicago, Illinois 0 1 At Harlan Community Academy High School, a fight broke out between two 15-year-old boys in the gymnasium. Christopher Huff took out a pistol, shooting the other youth in the leg. A police officer on duty at the school arrested the gunman. The suspected shooter was charged as an adult with aggravated battery with a firearm.[343]
November 8, 2005 Jacksboro, Tennessee 1 2 Campbell County High School shooting: Inside the Campbell County High School office, 15-year-old Kenneth Bartley, shot the school principal, Gary Seale. He shot assistant principals Ken Bruce and Jim Pierce. Bruce later died from his wound. Bartley was sentenced to forty-five years in prison with chance of parole after twenty-nine years.[344][345][217]
January 13, 2006 Longwood, Florida 0 1 15-year-old Christopher Penley, took a pellet gun to class at Milwee Middle School. After refusing to drop the weapon, he was shot when he pointed it at a police officer.[346]
February 23, 2006 Roseburg, Oregon 0 1 14-year-old freshman Vincent Wayne Leodoro, shot student 16-year-old Joseph Monti, four times in the back with a semi-automatic handgun at Roseburg High School. Leodoro walked away from the school campus, and was confronted near a restaurant by six police officers. He threatened suicide but was persuaded to surrender.[347] He was found guilty of attempted murder and assault in July 2006, and will be held in prison until he turns twenty five years old.[348]
March 14, 2006 Reno, Nevada 0 2 Pine Middle School shooting: In the hallway of Pine Middle School, 14-year-old James Scott Newman, injured two 14-year-old classmates, Alexander Rueda and Kenzie McKeon, with a revolver belonging to his parents. Two students received minor wounds. Newman was subdued by a physical education teacher. The youth was arrested and charged as an adult for attempted murder, use of a deadly weapon and use of a firearm by a minor.[349] He later pleaded guilty to charges of two counts of battery with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced as a juvenile. Newman was sentenced to house arrest until he completed two-hundred hours of community service.[350]
August 24, 2006 Essex Junction, Vermont 2 3 Christopher Williams, 26, shot his girlfriend's mother, Linda Lambesis, 57 at her home and from there he went to Essex Elementary School where Andrea, his girlfriend, worked. After he arrived at the elementary school, which was not in session at the time, he shot and killed Mary Alicia Shanks, 56, and shot Mary Snedeker, 52, nonfatally. He left the school and allegedly shot Chad Johansen, 26 nonfatally. He then turned the gun on himself, but did not die as a result.[351]
August 30, 2006 Hillsborough, North Carolina 0 2 After shooting and killing his father, teenager Alvaro Castillo went to his high school, where he wounded two students. He was reportedly obsessed with the Columbine shootings and had written an email to the current Columbine high school principal before committing his own crime.[352]
September 2, 2006 Shepherdstown, West Virginia 3 0 49-year-old Douglas W. Pennington, killed himself and his two sons, 26-year-old Logan P. Pennington, 24-year-old Benjamin M. Pennington, during a visit to the campus of Shepherd University.[353][354]
September 17, 2006 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 0 5 Five Duquesne basketball players were shot early Sunday morning during an apparent act of random violence on campus, leaving three hospitalized — two of them in critical condition.[355]
September 27, 2006 Bailey, Colorado 2 0 Platte Canyon High School hostage crisis: 53-year-old drifter, Duane Roger Morrison, walked into Platte Canyon High School and took six girls hostage. He sexually assaulted them. As a SWAT team stormed the classroom, he killed 16-year-old Emily Keyes, then took his own life.[356]
September 29, 2006 Cazenovia, Wisconsin 1 0 Weston High School shooting: At around 8 a.m., 15-year-old freshman, Eric Hainstock, entered Weston High School. He aimed a 20-gauge shotgun at social studies teacher, Chuck Keller, before it was wrestled from him by school custodian, Dave Thompson. Hainstock then shot 49-year-old high school principal, John Alfred Klang, with a .22 caliber revolver. Klang died later that afternoon.[357][358] Hainstock was charged and convicted of murder, and is serving a life sentence. He will be eligible for parole in 2037.[217][359]
October 2, 2006 Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania 6 3 West Nickel Mines School shooting: 32-year-old milk truck driver, Charles Carl Roberts IV, killed five Amish girls and wounded five others before killing himself in an Amish school in the hamlet of Nickel Mines, in Bart Township, Lancaster County.[360]
October 9, 2006 Joplin, Missouri 0 0 13-year-old student Thomas White fired one shot from a Mac-90 rifle at a hallway ceiling at Memorial Middle School. The gunshot struck a water pipe, and nobody was injured. He also tried repeatedly to shoot principal Stephen Gilbreth at near-point-blank range as Gilbreth ushered him out of the school. Joplin police say the attempt was foiled by an improperly seated ammunition clip in the rifle. The principal was not injured. White was tried as an adult on charges of assault and firearms possession, and in 2009 he was sentenced to ten years of prison.[361]
January 3, 2007 Tacoma, Washington 1 0 18-year-old student Douglas S. Chanthabouly, killed 17-year-old Samnang Kok, in the hallways of Henry Foss High School following a personal disagreement. In 2009, Chanthabouly was sentenced to 23 years in prison on a charge of second-degree murder.[362]
March 7, 2007 Compton, California 0 1 During an argument with several non-students and students, a student was shot in the elbow and wounded in the eating area at Centennial High School. The shooting occurred an hour after classes were dismissed, and students in after-school activities were sent home.[363]
April 16, 2007 Blacksburg, Virginia 33 23 Virginia Tech shooting: 23-year-old student, Seung-Hui Cho, killed thirty-two students and faculty members at Virginia Tech, and wounded another seventeen students and faculty members in two separate attacks before committing suicide. The incident is the third-deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in modern U.S. history.
October 10, 2007 Cleveland, Ohio 1 4 SuccessTech Academy shooting: Asa H. Coon, a 14-year-old suspended student, returned to SuccessTech Academy, where he fired shots at people inside the school building, wounding two teachers and two students. He shot himself in the head, committing suicide.[277][364]
November 6, 2007 Miami Gardens, Florida 0 1 43-year-old 11th grade algebra teacher, Sergio Miranda, was shot by 19-year-old Patrick Lively, outside Miami Carol City Senior High School during a robbery but was expected to survive.[365][366] In 2011, Lively received a life sentence.[367]
February 4, 2008 Memphis, Tennessee 0 1 At Hamilton High School, a student shot a 16-year-old student in the leg during a classroom argument over rap music. The victim's injury was not life-threatening.[368]
February 8, 2008 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 3 0 Latina Williams, a 23-year-old nursing student at Louisiana Technical College killed two classmates and herself in a second floor classroom.[369]
February 11, 2008 Memphis, Tennessee 0 1 Following a feud that started off campus earlier in the week, a 19-year-old senior was shot by a 17-year-old sophomore during a gym class held in the cafeteria with about 75 other students at Mitchell High School, before handing the gun to a coach making no attempt to flee. The victim suffered at least two gunshot wounds and was in critical condition, the suspected shooter was in custody. "He walked up to him, shot him, and made a statement to the coach that 'It's over now,' ", said principal, Daniel Ware.[370]
February 12, 2008 Oxnard, California 1 0 Murder of Larry King: 14-year-old Brandon McInerney, shot 15-year-old Lawrence "Larry" King, twice in the head in the computer laboratory of E.O. Green Junior High School. McInerney was apprehended in a nearby neighborhood. King, who was openly homosexual, died two days later. McInerney was initially charged with a hate crime, but that charge was dropped. McInerney pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 21 years in prison.[371]
February 14, 2008 DeKalb, Illinois 6 21 Northern Illinois University shooting: 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak, shot multiple people with a shotgun in a classroom of Northern Illinois University, killing five and injuring 21, before taking his own life. Kazmierczak was not enrolled at the university, but had attended in the years prior to the attack.[372]
August 14, 2008 Federal Way, Washington 1 0 26-year-old Omero Mendez was waiting at the Lakota Middle School campus to pick up his girlfriend's son. He was confronted by 16-year-old Luis F. Cosgaya-Alvarez and two of his friends, driving in an SUV. Cosgaya-Alvarez flashed gang signs at Mendez, and shot him once in the head. Mendez later died of his injuries. Cosgaya-Alvarez was arrested a few days later in Seattle and was charged with murder. Cosgaya-Alvarez pleaded guilty to murder and weapon enhancements, and was sentenced to eighteen years in prison.[373]
August 21, 2008 Knoxville, Tennessee 1 0 At Central High School, 15-year-old Jamar Siler killed 15-year-old Ryan McDonald. In 2011, Siler was sentenced to thirty years in prison after pleading guilty to murder in a plea agreement.[164]
September 2, 2008 Willoughby, Ohio 0 0 A 15-year-old student brought a handgun into South High School, and shot two rounds, one into the ceiling and one shattering a trophy case. The student then put the gun to his head. Then Assistant Principal Jeff Lyons talked the student out of doing any harm.
October 16, 2008 Detroit, Michigan 1 3 16-year-old Christopher Walker, was killed, and three other teenagers were seriously wounded during a drive-by shooting near Henry Ford High School, soon after classes let out. Three teenagers were arrested and charged in connection with the shooting. The shooter, 15-year-old William Morton, was sentenced to life without parole, and Devon Bell was sentenced to forty-two years of prison.[374]
October 26, 2008 Conway, Arkansas 2 1 University of Central Arkansas shootings: Four young men fatally shot two students, 18-year-old Ryan Henderson, and 19-year-old Chavares Block, and wounded a 19-year-old campus visitor in the leg, outside the Arkansas Hall dormitory of University of Central Arkansas.[375]
November 13, 2008 Fort Lauderdale, Florida 1 0 15-year-old Amanda Collette, was killed in the hallway at Dillard High School. The shooter, 15-year-old Teah Wimberly, was sentenced to twenty-five years to life on a first-degree murder charge.[376]
January 9, 2009 Chicago, Illinois 0 5 After attendees were leaving a basketball game at Dunbar High School, a truck pulled over and someone inside fired shots at the crowd, wounding five people, three critically. 18-year-old Georgio Dukes, was arrested and charged a week later with five counts of felony aggravated battery with a firearm. Police believe that the attack was gang-related.[377]
April 26, 2009 Hampton, Virginia 0 3 18-year-old Odane Greg Maye, a former student of Hampton University, followed a 43-year-old pizza delivery man into his former dormitory. Armed with three guns, Maye wounded the delivery man, then the dorm monitor. Lastly, Maye shot himself in a suicide attempt. He survived and was convicted of two charges of malicious wounding, two counts of using a gun in a felony; burglary; and shooting in an occupied building. He was sentenced to fourteen years of prison in November 2009, and was ordered by a judge to pay more than $62,000 in restitution to his victims for lost wages.[378]
May 18, 2009 Cambridge, Massachusetts 1 0 20-year-old Jabrai Copney, 23-year-old Jason Aquino, and 19-year-old Blayn Jiggetts, of New York City, invited 21-year-old Justin Cosby, of Cambridge, into a Harvard College dormitory. After trying to rob him of a pound of marijuana, they shot him. Copney turned himself in four days later. Copney was convicted of murder. His partners pleaded guilty to armed robbery and manslaughter. His girlfriend, 21-year-old Brittany Smith, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact, firearm possession, and misleading a grand jury.[379]
May 18, 2009 Larose, Louisiana 1 0 15-year-old Larose-Cut Off Middle School student, Justin Doucet, carried his backpack to a restroom, where he put on camouflage clothes and took out a semi-automatic handgun before storming into a nearby classroom. He attempted to shoot a teacher, Jessica Plaisance, but the gun did not fire. He returned to the restroom and shot himself in the head, dying a week later of his wounds.[380][381]
June 16, 2009 San Francisco, California 0 3 After students were being let out of International Studies Academy on the first day of summer school classes, a man left a car and opened fire, wounding three people, including a 17-year-old female student. An 18-year-old man was arrested for being an accessory in the crime.[382]
September 3, 2009 San Bruno, California 0 1 A 20-year-old student was wounded in the parking lot of Skyline College after an argument between him and other men. The college campus was placed on lockdown. Three San Francisco residents, 18-year-old Germaine B. Benjamin, 20-year-old Dimaryea J. McGhee, and 18-year-old Jacori W. Bender, were each arrested and charged with felony firearm offenses.[383]
October 16, 2009 Conway, South Carolina 1 0 16-year-old student, Trevor Varinecz was killed by a school resource officer after allegedly stabbing the officer.[217][384]
2010–2014
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
February 5, 2010 Madison, Alabama 1 0 14-year-old student, Hammad Memon, killed 14-year-old Todd Brown at Discovery Middle School as classes were changing. The shooting was possibly related to gang activity. In May 2013, Memon pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to thirty years of prison. After Memon is released from prison, he is likely to be deported to his native Pakistan.[385]
February 12, 2010 Huntsville, Alabama 3 3 University of Alabama in Huntsville shooting: 44-year-old biology professor, Amy Bishop, killed the chairman of the biology department, 52-year-old Gopi K. Podila, and biology professors, 50-year-old, Maria Ragland Davis and 52-year-old Adriel D. Johnson. She also wounded biology professors, Luis Rogelio Cruz-Vera and Joseph G. Leahy, and staff assistant, Stephanie Monticciolo.[384]
February 19, 2010 DeKalb, Illinois 0 1 Less than a week after Northern Illinois University solemnly marked the second anniversary of a mass shooting on campus that claimed the lives of five students, the DeKalb school was the scene of further gun violence. 24-year-old NIU student, Brian Mulder, refused entry to 22-year-old Zachary R. Isaacman, when he had tried to follow a female resident into the Stevenson Residence Hall North, where they were living, because he was not a resident. Moments later, while outside the dorm smoking with a friend, Mulder was shot by Isaacman, with a handgun in the leg above the knee. Isaacman tried to flee, but was caught by police within minutes.[386]
February 23, 2010 Littleton, Colorado 0 2 At Deer Creek Middle School, 32-year-old Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood opened fire from a rifle in a parking lot, and wounded two eighth-graders Reagan Webber and Matt Thieu, before being restrained by 57-year-old Math teacher, David Benke, and held until his arrest. The boy's wounds were critical for the four days following the shooting.[387] In October 2011, Eastwood was found not guilty by reason of insanity.[388][384]
March 9, 2010 Columbus, Ohio 1 1 51-year-old Ohio State University custodian, Nathaniel Brown, killed a co-worker and wounded another.[384]
September 8, 2010 Detroit, Michigan 0 2 Two students were wounded in front of Mumford High School by 17-year-old Steven Jamal Hare. He was tried as an adult and charged with assault with intent to kill. In 2012, Hare was sentenced to 27 years in prison.[389]
September 28, 2010 Austin, Texas 1 1 A 19-year-old sophomore student Colton Tooley, wielding an AK-47 and wearing a ski mask, opened fire and then killed himself in a University of Texas library[390]
October 1, 2010 Salinas, California 1 0 15-year-old student Jose Daniel Cisneros was killed after being shot several times on an athletic field at Alisal High School while walking to school. Police said that the shooting was gang-related.[391]
October 8, 2010 Carlsbad, California 0 2 41-year-old Brendan O'Rourke climbed over a fence and opened fire with a handgun in a playground of Kelly Elementary School, which had 230 students; two second-grade female students were grazed in the arms before O'Rourke was subdued by a construction worker. He was found guilty of seven counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to 189 years to life in prison.[392]
November 29, 2010 Marinette, Wisconsin 1 0 15-year-old Samuel Hengel, took 23 students and a teacher hostage inside a classroom of Marinette High School for five hours. He had stormed into the class, firing with a handgun at a movie projector. Police persuaded Hengel to release the hostages. After officers entered the building, Hengel shot himself in the head. He died the next day.[393]
December 6, 2010 Aurora, Colorado 0 1 In a gang-related attack outside Aurora Central High School, a 17-year-old girl was paralysed. She was one of a group of students outside the school. 20-year-old Luis Enrique Guzman-Rincon, had fired shots from a car trying to hit gang rivals. Guzman-Ricon was sentenced to thirty-five years in prison.[394]
January 5, 2011 Omaha, Nebraska 2 2 At Millard South High School, 18-year-old student, Robert Butler Jr., killed assistant principal Dr. Vicki Kaspar and wounded principal Curtis Case before opening fire at police in the front office area, causing the school nurse to be wounded by gunshot debris. Butler then drove to a parking lot and shot himself as police cornered him.[395]
March 25, 2011 Martinsville, Indiana 0 1 Michael Phelps, a 15-year-old suspended student, returned to Martinsville West Middle School with a handgun. In the entrance of the school, Phelps shot 15-year-old Chance Jackson twice in the abdomen, critically wounding him. Phelps fled the school and dropped the handgun; he was arrested shortly after. Jackson had to undergo surgery three times to save his life; he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Phelps was convicted of attempted murder in August 2011, and was sentenced to thirty years in prison and five years of probation.[396]
March 31, 2011 Houston, Texas 1 5 Multiple gunmen opened fire during a powder puff football game at Worthing High School. One man, an 18-year-old former student named Tremaine De Ante’ Paul, died. Five other people were injured.[397]
May 23, 2011 Pearl City, Hawaii 0 1 A 14-year-old male student is accused of firing a handgun on the campus of Highlands Intermediate School, wounding one student. The gunman was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Two other suspects were arrested in connection with the shooting.[398]
October 24, 2011 Fayetteville, North Carolina 0 1 Cape Fear High School shooting: 15-year-old Catilyn Abercrombie, was shot in the neck with a rifle by fellow student, 15-year-old Charles Underwood, at Cape Fear High School. She was hospitalized for two months in a serious condition. Underwood was arrested and charged with attempted murder. He was convicted of attempted first-degree murder and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.[399]
December 8, 2011 Blacksburg, Virginia 2 0 22-year-old, Ross Truett Ashley, part-time business student at Radford University, killed a police officer engaged in an unrelated traffic stop on the campus of Virginia Tech, he then committed suicide in a nearby parking lot.[400]
December 9, 2011 Edinburg, Texas 0 2 Two students were shot after school at Harwell Middle School in Edinburg, Texas while trying out for their school's basketball team. The shooting allegedly was done by an adult off campus, who was shooting at a target range.[401]
January 10, 2012 Houston, Texas 0 1 A student opened fire with a handgun at North Forest High School, wounding another student. The shooter said that he had been confronted by three students who had been bullying him and he shot in self-defense. He hit a 16-year-old bystander in the leg. The 18-year-old suspect was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.[402]
February 27, 2012 Chardon, Ohio 3 3 Chardon High School shooting: 17-year-old Thomas "T. J." Lane, took a semi-automatic handgun and a knife to Chardon High School, where he fired ten shots at a group of students sitting in the cafeteria. He killed three boys and wounded three other students. One 16-year-old died immediately, two others died the following day. Lane was arrested early the next morning while standing near his car.[403] He was charged as an adult with murder, attempted murder, and firearms offenses. In March 2013, he was convicted and sentenced to three life sentences without the possibility of parole.[404]
March 6, 2012 Jacksonville, Florida 2 0 A murder-suicide resulted in two deaths on the campus of the Episcopal School of Jacksonville. Shane Schumerth, a Spanish teacher who had been fired that morning returned to the campus in the early afternoon via a pedestrian entrance, armed with an AK-47 which he concealed in a guitar case. He entered the office of the Head of School, Dale Regan, and fired multiple shots, fatally wounding her. Schumerth then killed himself, in the office.[405]
April 2, 2012 Oakland, California 7 3 Oikos University shooting: 43-year-old One L. Goh, was accused of shooting dead seven students with a handgun and wounding three others at Oikos University, a Christian college. He fled the scene, stealing a victim's car, and was apprehended hours later nearby. Goh was charged with seven counts of murder. In January 2013, Goh was determined to be mentally unfit for trial and committed for treatment.[406]
August 16, 2012 Memphis, Tennessee 0 2 Two Hamilton High School students were wounded in the parking lot of the school. The attack was believed to be gang-related.[407]
August 27, 2012 Perry Hall, Maryland 0 1 15-year-old Robert Gladden, fired two shots with a shotgun inside the cafeteria at Perry Hall School. He hit a 17-year-old senior in the lower back, causing critical wounds. The youth has Down syndrome. Gladden was subdued by two school faculty members, and arrested. In February 2013, he was sentenced to thirty-five years in prison on attempted murder charges.[408]
September 7, 2012 Normal, Illinois 0 0 A 14-year-old student fired multiple gunshots in a classroom ceiling at Normal Community High School, and was tackled by a teacher. Nobody was injured. The student was arrested and charged with sixteen felony counts.[409][410]
October 6, 2012 Mobile, Alabama 1 0 A University of South Alabama student, Gil Collar, was fatally shot by a campus police officer while having a medical emergency. Collar, 18, had ingested a legal lab chemical. It is unknown if he had done so voluntarily. Acting erratically, he approached the police station while naked and battered. Officer Trevis Austin, equipped with pepper spray and a baton, felt his life was threatened by the unarmed 140 lb teen. Video shows that the officer shot Collar before the student approached within five feet of him.[411] Austin was cleared of any wrongdoing by the university.[412]
October 19, 2012 Chicago, Illinois 1 0 18-year-old Banner Academy South student, Terrance Wright, was killed during an attempted robbery. Wright was approached by five would-be robbers as he left the school about 3:40 p.m.. He was shot in the chest as he fought back when one assailant was going through his pockets. Wright had been picked on at his previous high school because he was gay, which led him to transfer to Banner.[413]
October 31, 2012 Los Angeles, California 0 4 At a Halloween party on the University of Southern California campus, an argument escalated and 20-year-old Brandon Spencer, used a handgun to shoot rival gang member, Geno Hall, seven times, critically wounding him. Spencer wounded three other people, none were students at USC, they were hospitalized with less serious injuries. Spencer was arrested just minutes after the shooting, which took place outside USC’s Grand Ballroom at around 11:30 p.m.[414] In April 2014, he was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to forty years to life in prison.[415]
December 14, 2012 Newtown, Connecticut 28 2 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: 20-year-old Adam Lanza, killed twenty-six people and himself. He first killed his mother at their shared home before taking her guns and driving to the school. Lanza brought four guns with him. He killed twenty first-grade children aged six and seven during the attack at school, along with six adults, including four teachers, the principal, and the school psychologist. Two other persons were injured. Lanza then killed himself as police arrived at the school.[403][416]
January 7, 2013 Fort Myers, Florida 1 0 Shots were fired at Apostolic Revival Center Christian School, leaving 27-year-old Kristopher Smith dead in what was believed to be a retaliation killing, possibly for his talking with police about a previous incident.[417][418]
January 10, 2013 Taft, California 0 2 16-year-old student, Bryan Oliver, entered a science classroom of Taft Union High School with a shotgun and opened fire, critically wounding 16-year-old student Bowe Cleveland. He shot at but missed another student. The classroom teacher Ryan Heber convinced Oliver, to drop his weapon. He was later arrested. On January 14, he was charged with two counts of attempted murder and assault with a firearm.[419] He was convicted and accepted a plea deal with a sentence of 27 years and 4 months.[420] According to the attorney[421] for the Cleveland family, they were not satisfied with the sentence.
January 12, 2013 Detroit, Michigan 0 1 A 16-year-old Osborn High School student is wounded after a basketball game.[419]
January 15, 2013 St. Louis, Missouri 0 2 A 34-year-old gunman wounded an administrator in his office on the fourth floor of Stevens Institute of Business and Arts. The suspected gunman, Sean Johnson, a part-time student, wounded himself in a stairwell. Both the administrator and Johnson were hospitalized in stable conditions. Johnson was charged with three felony charges, including assault.[422][423]
January 15, 2013 Hazard, Kentucky 3 0 Two people were killed and a third person was wounded at the parking lot of Hazard Community and Technical College.[424] The third victim, 12-year-old Taylor Cornett, died from her wounds the next day.[425] 21-year-old Dalton Lee Stidham, was arrested and charged with three counts of murder.
January 16, 2013 Chicago, Illinois 1 0 A 17-year-old boy, Tyrone Lawson, was killed in a parking lot of Chicago State University. The shooting happened after high school basketball games held on the campus, where Lawson had been a spectator. Police arrested two brothers, Michael McNabb, 33, and Brian Hewlett (under the alias Stephen Gilbert), 30 after the shooting and recovered a weapon.[419][426][427]
January 22, 2013 Houston, Texas 0 3 Lone Star College–North Harris shooting: Outside Lone Star College–North Harris, two men got into an argument. One wounded the other. He also wounded a maintenance man, and accidentally shot himself in the leg. The shooter fled into the woods and was arrested hours later. The charges against the initial suspect were dropped and another man was arrested.[428]
January 31, 2013 Phoenix, Arizona 0 0 An argument between two rival gangs escalated to what police described as a "gun battle" at Cesar Chavez High School. Approximately fifteen shots were fired in the vicinity of people waiting to get into a scheduled boys' basketball game. No one was injured.[429]
January 31, 2013 Atlanta, Georgia 0 2 A 14-year-old male student was wounded at Price Middle School. The gunman, a 15-year-old student, was believed to be arguing with the other student before using a handgun to shoot him. A teacher was also wounded. Afterward, the gunman was disarmed by a school resource officer and arrested; police charged him with aggravated assault.[430][431]
March 18, 2013 Orlando, Florida 1 0 At the University of Central Florida, 30-year-old student James Oliver Seevakumaran pulled a fire alarm at the Tower One dormitory, to attract a crowd. He pointed a handgun at his roommate and threatened to shoot him in their room; he released the roommate, who ran out and called 9-1-1. Seevakumaran then fatally shot himself in the head. Authorities found an assault weapon, a couple hundred rounds of ammunition and four homemade bombs inside his backpack.[432]
April 12, 2013 Christiansburg, Virginia 0 2 New River Community College shooting incident: Two women were wounded during a shooting at the campus of New River Community College. 18-year-old Neil Allen MacInnis, was taken into custody. In June 2014, he was sentenced to 38 years in prison.[433]
April 16, 2013 Grambling, Louisiana 0 3 Three students were injured on the campus of Grambling State University.[434]
April 18, 2013 Cambridge, Massachusetts 1 0 Three days after committing the Boston Marathon bombings, while still at large, the brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev shot and killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer Sean Collier[435] in his patrol car near MIT's Ray and Maria Stata Center.[436] Later that night, after carjacking a vehicle, the marathon bombers made their way to Watertown, Massachusetts where they were ultimately subdued by police.
May 14, 2013 Birmingham, Alabama 0 0 Allegedly responding to a student fight, a mother of a student fired a weapon on the campus of Ossie Ware Mitchell Middle School. No one was injured.[437]
June 7, 2013 Santa Monica, California 6 4 2013 Santa Monica shooting: 23-year-old John Zawahri, began a killing spree at his home. After killing his 55-year-old father, Samir "Sam" Zawahri, and 25-year-old brother, Chris Zawahri, he set the house ablaze. Dressed all in black with body armor and wielding an AR-15-type semi-automatic rifle, Zawahri carjacked 41-year-old Laura Siska, shooting 50-year-old Debra Fine, as she attempted to intervene, before forcing Siska to drive to Santa Monica College. Upon arriving on the college campus, Zawahri began shooting at passing vehicles, including a police car and a city bus, leaving three people with minor injuries. Zawahri next targeted a Ford Explorer, killing the driver, 68-year-old campus groundskeeper, Carlos Navarro Franco, and fatally wounding the passenger, his 26-year-old daughter Marcela Diaz-Franco, a student at the college, who died two days later. 68-year-old Margarita Gomez, who was collecting cans outside the library, died after being shot in the abdomen and chest. Zawahri opened fire on students who were trying to run away. It ended at the college library where he opened fire on students studying for finals, before being fatally wounded in an exchange of gunfire with responding police officers.[438]
August 20, 2013 Decatur, Georgia 0 0 Armed with an AK-47 and other weapons,[439] 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill fired six shots inside the front office of Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy. He barricaded himself in the office, where police returned fire. Nobody was injured. Children were evacuated. After talking with school bookkeeper, Antoinette Tuff in the front office, he was persuaded to surrender before anyone was hurt. Hill was arrested and charged.[440][441]
August 23, 2013 Sardis, Mississippi 1 2 15-year-old student, Roderick Bobo, was killed during a football game at North Panola High School in what was termed a gang-related shooting. Two others were injured in the shooting. Three men were charged as being responsible for the crime.[442]
August 30, 2013 Winston-Salem, North Carolina 0 1 A 15-year-old male student was shot at Carver High School, at 2:30 p.m.. He was hospitalized with minor injuries.[440] An 18-year-old male student was apprehended without further incident. The suspected gunman is charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, carrying a concealed gun, possessing and discharging a firearm, and carrying a firearm onto educational property. The shooting was believed related to a dispute between the suspect and the victim.[443]
October 4, 2013 Pine Hills, Florida 0 2 A 16-year-old student was shot in the hip outside Agape Christian Academy after a fight broke out at 2 p.m.. An innocent bystander was hit by a stray bullet or shrapnel. The two victims were treated for minor injuries. The suspected shooter reportedly fled in a car with several other males, and was not caught.[444]
October 21, 2013 Sparks, Nevada 2 2 12-year-old seventh-grade student Jose Reyes opened fire with a handgun at the basketball courts of Sparks Middle School, injuring one student in the shoulder. Michael Landsberry, a teacher and veteran, tried to intervene and was killed by Reyes. Reyes also wounded a student trying to help the teacher. Reyes then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.[403][440] The shooting happened before classes, and the school was evacuated and was closed for the week.[445]
November 2, 2013 Greensboro, North Carolina 0 1 A 21-year-old student was wounded at North Carolina A&T State University. The victim was hospitalized for serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The university was temporarily locked down that night. No suspects are in custody.[446]
November 3, 2013 Lithonia, Georgia 0 2 A Stephenson High School student and a janitor were shot in an apparent confrontation between football team members and a group of teens who were not attending the school. Both were innocent bystanders.[447]
November 13, 2013 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 0 3 After classes ended, at least one gunman came out of the woods and opened fire on three students as they were walking to their cars at Brashear High School. One student was grazed in the head, another was struck in the neck and shoulder, and a third was hit in the leg and foot. Six people were taken into custody. The shooting is believed to be drug-related.[448]
December 4, 2013 Winter Garden, Florida 0 1 A 15-year-old student was wounded by a 17-year-old student near a soccer field on the campus of West Orange High School. The shooting occurred after a fight broke out between the two students. The 17-year-old suspected shooter was taken into custody several miles away from the school, and is charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, possession of a firearm by a minor and possession of a firearm on school grounds. In October 2014, the shooter was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.[449]
December 13, 2013 Centennial, Colorado 2 0 18-year-old Karl Pierson, shot 17-year-old student Claire Davis in the head, fatally injuring her, in a hallway in Arapahoe High School. Pierson then took his own life.[403] Pierson was armed with a shotgun, three Molotov cocktails, and a machete. His intention was to shoot the librarian who had disciplined him. Claire Davis died from her injuries on December 21, 2013.[450]
December 19, 2013 Fresno, California 0 1 Four teens (16, 16, 16 and 17 years old) entered Edison High School in what was believed as a gang-initiation process. After accosting a 62-year-old woman about a mile away from school grounds, they found an athletic trainer who taught at Edison High and shot him several times in the leg and stomach.[451]
January 9, 2014 Jackson, Tennessee 0 1 A 16-year-old student was charged with bringing a gun to school at Liberty Technology Magnet High School and shooting a classmate in the thigh. The incident occurred outside the front of the school.[452]
January 13, 2014 New Haven, Connecticut 0 1 A 14-year-old boy was shot outside of a basketball game at the Hillhouse High School athletic facility, suffering wounds in his hand and leg.[cite]
January 14, 2014 Roswell, New Mexico 0 3 Two people were wounded inside the gymnasium of Berrendo Middle School, at about 8:10 a.m.. An 11-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl were airlifted to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas in critical condition. The 12-year-old suspected shooter, Mason Campbell, a seventh grade student, was apprehended at the scene after he was talked down by a staff member and dropped the shotgun. A staff member received minor injuries. Campbell was charged with three counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to a maximum sentence of confinement in a juvenile detention facility until he is twenty one years old.[453]
January 17, 2014 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 0 2 A student allegedly shot two other students in the gymnasium at Delaware Valley Charter School. Both victims, a male and a female, were shot in the arm. They were taken to a nearby hospital and are in stable condition, police say. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said at a news conference that the shooter ran out of the school after the shooting but was taken into custody near his home. 17-year-old Raisheem Rochwell was arrested and charged as an adult for aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and firearms offenses. Rochwell was sentenced to two years of juvenile detention.[454]
January 20, 2014 Chester, Pennsylvania 0 1 One person was critically injured at Widener University. The incident occurred around 10 p.m. outside the university sport’s complex and led to an 8-hour university lock-down. The suspect was not immediately found.[455]
January 21, 2014 West Lafayette, Indiana 1 0 A 21-year-old student, Andrew Boldt, was killed in a classroom building on the campus of Purdue University. 24-year-old student Cody Cousins was found guilty of the murder and was sentenced to sixty-five years of prison. In October 2014, Cousins committed suicide in his cell.[456]
January 24, 2014 Orangeburg, South Carolina 1 0 A 20-year-old student was killed at South Carolina State University. A 19-year-old was arrested and charged with murder.[457]
January 25, 2014 Los Angeles, California 1 0 A man was killed at Los Angeles Valley College. Two suspects were arrested in the fatal shooting.[458]
January 27, 2014 Carbondale, Illinois 0 1 A group of students at Rebound High School got in an argument in the school's parking lot. One student pulled out a gun and shot another student in the ensuing altercation. An 18-year-old suspect is facing charges of attempted murder.[459]
January 28, 2014 Nashville, Tennessee 0 1 One student was shot in the leg in an apparent altercation over a gambling debt at Tennessee State University.[460]
January 30, 2014 Palm Bay, Florida 0 1 Three students were fighting in a parking lot of Eastern Florida State College and one pulled out a gun and shot another of the students. All three students claimed self-defense.[461]
January 31, 2014 Des Moines, Iowa 0 1 After a basketball game at North High School, there was gunfire in a parking lot of the school. Six males in a black jeep had come moments before the shooting and returned at the time it happened. A 15-year-old girl was injured by a ricocheting bullet. While officers were gaining control of the area, teachers on the scene led students into the school building for safety.[462]
February 10, 2014 Salisbury, North Carolina 0 1 A 16-year-old student was shot in the stomach on the campus of Salisbury High School during a dispute in the school gym. 17-year-old suspect was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, possession of a firearm on school property and discharging a weapon on school property.[463]
February 10, 2014 Lyndhurst, Ohio 0 0 Five shots were fired in the parking lot of Charles F. Brush High School, including one which hit an unoccupied police car. No one was reported to be injured, though a school basketball game was going on at the time.[464]
February 12, 2014 Los Angeles, California 0 1 A male victim was shot in the back in a possible gang-related drive-by shooting near the University of Southern California. The suspect fled into the University Campus. The victim was last reported in stable condition before being transported to a local hospital.[465]
February 22, 2014 Augusta, Georgia 0 1 A shooting involving a campus police officer occurred at a Georgia Regents University dormitory complex. A male suspect entered a vehicle and nearly struck an officer, who opened fire. The suspect was taken to Georgia Regents Medical Center with injuries that were not believed to be critical.[466]
March 12, 2014 Miami, Florida 1 0 An elementary school teacher was killed outside The Academy of Knowledge Preschool by her husband.
March 25, 2014 College Park, Georgia 0 0 An argument between students led to shots being fired in a Benjamin Banneker High School parking lot during the afternoon. Investigators believe multiple people were present when shots were fired, but it was not known how many could face charges for the incident. No one was injured in the shooting.[467]
April 9, 2014 Greenville, North Carolina 0 0 Just after the lunch hour, at D. H. Conley High School, a car drove past the school and witnesses said an occupant reached out of a car window and fired shots in the direction of the school. This incident occurred on Worthington and Tull Roads, directly in front of the school. No one was injured.[468]
April 11, 2014 Detroit, Michigan 1 0 After a Friday evening student awards ceremony called "Grammy Night", four men who were affiliated with a gang fired into a crowd in the parking lot of East English Village Preparatory Academy. One 19-year-old, Darryl Smith, was fatally shot in the head. Smith was not a student at the academy.[469]
May 4, 2014 Augusta, Georgia 0 1 Two men fired shots inside a dormitory at Paine College on Sunday, injuring one student in the head. Neither of the suspects were students at the college.[470]
May 5, 2014 Augusta, Georgia 0 1 An active shooter situation was reported at Paine College on Monday with one person reported to be shot. The suspect was apparently apprehended and in custody. It was the second shooting incident to occur at the college campus in two days.[471]
May 8, 2014 Lawrenceville, Georgia 0 1 A person was shot on a student parking lot roof at Georgia Gwinnett College, receiving an injury. The specific cause has not been identified.[472]
May 14, 2014 Richmond, California 0 1 A 14-year-old student was injured during a drive-by shooting in front of John F. Kennedy High School at 8:30 a.m.. He was shot as he was running towards the school campus after a fight took place. The student suffered a serious but stable injury to his leg. Police are searching for a suspect.[473]
June 5, 2014 Seattle, Washington 1 3 19-year-old students, Paul Lee and Sarah Williams, and 24-year-old student, Thomas Fowler, were shot inside a hallway of Otto Miller Hall at Seattle Pacific University.[474] Freshman Lee was rushed to Harborview Medical Center but later died. The shooter was subdued with pepper spray and tackled to the ground by student building monitor, Jon Meis, as he paused to reload his shotgun. 26-year-old Aaron Rey Ybarra was arrested at the scene and has been charged with premeditated and attempted murder.[475]
June 10, 2014 Troutdale, Oregon 2 1 At around 8:30 a.m. shots were fired at Reynolds High School. 14-year-old freshman Emilio Hoffman was killed, a physical education teacher was injured, and the gunman, 15-year-old Jared Padgett, exchanged gunfire with police officers and then committed suicide in a restroom stall.[403][476]
September 9, 2014 Miami, Florida 0 1 Towards the end of the school day, one alternative school student in Miami was shot as a small group of students tussled. The injury was minor, requiring hospitalization, and five young adults were later questioned.[477]
September 11, 2014 Taylorsville, Utah 0 1 An elementary school teacher with a concealed weapon permit had her gun fire accidentally in a faculty bathroom. The bullet shattered a toilet, and fragments of both the bullet and the porcelain injured her leg.[478]
September 27, 2014 Terre Haute, Indiana 0 1 A 20-year-old Indiana State University student was shot by another student on Saturday inside a residence hall. The injuries were not fatal, and a full recovery was expected. The shooter was arrested on the following day.[479]
September 30, 2014 Albemarle, North Carolina 0 1 Two students got in an argument at Albemarle High School around 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, and one of the students shot the other twice including once in the leg. The student who committed the shooting was allegedly involved in a stabbing of a football player last year at West Montgomery High School, which is only 20 miles (32 km) away in Mount Gilead, North Carolina. The school had held an active shooter training over the summer, which prepared the school for this incident.[480]
September 30, 2014 Louisville, Kentucky 0 1 One student was injured at Fern Creek Traditional High School. The incident occurred around 1 p.m., reportedly after student became enraged in a hallway and pulled out a gun. The student was arrested later that day.[481]
October 3, 2014 Fairburn, Georgia 1 0 After a homecoming football game, a fatal shooting of 17-year-old Kristofer Hunter, occurred in the Langston Hughes High School parking lot. The assailant, 18-year-old Eric Dana Johnson Jr., turned himself in a week later.[482]
October 24, 2014 Marysville, Washington 5 1 Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting. 15-year-old freshman, Jaylen Fryberg, shot five students in the school cafeteria of Marysville Pilchuck High School, fatally wounding four, before committing suicide.[403][483]
November 20, 2014 Tallahassee, Florida 1 3 At around 12:40 a.m. EST, a gunman opened fired in or near the Strozier Library at Florida State University. Three people suffered gunshot injuries and were taken to a local area hospital. One was in critical condition, another was in good condition, and the third was shortly released after treatment. The gunman, later identified as Myron May, an alumnus from the school, started firing towards responding police officers and was fatally shot by them on the steps of the library.[484]
November 20, 2014 Miami, Florida 1 1 Two teens were shot during a fight at Miami Carol City High School. One of the boys died.[485]
December 5, 2014 Claremore, Oklahoma 1 0 38-year-old Thomas Floyd Fees, a former Tulsa police officer, fired two gunshots the campus of Rogers State University before committing suicide. He had previously been arrested the day before for entering a female student's dormitory room with observable intent to commit a sexual assault.[486]
December 12, 2014 Portland, Oregon 0 4 Rosemary Anderson High School shooting: A gunman shot three students and a man outside Rosemary Anderson High School in north Portland. A 16-year-old girl was in critical condition, while the others suffered minor injuries. Two men, aged eighteen and twenty-two, were arrested in connection with the shooting.[487]
2015 to present
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
January 15, 2015 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 0 3 A 15-year-old boy, a student's father, and a teacher were each injured in the school parking lot at Wisconsin Lutheran High School. The student had unspecified injuries that were treated. The father was shot in the knee and the teacher was grazed in the toe. A 36-year-old man was charged in the shooting.[488]
January 16, 2015 Ocala, Florida 0 2 Two were injured in gunfire that occurred after a Friday night basketball game. One was injured directly by a bullet, the other by ricocheting glass.[489]
February 4, 2015 Frederick, Maryland 0 2 Two students were shot near the gymnasium of Frederick High School during a junior varsity (JV) boys' basketball game. Approximately two hundred students, staff, and faculty were placed on lockdown for several hours after the shooting while police searched for the suspects. No suspects have been apprehended, although witnesses report seeing four black males dressed all in black who are considered by police to be suspects in this shooting.[490]
February 14, 2015 Merced, California 1 0 A teenager was found killed in the parking lot of Tenaya Middle School. The shooting was reported to have occurred after school hours.[491]
February 23, 2015 Daytona Beach, Florida 0 3 Two students argued outside the music building at Bethune-Cookman University when one pulled out a gun. Both had guns and it is not disclosed who did the shooting, injuring three students. A reward was offered to help solve this case.[492]
March 30, 2015 University City, Missouri 0 1 Police said one person has been arrested for a shooting at Pershing Elementary School. The shooting occurred in the parking lot, with a 34-year-old-man being shot in the buttocks.[493]
April 13, 2015 Goldsboro, North Carolina 1 0 A faculty member was killed with a rifle in the school library of Wayne Community College. The suspected 20-year-old gunman, Kenneth Stancil, was arrested in Florida the next day. As of January 2017, Stancil, an admitted Neo-Nazi is being investigated for a hate crime.[494]
April 16, 2015 Paradis, Louisiana 0 1 A police officer was shot outside a school in a school zone while he was directing school buses into J.B. Martin Middle School, and the suspect was apprehended at the scene.[495]
April 27, 2015 Lacey, Washington 0 0 A 15-year-old student at North Thurston High School walked into the commons area and fired two shots into the ceiling from a .357 magnum pistol. Brady Olson, a teacher at the school, was able to tackle the student before they could turn the gun on other students. No one was injured or killed. The student is facing charges of firing and possessing a gun on school property.[496]
May 12, 2015 Jacksonville, Florida 0 2 Police report that a 16-year-old shot five bullets into a school bus and injured two students. Apparently, there was an argument that touched on previous events.[497]
May 24, 2015 Flint, Michigan 0 7 In the early morning hours of Memorial Day weekend, a group of people were at Southwestern Classical Academy in the parking lot. Shots rang out and seven were injured, with two men being apprehended and charged.[498]
August 27, 2015 Savannah, Georgia 1 0 22-year-old student Christopher Starks was fatally shot in a student union building at Savannah State University. The shooter has not been identified.[499]
September 3, 2015 Sacramento, California 1 2 A man was arguing with at least one other person escalated into a physical fight on the parking lot of Sacramento City College. A man opened fire, killing a 25-year-old student and wounding two others. The shooting suspect has not been arrested.[500]
September 14, 2015 Cleveland, Mississippi 2 0 A geography professor at Delta State University fatally shot a fellow history professor. The geography professor was chased by police and eventually died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.[501]
September 30, 2015 Harrisburg, South Dakota 0 1 A principal was shot in the arm and wounded at Harrisburg High School after an argument with a student. The suspect, a 16-year-old student at the school, was taken into custody and is charged with first-degree attempted murder.[502]
October 1, 2015 Roseburg, Oregon 10 9 Umpqua Community College shooting: At around 10:40 a.m. PDT, a gunman, identified as 26-year-old student Christopher Harper-Mercer, opened fire in a hall on the Umpqua Community College campus, killing eight students and one teacher, and injuring nine others. Mercer then committed suicide after engaging responding police officers in a brief gunfight.[503]
October 9, 2015 Flagstaff, Arizona 1 3 One student died and three others were wounded in a shooting at Northern Arizona University. It is unclear what sparked the shooting, which took place near Mountain View Hall, a dormitory that houses most of the campus' students involved in Greek organizations. An 18-year-old student was arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault.[504]
October 9, 2015 Houston, Texas 1 1 One person died and another person was injured after someone opened fire outside a Texas Southern University dorm.[505]
October 22, 2015 Nashville, Tennessee 1 3 One person was killed and three others were wounded in a shooting at an outdoor courtyard at Tennessee State University. The shooting may have stemmed from an argument over a dice game. A suspect has not been identified or arrested.[506]
November 1, 2015 Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1 1 One person died and another person was injured after someone opened fire on the campus of Winston-Salem State University. A 21-year-old non-student suspect is sought.[507]
November 20, 2015 North Las Vegas, Nevada 1 0 A 16-year-old student was fatally shot during a fight after school hours that involved multiple people on the campus of Mojave High School.[508]
January 22, 2016 Indianapolis, Indiana 0 1 A 15-year-old male was shot in the leg and injured during a night-time basketball game at Lawrence Central High School.[509]
January 29, 2016 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 0 0 A gunshot was fired during a fight in a stairwell at Franklin High School, and no injuries were reported. Three people were detained.[510]
February 9, 2016 Muskegon Heights, Michigan 0 4 Four people, including two students, were injured during a basketball game event in the parking lot of Muskegon Heights High School.[511]
February 12, 2016 Glendale, Arizona 2 0 Two 15-year-old girls died in an apparent Murder-Suicide at Independence High School.[512]
February 29, 2016 Middletown, Ohio 0 4 15-year-old Cameron Smith, and 14-year-old Cooper Caffrey, were shot when 14-year-old James Austin Hancock, opened fire in the Madison High School cafeteria with a .380 caliber handgun. 15-year-old Brant Murray, and 14-year-old Katherine Douchette, also suffered shrapnel injuries.[513] Hancock was apprehended in a nearby wooded field.[514]
April 23, 2016 Antigo, Wisconsin 1 2 Two students at a prom at Antigo High School were shot and injured by 18-year-old former student Jakob Wagner. Wagner later exchanged fire with a school resource officer in the school's parking lot, and was captured after being shot and wounded by police. He died hours later in a hospital.
June 1, 2016 Los Angeles, California 2 0 2016 UCLA shooting. Mainak Sarkar, age 38, a Ph.D. student, killed his former professor, William S. Klug, age 39, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, in an engineering building at UCLA. Sarkar then killed himself. Sarkar, who lived in Minnesota, also killed his former wife, Ashley Hasti, age 31, in her Brooklyn Park, Minnesota home.[515][516]
June 8, 2016 Dorchester, Massachusetts 1 3 One student was killed and three other individuals were injured when gunfire erupted outside of the Jeremiah Burke High School following a fire-alarm causing an evacuation of the school. Two suspects have been arrested.[517]
September 9, 2016 Alpine, Texas 1 2 A 14-year-old female student shot a 16-year-old girl in an Alpine High School restroom before committing suicide. A police officer accidentally shot another officer during the incident.
September 28, 2016 Townville, South Carolina 2 2 Townville Elementary School shooting: Two students and one teacher were wounded after a teen opened fire at Townville Elementary School. The suspect's father was found dead at his home soon after the shooting. One of the victims, six-year-old Jacob Hall, died 3 days after the shooting.[518][519]
October 11, 2016 Mobile, Alabama 0 1 A student was shot in the abdomen and wounded at Vigor High School. The suspect, a 16-year-old boy, turned himself in and was charged with assault.[520]
October 13, 2016 Columbus, Ohio 0 2 Two students were shot and wounded on the front lawn of Linden McKinley STEM Academy. One was shot in the shoulder, and the other shot in the chest, and were hospitalized in stable condition.[521]
October 18, 2016 San Francisco, California 0 4 Four students were shot outside June Jordan High School for Equity, a San Francisco public high school. One female victim was in critical condition, while three male victims suffered minor injuries. .[522] Two people were arrested in the shooting.[523]
October 25, 2016 Sandy, Utah 0 1 Police say the two teens ages 14 and 16 were involved in a confrontation on the far north end of Union Middle School. The boys got into an argument. The argument lead to a shooting. The 14 year old shot the 16 year old twice. He was sent to the hospital in critical but stable condition.[524]
December 1, 2016 Bountiful, Utah 0 0 At Mueller Park Junior High School, a 15-year-old student fired one shot into the ceiling and then pointed the weapon at his own neck. The student was confronted verbally by a teacher and another student and later arrested in possession of a shotgun, a handgun, and ammunition for each.[525]
January 20, 2017 West Liberty, Ohio 0 1 A 17-year-old student was charged with attempted murder and other crimes after bringing a gun to West Liberty-Salem High School and firing two shots at 17-year-old student in a bathroom with a shotgun. The victim was injured. The student was "also is accused of discharging the weapon in the school’s hallway before returning to the bathroom, where he was eventually taken into custody."[526]
January 20, 2017 Seattle, Washington 0 1 A 34-year-old man was shot in Red Square at University of Washington while protesting the visit of controversial journalist Milo Yiannopoulos. The shooter turned himself in to the university police and later questioned and released without being charged with a crime.[527]
March 21, 2017 King City, California 0 1 An 18-year-old King City High School student was shot outside the school's auditorium. The gunman ran across the school's campus and baseball field, and fled the area. The school was then placed on lockdown. The victim was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.[528] A suspect was arrested in August 2017.[529]
April 10, 2017 San Bernardino, California 3 1 North Park Elementary School shooting: Cedric Anderson, age 53, of Riverside, California, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after shooting and killing his estranged wife, Karen Elaine Smith, age 53, in a classroom. An eight-year-old student was also fatally shot, and a seven-year-old student was injured.[530]
May 4, 2017 Irving, Texas 2 0 North Lake College: Adrian Victor Torres killed a 20-year-old student, Janeera Nickol Gonzalez, whom he was stalking. He fatally shot her three times and the college went into lockdown before discovering that the suspect has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.[531]
September 13, 2017 Rockford, Washington 1 3 Freeman High School: Three students injured and one killed after a shooter opened fire. The suspect, a 15-year-old student, was taken into police custody.[532]
September 20, 2017 Mattoon, Illinois 0 1 Mattoon High School: A 14-year-old male student was subdued by a female teacher when he attempted to open fire in the school cafeteria at 11:33 a.m. Multiple shots were fired in the process, and one student was struck in the chest and was driven to a nearby hospital suffering non-life-threatening wounds. The student was taken into custody without further incident.[533][534]
November 14, 2017 Rancho Tehama Reserve, California 6 18 Rancho Tehama Reserve shootings: Neighbor on a rampage injured one student at Rancho Tehama Elementary School and fatally shot five adults at several locations.[535] The secretary heard the gunfire near the school and ordered the school to go on lockdown. After a custodian and the teachers put it into action, 43 year-old Kevin Neal rammed a truck into the gate of the school and fired at the classrooms hitting one student when a bullet pierced the wall. Neal fatally shot himself after sheriff's deputies rammed his vehicle during a pursuit.[535][536]
December 7, 2017 Aztec, New Mexico 3 0 Aztec High School shooting: William Atchison, 21-year-old former male student snuck into Aztec High School disguised as a student and hid in an unlocked washroom with a Glock 9mm hidden in his bag. He retreated from the washroom after being spotted by a school custodian who chased him shouting "active shooter" and "lockdown". Atchinson was able to shoot and kill two students who were caught in the hallway before he killed himself.[537][538] He had been investigated in 2016 by the FBI when he asked "where to find cheap assault rifles for a mass shooting" on an online forum.[539][540]
January 9, 2018 Forest City, Iowa 0 0 A man shot a pellet gun at a school bus full of children, shattering a window. No one was injured.[541]
January 20, 2018 Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1 0 A student was fatally shot at a party at 1 a.m. on the campus of Wake Forest University.[541]
January 22, 2018 Italy, Texas 0 1 A 16-year-old male student fired at a 15-year-old female classmate that he had briefly dated in the cafeteria of Italy High School. The gunman left the school immediately after opening fire and was arrested.[542][543][544]
January 22, 2018 New Orleans, Louisiana 0 1 Shots were fired from a truck in the parking lot of NET Charter High School, targeting a crowd of students during lunch time. One student was slightly injured, apparently from injuries unrelated to gunfire. One person was arrested in connection with the shooting.[541]
January 23, 2018 Marshall County, Kentucky 2 18 Marshall County High School shooting: A 15-year-old male student shot 16 people in the lobby at Marshall County High School and caused non-gunshot injuries to 4 others. Two 15-year-old students died: one killed at the scene, another died of wounds at Vanderbilt Medical Center.[545][546][547]
February 1, 2018 Los Angeles, California 0 5 Two 15-year-old students, a boy and a girl, were shot and injured inside a classroom at Sal Castro Middle School, which shares a campus with Belmont High School. Three other people suffered injuries unrelated to gunfire. A 12-year-old girl was arrested and charged with negligent discharge of a firearm.[548]
February 5, 2018 Oxon Hill, Maryland 0 1 A student was taken to hospital after exiting Oxon Hill High School and going to speak to individuals in a vehicle who then attempted to rob, and subsequently shot and wounded him in the school's parking lot. Two other students were arrested and charged with attempted murder and robbery.[549]
February 14, 2018 Parkland, Florida 17 14 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting: A 19-year-old former student whose behavior had led to discipline issues, began shooting students and staff members with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after activating a fire alarm. 17 people were killed, and 14 others were injured. The suspect, Nikolas Cruz, blended in with the crowd of fleeing students and was arrested in a residential area of neighboring Coral Springs after walking away from the school.[550] He was later charged with murder and attempted murder.[551]
March 2, 2018 Mount Pleasant, Michigan 2 0 Central Michigan University shooting: 19-year-old student James Eric Davis Jr. shot and killed his mother and father when they came to campus to take him home for spring break. After the shooting Davis fled and the campus was placed on lockdown. Around 15 hours later police arrested him and took him to a local hospital. The incident disrupted the travel plans of students and campus activities for several days. Davis was charged with two counts of murder and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm used to commit murder.[552][553][554]
March 7, 2018 Birmingham, Alabama 1 2 Huffman High School: One student was killed and another injured when shots were fired in the school building, prompting the school to go into lockdown shortly after the bell rang for school dismissal. Law enforcement originally labeled the shooting as "accidental".[555] Subsequently, a 17-year-old male student was charged with manslaughter and will be charged as "being a certain person forbidden to possess a pistol".[556] Although the school has metal detectors, they were not being used that day.[557] School resource officers were onsite at the time of the shooting.[556]
March 14, 2018 Birmingham, Alabama 2 1 University of Alabama at Birmingham: A disgruntled employee entered the UAB Highlands Hospital on the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and shot two hospital employees, fatally wounding one, on the second floor. The perpetrator then shot and fatally wounded himself. [558]
March 20, 2018 Great Mills, Maryland 2 1 Great Mills High School: School placed on lockdown after a shooting occurred in the morning. A 17-year-old male student, armed with a handgun, shot and fatally injured a female student (with whom he had a prior relationship) and wounded a male student. The school resource officer fatally shot the perpetrator, while the perpetrator simultaneously shot at but did not harm the resource officer.[559]
