School Shootings Timeline

School Shootings are typically reported episodically rather than thematically, as if they were one of a kind events rather than events occurring at a relatively constant rate. American news coverage typically elides what is most common about them: that they are the product of relatively easy legal access to firearms. 

2012

December 14: Newton, CT: Sandy Hook Elementary School: A gunman dies, 26 dead, 18 of them children

August 27: Perry Hall, MD: Perry Hall High School: 15-year-old student allegedly shoots and wounds 17 year old student. Perry Hall High School Shooting: Student Shot On First Day Of Classes At Maryland School Alex Rodriguez. Huffington Post. August 27, 2012.

August 13: College Station TX: Texas A & M University: Police officer and two others were killed in a shooting near campus. 3 Killed in Shootings Near Texas A&M University CNN. August 13, 2012.

June 15: Edmondton, ON: University of Alberta: 3 G4S Security guards are killed in an armoured car robbery. News Report

April 2: Oakland, CA: Oikos University: 43 year old One Goh, a former nursing student, is suspected of using a .45 caliber pistol to kill 7 and wound 3 in a classroom before being apprehended.

March 24: Starkville, MS: Mississippi State University student John Sanderson is shot to death in his dormitory room.

March 19: Toulose, France: 23 year old Islamist terrorist Mohamed Merah kills four, including three children, in a drive-by shooting at the entrance to the Ozar Hatorah Jewish day school. He later dies in a shootout on March 22 after a 32-hour standoff with police at his apartment building.

March 7: Jacksonville, Florida: After learning that he had been dismissed, 28 year old teacher Shane Schumerth shoots to death Episcopal High School's Head of School, Dale Regan, before killing himself with the same gun. His students reported that the young conservative killer was more interested in talking about Republican politics in the classroom than teaching Spanish. Schumerth used an easy to purchase AK-47 to commit his murder-suicide.

February 27: Chardon, OH - Gunman opens fire inside the cafeteria of Chardon High School, killing three students and wounding two others chosen at random. Ohio School Suspect Says Shooting Was Random Act The Guardian. February 28, 2012

February 24: Bremmerton, WA- Gunman shot an 8 year old girl in class. He was charged with an unlawful possession of a gun, bringing a dangerous weapon to school and thrid degree assault.

2011

December 8: Blacksburg, VA - Radford University student Ross Truett Ashley shoots Virginia Tech University policeman Deriek W. Crouse to death before killing himself with the same handgun. State Police Say They are Confident Va. Tech Gunman Acted Alone in Officer's Killing Chicago Tribune. December 8, 2011.

July 22: Sundvollen, Norway - Norway mourned on Sunday 93 people killed in an atrocity and car bombing by a Norwegian conservative Anders Behring Breivik, who carried out his attacks as "atrocious, but necessary" to defeat liberal immigration policies and the spread of Islam.

April 19: Houston, Texas: Ross Elementary School kindergartner's loaded gun discharges in the cafetaria. Three students injured by fragments. Kindergartner Brings Gun to Texas School, 3 Hurt Juan A. Lozano. Associated Press. April 19, 2011.

April 7: Rio de Janiero, Brazil: Tasso da Silveira School former student 23 year old Wellington Oliveira shoots and kills 11 elementary students before killing himself. 11 Children Killed in Brazil School Shooting Juliana Barbassa. Associated Press and Salon. April 7, 2011.

April 6: Opelika, Alabama: 34 year old man is in custody, suspected of shooting and killing one and wounding three others in domestic violence on the campus of Opelika State Technical College.

March 31: Houston, Texas: Worthing High School: One killed and five others injured in a possible gang related shooting on the football field. 1 dead in Worthing High School Shooting

March 25: Martinsville, Indiana: Martinsville West Middle School student is critically wounded in a shooting and a 15 year old later taken in custody. Student in Critical Condition Following Martinsville School Shooting Indystar.com. March 25, 2011.

February 7: Youngstown, Ohio: 25 year old Youngstown State University senior Jamail E. Johnson is shot to death as he tried to separate two groups at an Omega Psi Phi fraternity house party on campus. Another 11, including a criticalkly injured 17 year old girl, are wounded. In custody are 19 year old Braylon L. Rogers and 22 year old Columbus E. Jones Jr. College Student Shot to Death at Ohio Frat House Thomas A. Sheeran. ABC.News. February 7, 2011.

January 18: Gardena, Los Angeles County, California: two Gardena High School students are in critical condition after the accidental discharge of a gun in the backpack of a third student Police: At Least Three People Shot in L.A.-Area School Shooting CNN. January 18, 2011.

January 18: Jericho, Vermont: 15 year old Mount Mansfield Union High School student dies after shooting himself.

January 5: Omaha, Nebraska: 17 year old Millard South High School student Robert Butler, Jr., the son of an Omaha police detective, shoots and kills Vice Principal Vicki Kaspar and shoots and wounds Principal Curtis Case. After fleeing the scene he takes his own life. Nebraska School Shooting Ends in Two Deaths Associated Press and The New York Times. January 6, 2011.

2010

November 29: Marinette, Wisconsin: 15 year old Samuel Hengel, a Boy Scout and a Baptist, takes his teacher and 23 fellow students hostage for five hours before taking his own life.

October 8: San Diego, California: Brendan O’Rourke, 41, opens fire at Kelley Elementary School with his registered .357 magnum revolver and wounding two girls, six and seven years old. Source: Alleged San Diego Schoolyard Gunman Former Springfield Resident by Julia Watson. The Associated Press and S-J R.Com. October 11, 2010.

September 28: Austin, Texas: Sophomore mathematics major Colton Tooley, armed with an AK-47, fires several shots before entering Perry Castaneda Library and then kills himself on the sixth floor of the building. Gunman at University of Texas Austin Takes Own Life, Lockdown Lifted ABC News. September 28, 2010.

September 23: Ystradgynlais, south Wales: Teacher Darren Jones is shot in the face with pellet gun by a 13 year old at Maesydderwen Comprehensive School. The Press Association

September 22: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina: School Resource officer is wounded in a shooting by a freshman student at Socastee High School after multiple devices (pipe bombs) were found around the school. Bellingham Herald

August 17: McKinley, Texas: Gun battle in front of a police station adjacent to the Colin County Community College results in a campus shutdown. source

March 9: Columbus, Ohio: Shooting in the Ohio State University campus maintenance building left one employee dead and two others wounded, with one suspect taken into custody. News Source

February 23: Littleton, Colorado: 32-year-old unemployed ranchhand named Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood shoots two students at Deer Creek Middle School: 14-year-old Matt Thieu and 13-year old Reagan Weber.

February 13: Huntsville, Alabama: Three biology faculty (Gopi K. Podila, Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson) are killed and three others (Luis Cruz-Vera, Leahy, Stephanie Monticello) wounded when a biology professor allegedly opens fire at a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama, Hunsville. MSNBC New Report

2009

June 24: Parkersburg, Iowa: Football coach Ed Thomas is shot to death at Aplington-Parkersburg High School. Former student and football player, 24 year old Mark Daryl Becker is arrested. Des Moines Register News Report

April 26: Hampton, Virginia: Three wounded in a shooting in a dormitory at Hampton University.

April 10: Dearborn, Michigan: man and woman are found shot to death in a classroom at Henry Ford Community College in an apparent muder/suicide.

March 11: Winnenden, near Stuttgart, Germany: Gunman believed to be a 17 year old at Albertville secondary school kills 10. BBC News Report

February 17: Detroit, Michigan: Dajuan Devon Sutton arrested for wounding two non-students at Central High School.

January 7: Budapest, Hungary: A principal and teacher are killed and a security guard wounded when a masked gunman opens fire in a private elementary school in the 21st District. The security guard and the school's finance director are arrested the following day.

2008

November 21: Savannah, Georgia: 19 year old Savannah State University Deven McIntosh students wounds another student.

November 18: Ceres, California: 18 year old Central Valley High School student wounds another student during an argument as they walk out of class.

November 4: Los Angeles, California: 18-year-old former student Luis Gabriel Rosas is shot outside Bell High School gymnasium and then dies before a crowd of 40.

October 27: Conway, Arkansas: two University of Central Arkansas students, 18 year old Ryan Henderson and 19 year old Chavares Block are shot to death. A non-student, Martrevis Norman, is wounded.

September 23: Kauhajoki, Finland: 22-year-old student shoots and kills 9 fellow students and an instructor before committing suicide.

February 14: Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois: Stephen P. Kazmierczak, 27, a former sociology graduate student, opens fire in crowded science lecture hall, kiling 5 and wounding 18, before killing himself. His weapons inluded two handguns, including a Glock, and a shotgun. U.S. news media sources self-censor their news coverage by avoiding any discussion of the easy availability of firearms in the U.S. as a possible cause.

February 14: E.O. Green School, Ventura, California: 14-year-old is arrested after 15 years old Lawrence King is shot to death. Classmates of the slain satated that he had recently proclaimed himself gay and that a verbal confrontation about the victim's sexual orientation the day before the killing had included the arrested 14-year-old.

February 8: Louisiana Technical College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana: A women shoots amd kills two students and then herself.

January 4: Chorwari Village, Madhya Pradesh, India: Drarmu, a 13-year-old student, is shot and killed by a 15 year-old student.

2007

December 11: Gurgaon (suburb of Delhi), India: Abhishek Tyagi, a 14-year-old, was shot and killed at the private Euro International School by two students with an imported .32 Harrison pistol.

November 7: Tuusula, Finland: An 18-year-old student at Jokela High School opened shoots to death seven students and a principal before shooting himself in the head. He died later on the day of the shooting in a hospital in Southern Finland.

October 10: Cleveland, Ohio: 14-year-old shoots and wounds two teachers and two students at SuccessTech Academy alternative high school, before killing himself.

May 23: Toronto, Ontario: 14-year-old student was shot and killed at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute (secondary school). Also, a 14-year-old in New Brunswick was arrested after a bomb was found in his school, and six Ontario teenagers were arrested for bomb threats directed at an elementary school.

April 16: Blacksburg, Virginia: Thirty-two killed at Virginia Tech University by a student who then kills himself.

April 2: Seattle, Washington: murder-suicide at the University of Washington leaves two dead.

March 30: Mytle Beach, South Carolina: 18-year-old student at Mytle Beach High School is shot in the upper thigh with a gun he carried to school in a bag.

March 22: Burlington Township, New Jersey: Burlington Township High School conducts a Columbine event drill but encounters howls of outrage from Christian protestant fundamentalists angry that the two mock shooters were "Christians." Yet another example of Conservative Correctness.

February 15: Newington, Connecticut: sixteen year old arrested in plot to attack 20 students with bombs and firearms at Newington High School. No casualties.

January 3: Tacoma, Washington. Seventeen year old Samnang Kok is shot to death at Henry Foss High School. Eighteen year old Douglas Chanthabouly is arrested. The victim is the father of an 18 month old child.

January 3: Fayetteville, North Carolina. A fourteen year old is arrested after discharging a gun at Westover High School without injuring anyone.

2006

November 20: Emsdetten, North Rhine Westphalia: 18 year old former student Sebastian Bosse enters Geschwister Scholl, fires shots from a pistol wounding 3 students aged 12 to 15, a female teacher and the janitor, takes hostages and sets off smoke bombs. He dies from wounds. Source

November 6: Georgetown, Texas: Two juvenile male students (younger than 17) arrested in school shooting plot aimed at faculty and students in McNeil High School (north of Austin). The two are charged with conspiracy to commit capital murder.

October 9: Joplin, Missouri: Mask wearing 13-year-old male student at Memorial Middle School points an AK-47 at two students and tells them don't "make me do this" before firing the weapon into the ceiling. No casualties.

October 2: Las Vegas, Nevada: Mojave High School and Elizondo Elementary are locked down because of the appearance of a former student armed with an AK-47 on the campus of the former. No shots were fired and the gunman escaped a police dragent of the immediate neighborhood.

October 2: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: Milk truck driver Charles Carl Roberts IV drops off his own children at school and then drives to the West Nickel Mines Amish School where he uses a 9 mm pistol to shoot and kill three girls aged six to thirteen , another two girls later die, wounds five other girls before shooting and killing himself.

September 29: Rural southwestern Wisconsin: Easy access to guns claimed another victim when a former student armed with several guns enters the Weston School and shoots its principal John Klang.

September 28: Bailey, Colorado: 54-year-old homeless man armed with a revolver and automatic pistol takes 6 girl students hostage at Platte Canyon High School, kills one 16 year old and then kills himself.

September 15: Greenbay, Wisconsin: William C. Cornell and Shawn R. Sturtz, both 17, are arrested for plotting a "columbine style" school shooting at East High School. On September 17, a 18 old year friend of the two and a former East High School student, Bradley Netwal, is also arrested.

September 13: Mississauga, Ontario: 12 year old boy is arrested after a Queen Elizabeth Senior Public School student was shot in the hand with a pellet gun.

September 13: Montreal, Quebec: 25 year old with a Mohawk haircut opened fire in the Dawson College cafeteria, killing a 20 year old woman and wounding 19 others before himself being shot to death by a policeman.

August 31: Hillsborough, North Carolina: 19 year old accused of killing his father is arrested after wounding two students. Pipe bombs and firearms found in his minivan.

August 24: Essex, Vermont: 26-year-old Christopher A. Williams entered Essex Elementary School intending to kill his ex-girlfriend and instead killed one teacher and wounded another. This occurred after he had shot and killed ex-girlfriend's mother dead.

August 4: Modesto, California: "Accidental" discharge of a firearm by a 23-year-old off duty security guard, who was not licensed to carry a concealed weapon, wounds 17-year-old student at California Beauty College. She is paralyzed from the waist down.

June 5: Venice, California: Seventeen year old male student is shot to death in the parking lot of Venice High School at 3:10 in the afternoon. Young male suspect flees into Oakwood area of Venice.

April 24: Puyallup, Washington. Sixteen year old arrested for plotting to shoot people at Rogers High School and then commit suicide "to finally go out in a blaze of hatred and fury."

April 22: North Pole, Alaska. Six Seventh graders students, all aged 13, arrested in plot to curt off North Pole Middle School's power and telephone systems, kill victims and flee the town. The six are among 15 students suspended from school. Alaska Kids' School Shooting Stopped CBS News April 22, 2006

April 20: Platte City, Missouri: Two seventeen year old students arrested in a plot at Platte County R-3 High School to stage a Columbine style atrocity on the anniversary of the event.

April 20: Riverton, Kansas. Five students aged 16 to 18 are arrested in a plot at Riverton High School to stage a Columbine style atrocity on the anniversary of the event.

April 5: Scottsboro, Alabama. Seventh grader is expelled from Scottsboro Junior High School for fabricating a school shooting plot.

April 5: Washington, DC. Two shot outside Roosevelt High School, a 19-year-old and 18-year- old are wounded.

March 23: Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Fifteen year old and 16-year-old Tolman High School students are arrested for allegedly starting rumor of an imminent Columbine-style shooting.

February 23: Douglas County, Oregon. Vincent Wayne Leodoro shot and wounded a fellow student, 16-year-old sophomore Joseph Monti.

2005

December: Lancaster, California: A 17-year-old and 15-year-old are arrested for planning a Valentine's Day attack involving explosives and cutting off the arms of a young woman.

November 9: Jacksboro, Tennessee. A 15-year-old shoots and kills the assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously wounds 2 other administrators.

March 21: Red Lake, Minnesota. 16-year-old Jeff Weise kills grandfather and companion, arrives at his school where he kills 1 teacher, 1 security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead.

March 14: Reno, Nevada. Later saying that he was tired of being disparaged a 14 year old shoots two school mates at Pine Middle School.

2004

Sept. 28: Carmen de Patagones, Argentina. 14-year-old Argentininan student kills 3 students killed and wounded 5. The handgun he used belonged to his father.

2003

September 24: Cold Spring, Minnesota. 2 students are killed at Rocori High School by 15 year old John Jason McLaughlin.

April 24: Red Lion, Pennsylvania. James Sheets, 14, killed principal Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself.

April 14: New Orleans, Louisiana. Gang gun fight from 4 teenagers kills 1 and wounds 3 students at John McDonogh High School.

2002

April 29: Vlasenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina. 1 teacher killed and 1 wounded by Dragoslav Petkovic, 17, who then killed himself.

April 26: Erfurt, Germany. 13 teachers, two students, and 1 policeman killed, 10 wounded by Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, at the Johann Gutenberg secondary school. Steinhaeuser then killed himself.

February 19: Freising, Germany. 2 killed in Eching by a man at the factory where he had been fired; he then traveled to Freising and killed the headmaster of the technical school from which he had been expelled. He also wounded another teacher before killing himself.

2001

November 12: Caro, Michigan. Chris Buschbacher, 17, took 2 hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself.

March 30: Gary, Indiana. 1 student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School.

March 22: Granite Hills, California. 1 teacher and 3 students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. Hoffman is then shot and killed by a police officer.

March 7: Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School; she was depressed and frequently teased.

March 5: Santee, California. 2 killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High School.

January 18: Jan, Sweden. One student killed by two boys, ages 17 and 19.

January 17: Baltimore, Maryland. One student shot and killed at Lake Clifton Eastern High School.

January 15: New York, N.Y. Teenager wounds 2 students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School.

2000

September 26: New Orleans, Louisiana. 2 students wounded at Woodson Middle School.

June 28: University of Washington, Seattle, Washington: Medical resident Dr. Jian Chen kills his supervisor and then himself in his supervisor's office.

May 26: Lake Worth, Florida. One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes.

March: Branneburg, Germany One teacher killed by a 15-year-old student, who then shot himself. The shooter has been in a coma ever since.

March 10: Savannah, Georgia. Two students killed by Darrell Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School.

Feb. 29: Mount Morris Township, Michigan. Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun.

1999

December 7: Veghel, Netherlands. One teacher and three students wounded by a 17-year-old student.

December 6: Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School.

November 19: Deming, New Mexico. Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School.

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

April 28: Taber, Alberta, Canada. One student killed, one wounded at W. R. Myers High School in first fatal high school shooting in Canada in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school after he was severely ostracized by his classmates.

April 20: Littleton, Colorado. 14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 24 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves.

1998

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

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

May 19: Fayetteville, Tennessee. One student killed in the parking lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-year-old honor student Jacob Davis.

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

April 28: Pomona, California: 14 year old kills 2 and wounds 1.

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

1997

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

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

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

March: Sanaa, Yemen Eight people (six students and two others) at two schools killed by Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri.

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

1996

March 13: Dunblane, Scotland 16 children and one teacher killed at Dunblane Primary School by Thomas Hamilton, who then killed himself. 10 others wounded in attack.

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

1993

January 18: Grayson, Kentucky: 17-year-old Gary Scott Pennington walked into an English classroom and fatally shot his teacher Deanna McDavid and head custodian Marvin Hicks, and held classmates hostage for fifteen minutes before surrendering to police. Pennington was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years. He is currently imprisoned at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville, Kentucky.

1992

May 1: Olivehurst, California: 20 year old Eric Houston kills 4 four and wounds 10 in a seige at his former high school.

1991

November 1: Iowa City, Iowa: a 28 year old Chinese physics graduate student opens fire with a handgun, killing 5, including himself, and wounding 2 at the University of Iowa. The rampage takes place in the Physics Building and the Graduate College.

1989

December 6: Montreal, Quebec: Marc Lepine shoots and kills 14 female engineering students at Ecole Polytechnique.

January 25: Rauma, Finland: a 14-year-old boy shoots and kills two of his fellow pupils, both of them boys, during a lesson at Raumanmeri secondary school. Reportedly, he also tried to shoot a third boy but the bullet missed.

January 17: Stockton, California: 26 year old Patrick Purdy, armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, kills 5 wounds 30 fire in a Stockton elementary school playground. He then kills himself.

1988

September 26: Greenwood, South Carolina: 19 year old man armed with a .22 caliber pistol kills 2 eight-year-olds and wounds 9 other people at Oakland Elementary School. "10 Years Later, Greenwood Shooting Still Affects Those Involved." Assocviated Press. September 27, 1998.

May 20, 1988: Winnetka, Illinois: 30 year old Laurie Dann kills 1, wounds 6 students at a Winnetka elementary school. She then wounds 1 in a nearby house before committing suicide.

1985

January 21: Goddard, Kansas: 14 year old James Alan Kearbey, armed with a M1-A semiautomatic rifle and a .357-caliber handgun, kills principal and wounds 2 teachers and a student at his Goddard junior high school.

1979

January 29: 16 year old Brenda Spencer kills 2 and wounds 7 because she "didn't like Mondays".

1975

May 28: Brampton, Ontario: 16 year old Michael Slobodian shoots and kills a teacher (Mrs. Wright in classroom) and student (John Slinger in first floor washroom), and wounds 13 at Brampton Centennial Secondary School.

1966

August 1: Austin, Texas: Charles Whitman kills 15 and wounds 31 at the University of Texas.