School shootings have occurred in the United States since the mid-19th century, although they were relatively uncommon until around the late 20th century. From the 1960s through the 1980s, fatal school shootings occurred infrequently, with most involving one or two victims. Since the 1990s, however, the frequency and lethality of such incidents have increased, coinciding with a broader rise in mass shootings. The Columbine High School massacre of 1999, which resulted in 15 deaths, is often cited as a turning point in media coverage and public perception of school shootings, influencing subsequent security policies and cultural discussions around youth violence.
Between 2000 and 2022, more than 300 school shootings occurred in the United States, although only a small fraction resulted in multiple fatalities.[1] While the majority of incidents involve fewer than three deaths, a small number of high-profile cases account for a significant proportion of fatalities. Mass-casualty events have occurred more frequently at high schools and universities than at elementary schools, although some of the deadliest shootings, such as Sandy Hook and Robb Elementary, involved younger students.
The recurrence of school shootings has generated debate over a range of issues, including firearms legislation, mental health care, media coverage, and school security measures. Responses have included the implementation of school resource officers, lockdown and active-shooter drills, metal detectors, and, in some states, laws permitting school staff to carry firearms. Legislative proposals at both the federal and state levels have varied, from expanded background checks and age restrictions to measures allowing armed teachers.
Virginia Tech shooting: 23-year-old student Seung-Hui Cho killed thirty-two students and faculty members in two separate attacks on the campus of Virginia Tech and then committed suicide. In a dorm room, he first shot one student, then another who came to help; two hours later, he went to a school building where he barricaded the main entrance and fired into several classrooms, killing twenty-five students and five faculty members and wounding seventeen others. The incident was formerly the deadliest American mass shooting and is currently the third-deadliest.
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed twenty-six other people and himself at the school. He had first killed his mother at their home before taking four of her guns and driving to his former elementary school. He killed twenty first-grade children aged six and seven, along with six adults, including four teachers, the principal, and the school psychologist. Two other people were injured. Lanza killed himself as police arrived at the school.[2][3]
Uvalde school shooting: 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered one of the classrooms, shooting the children and staff in the classroom, before trading fire with responding law enforcement officers that had arrived on the scene an hour prior, but never entered. Two officers were left with minor injuries and no deaths. Ramos was shot and killed by a tactical team of US Border Patrol agents and UCISD officers after they breached the classroom. Twenty-one people were killed by Ramos: 19 students between the ages of 9 and 11, and two teachers. The assailant also shot and wounded his grandmother, who was admitted to hospital in critical condition and was later released.[4][5]
Parkland high school shooting: Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student whose behavior had led to his expulsion, 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 18 others were injured. The suspect blended in with the crowd of fleeing students and was arrested in a residential area neighboring Coral Springs after walking away from the school.[6] He later pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder.[7]
University of Texas tower shooting: 25-year-old engineering student and former U.S. Marine Charles Whitman got onto the clock tower at the University of Texas-Austin. After killing three people inside the tower, he began firing outside from the observation deck atop it, killing a further twelve people and wounding 31 others during a 96-minute shooting rampage which lasted until he was shot and killed by police. He had earlier murdered his wife and mother at their homes.[8][9][10] Apart from remaining the deadliest shooting at a college campus until the Virgina Tech shooting in 2007, this was also the deadliest American mass shooting altogether for nearly 18 years until the San Ysidro McDonald's massacre.
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; after killing two students in the schoolyard and fatally wounding a teacher in the hallway, they killed the rest of their victims in the school library. They also wounded 21 additional people (twelve in the library and nine elsewhere), started fires, and engaged in several gunfights with police, though no one was hit in these exchanges. Another three people injured themselves attempting to escape the school. The pair committed suicide at the end of the massacre. In 2025, one of the injured, Anne Marie Hochhalter died from the injuries she sustained in the shooting. [11][12][13]
Enoch Brown school massacre: Perhaps the earliest shooting to happen in 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 victims were killed with melee weapons.[14][15]
Santa Fe High School shooting: a 17-year-old student, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, opened fire at Santa Fe High School, killing ten people and injuring at least thirteen others. The shooter was armed with a shotgun and a .38 caliber revolver, both of which had been stolen from his father. Law enforcement took Pagourtzis into custody at the scene. Authorities also discovered multiple improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and pipe bombs around the school. The incident prompted statewide discussions on school safety, emergency response, and gun access for minors. As of August 2024, Pagourtzis has not yet stood trial.[16][17]
Red Lake shootings: 16-year-old student Jeff Weise killed his grandfather and grandfather's girlfriend at their home, where he had been living, at the Red Lake Indian Reservation. He then drove to Red Lake Senior High School. Armed with his grandfather's police weapons, Weise killed five students, one teacher, and one security guard, and wounded at least nine others, before committing suicide after being wounded in a shootout with police.[18]
2015 Umpqua Community College shooting: Christopher Harper-Mercer, a 26-year-old student at Umpqua Community College, entered a classroom on the Roseburg campus and opened fire. He killed eight students and one instructor and injured eight others. Witnesses reported that Harper-Mercer initially asked students about their religious beliefs before shooting, suggesting a deliberate targeting of individuals. During the attack, he barricaded the classroom door and moved between rooms, firing at multiple people. Law enforcement officers arrived quickly, and Harper-Mercer engaged in a brief exchange of gunfire before taking his own life.[19]
2014 Isla Vista killings: 22-year-old former college student Elliot Rodger first attacked his two roommates and their friend in his apartment, ambushing and stabbing them to death one at a time as they arrived at different times.[20][21] After the stabbings, he drove around Isla Vista, California, near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), shooting at people and using his vehicle to ram others, ultimately killing three more people by gunfire before committing suicide with a gunshot to the head.[22][23] The attacks ended with six people getting killed, all of whom were University of California, Santa Barbara, students.[24][25]
2006 West Nickel Mines School shooting: Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-year-old milk truck driver, entered the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in Pennsylvania, armed with a handgun and several magazines of ammunition. He took ten girls' hostage before opening fire, killing five female students aged 6 to 13 and injuring five others. One of the injured later died from her injuries in 2024. Roberts subsequently committed suicide at the scene. After the shooting, K-Y Jelly, a lubricant often used as an aid to sexual intercourse, was found in the schoolhouse among Roberts' belongings, possibly suggesting an ulterior motive for the incident.[26]
2012 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.[27] On July 14, 2017, Goh was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences plus 271 years in prison, all without any possibility of parole.[28] In March 2019, Goh died in prison.[29]
2023 Nashville school shooting: 28-year-old Aiden Hale (formerly known as Audrey Elizabeth Hale), a former student of The Covenant School, entered the institution armed with three firearms: a LeadStar Arms Grunt-15 5.56mm/.223 caliber semi-automatic AR pistol, a KelTec Sub 2000 9mm caliber carbine, and a Smith & Wesson M&P Shield 2.0 9mm caliber semi-automatic pistol. Hale shot through a glass door to gain entry to the school and proceeded to the second floor, where he killed three 9-year-old students and three staff members. He was fatally shot by responding police officers approximately 14 minutes after the initial 911 call.[30]
Stockton schoolyard shooting: On January 17, 1989, 24-year-old Patrick Edward Purdy opened fire outside Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California, targeting a playground filled with children. Purdy fatally shot five students and injured 32 others, most of whom were children of Southeast Asian refugees. He used an AK-47-style rifle and was armed with additional firearms during the attack and committed suicide at the scene. The shooting was the deadliest elementary school attack in U.S. history at the time and remained the largest until the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.[31][32]
Rancho Tehama shootings: 43-year-old Kevin Neal injured one student at Rancho Tehama Elementary School and fatally shot five adults at several locations.[33] 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, 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.[33][34]
Northern Illinois University shooting: 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak, a former student not enrolled at the time, entered a lecture hall in Cole Hall armed with a shotgun and a .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol. He opened fire on students and faculty, killing five and injuring 21, before dying by suicide at the scene. Investigators found notes and photographs indicating careful planning. Kazmierczak had a history of mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, and had received psychiatric treatment. The attack prompted immediate campus lockdowns and led to reviews of university security protocols, emergency response procedures, and mental health support policies.[35]
2013 Santa Monica shootings: 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.[36]
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.[37]
1991 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, and 56-year-old associate vice president for academic affairs Dr. Theresa Anne Cleary were 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 and died shortly after police arrived.[38][39][40][41]
1998 Westside Middle School shooting: 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year-old Andrew Golden carried out a shooting at Westside Middle School. Golden set off a fire alarm to evacuate students from classrooms, and the pair opened fire with rifles and shotguns as people exited the building. They killed a teacher and four students and wounded ten others. The attack was carried out by two of the youngest school shooters in U.S. history.[42][11]
1966 Rose-Mar College of Beauty shooting: 18-year-old Robert Benjamin 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.[43]
Outraged by his dismissal following conflicts with other staff, 38-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 had 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.[44][45][46][47]
After killing 41-year-old John Van Dyke of Lisle, Illinois and 26-year-old Robert Quinn of Franklin Park, Illinois at a nearby auto parts store called Comet Auro Parts, 40-year-old Clem "Clemmie" Henderson entered Moses Montefiore Academy, where he shot and killed the school custodian. Henderson then shot and killed police officer Irma Ruiz and wounded her partner, Greg Jaglowski, as they confronted him. Despite being shot in both legs, Jaglowski managed to return fire, killing Henderson. The last victim includes 34-year-old Arthur Baker, a custodial worker at Montefiore and injured Laplose Chestnut.[48][49]
2014 Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting: 15-year-old freshman Jaylen Fryberg opened fire in the school cafeteria of Marysville Pilchuck High School. He fatally shot four students and wounded one other before committing suicide. The shooting was sudden and occurred during lunchtime, targeting peers with whom Fryberg had social connections. Investigators found that Fryberg brought a handgun to school, and the attack lasted only minutes, ending when he took his own life.[2][50]
1998 Thurston High School shooting: 15-year-old Kip Kinkel killed his parents at their home before driving to Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, armed with a .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol. Once on campus, he opened fire in classrooms and hallways, targeting students at random. Two students were killed, and 25 others were wounded, some critically. The attack caused chaos as students and staff attempted to flee or hide during the shooting. Kinkel was eventually subdued by students. He later pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and attempted murder and was sentenced to 111 years in prison.[51]
1974 Olean High School shooting: 17-year-old student Anthony F. Barbaro, entered Olean High School and proceeded to the third-floor student council room, opening fire on people in the street through the windows of the room. Four people, including an unborn baby, were killed, and eleven others wounded (7 by gunfire).[52][53]
1992 Lindhurst High School shooting: Former student 20-year-old Eric Houston killed three students and one teacher and wounded nine other students and a teacher before surrendering to police.[54][31]
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.[10][55][56]
2024 Apalachee High School shooting: 14-year-old freshman Colt Gray carried out a shooting at Apalachee High School. The attack lasted approximately one minute, during which Gray used an AR-style semi-automatic rifle to fatally shoot two students and two teachers, and wound nine others. Two teachers and seven students suffered gunshot injuries. Gray then surrendered to school resource officers inside the building.[57][58]
Oxford High School shooting: 15-year-old student Ethan Crumbley opened fire with a 9mm semi-automatic pistol at Oxford High School. Four students were killed and seven others, including a teacher, were wounded; with one of the injured victims later dying from their injuries at the hospital. Crumbley was taken into custody without incident. The firearm used in the attack had been purchased days earlier by his father. He later pleaded guilty to murder and terrorism charges and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.[59]
During an evening school dance at Plain Dealing High School, a fight broke out. When the smoke cleared, two students were dead, two more were fatally wounded, and the high school's Professor Johnson was wounded in the arm.[63]
2002 University of Arizona shooting: 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.[64]
Orangeburg Massacre: On the night of February 8, 1968, approximately 200 African American students gathered on the campus of South Carolina State College to protest the segregation of the All-Star Bowling Lane. During the demonstration, South Carolina Highway Patrol officers opened fire on the crowd, killing three students—Samuel Hammond Jr., Henry Smith, and Delano Middleton—and injuring 28 others. The incident, known as the Orangeburg Massacre, marked the first instance of college students being killed by police during a protest in the United States.
49th Street Elementary School shooting: Tyrone Mitchell killed two people and wounded twelve others when shooting at students leaving 49th Street Elementary School. He then committed suicide.[65]
1997 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. Woodham was sentenced to life in prison.[66][67][68][69]
1997 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 with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Perry High School shooting: One student was killed, and four other students and three staff members were injured. The principal later died of his injuries. The shooter, a 17-year-old student at the school, committed suicide.
Appalachian School of Law shooting: Recently dismissed graduate student 42-year-old Peter Odighizuwa killed three people at the Appalachian School of Law: 42-year-old dean Anthony Sutin, 41-year-old professor Thomas Blackwell, and 33-year-old student Angela Dales. Three other students were also wounded.[71] In 2005 Odighizuwa received three life sentences and an additional 28 years without the possibility of parole.[72]
2010 University of Alabama in Huntsville shooting: During a biology department meeting with approximately twelve people in attendance, 44-year-old professor of biology Amy Bishop stood up and opened fire. After killing three and wounding three others, Bishop was pushed out of the meeting room by the survivors after her gun ran out of ammo. After being arrested without incident by the police outside the science building, Bishop denied that the shooting even happened. In 1986, Bishop shot and killed her brother in Braintree, Massachusetts, in an incident ruled an accident. In 1993, Bishop and her husband were questioned after a pipe bomb threat incident toward her lab supervisor.
2012 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. 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.
2019 Saugus High School shooting: Five people were shot, two fatally and injuring three in a shooting at a courtyard of Saugus High School. The shooter, a 16-year-old male student, attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head. He was taken into custody and died the next day during hospitalization. The gun used was suspected by police to be a privately made firearm.[73][74]
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.[66][76]
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 - whom he believed were involved in a conspiracy against him.[66][78][79] Davidson was sentenced to serve three life terms without parole.[80]
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 ex-wife, Ashley Hasti, age 31, in her Brooklyn Park, Minnesota home.[81][82]
2017 Aztec High School shooting: William Atchison, 21-year-old former male student sneaked into Aztec High School disguised as a student and hid in an unlocked washroom with a Glock 9mm handgun 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.[83][84] 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.[85]
1986 Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis: David and Doris Young took 154 hostages (136 children and 18 adults) using firearms and a gasoline bomb. After a two-and-a-half-hour standoff, the bomb was accidentally detonated. Doris Young severely injured, and David Young then shot and killed her before fatally shooting himself. No hostages were killed, though 79 sustained injuries, mostly from burns and smoke inhalation.
Santana High School shooting: 15-year-old student Charles Andrew Williams killed two students, 14-year-old Bryan Zuckor and 17-year-old Randy Gordon, at Santana High School. In total, he wounded thirteen others. Williams was arrested and convicted of murder and attempted murder. He was sentenced to life with the chance of parole after serving 50 years.
Jackson State killings: During a student protest addressing racial tensions and the Vietnam War, law enforcement officers opened fire on the campus of Jackson State College. Two students, Phillip Gibbs and James Green, were killed, and at least twelve others were injured. The event is known as the Jackson State killings and is recognized as a notable instance of campus unrest in the United States during this period.
Cleveland Elementary School shooting: On January 29, 1979, a gunman opened fire at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California, United States.[91][92] The principal and a custodian were killed; eight children and a police officer were injured. A 16-year-old girl, Brenda Spencer, who lived in a house across the street from the school, was convicted of the shootings. Charged as an adult, she pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole after 25 years. As of 2025[update], she is still in prison.
Oakland Elementary School shooting: 19-year-old James William Wilson Jr. entered the school during lunch, opened fire in the cafeteria, reloaded in a restroom, then continued into a classroom. He killed two 8-year-old students (Shequila Bradley, who died at the scene; Tequila Thomas, who died three days later) and wounded nine others, including students, a first-grade teacher, and a physical education teacher.
Platte Canyon High School hostage crisis: 53-year-old drifter, Duane Roger Morrison, walked into Platte Canyon High School and took six girls hostage. During the ensuing siege, Morrison sexually assaulted all of the girls. When a SWAT team stormed the classroom, Morrison killed 16-year-old Emily Keyes, then took his own life after being shot and wounded by police.[93]
2025 Florida State University shooting: Phoenix Ikner, a 20-year-old student and stepson of a sheriff’s deputy, opened fire outside the Student Union building with a handgun. Two people were killed and six others wounded by gunfire; additional individuals were injured while fleeing. A shotgun the shooter carried failed to discharge.[94]
2016 Townville Elementary School shooting: Three students and a teacher were wounded after 14-year-old Jesse Osborne opened fire at Townville Elementary School. The perpetrator'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.[97][98]
1997 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. After a brief shootout with a responding police officer, Ramsey surrendered. He was later sentenced to 198 years in prison.
2013 Sparks Middle School shooting: 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.[2][99] The shooting happened before classes, and the school was evacuated and was closed for the week.
Antioch High School shooting: A 17-year-old male student shot and killed a 16-year-old girl and injured another student in the cafeteria of Antioch High School. Another student received a facial injury from a fall.[100]
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. Rouse was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.
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. Pennington was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
2000 University of Arkansas shooting: 36-year-old James Easton Kelly, a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at University of Arkansas, killed 67-year-old John R. Locke, the English professor overseeing his coursework. Kelly had been dismissed from this PhD program due to a lack of progress toward his degree. Kelly shot Locke three times before committing suicide in the director's office, which had been isolated by campus police.
2003 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 16 days later. McLaughlin was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole in 2038.[102]
1976 Computer Learning Center shooting: 18-year-old Neil Liebeskind of Chatsworth, California entered a Los Angeles computer school and opened fire on his class with a 12-gauge shotgun, killing 24-year-old Fernando E. Alcivar and wounding 6 others, in an attempt to kill another student. After Liebeskind left the classroom, he was confronted by an armed security officer, Howard Barnes, who ordered him to drop his weapon. Liebeskind shot and wounded Barnes, but Barnes and a second security guard returned fire and critically wounded Liebeskind with a shot to the neck. Liebeskind had previously been shot and wounded by a homeowner four years earlier while burglarizing a house in Woodland Hills, California.[105] In January 1977, a jury found Liebeskind not guilty by reason of insanity and he was confined to a psychiatric hospital.[106][107] The shooting disrupted a filming of the television series Jigsaw John.[108][109][110][111]
Hubbard Woods Elementary School shooting: Laurie Dann, a 30-year-old woman with a history of mental illness, entered a second-grade classroom and opened fire, killing 8-year-old Nicholas Corwin and wounding five other children. She then took a family hostage, injuring one person before fatally shooting herself.
2007 SuccessTech Academy shooting: in downtown Cleveland, 14-year-old student Asa H. Coon shot two students and two teachers in the halls and classrooms on the fourth floor of the building. Coon then moved to another room on the same floor, where he fatally shot himself.[112]
2022 Oakland school shooting: Six adults were wounded in a shooting at a Rudsdale Newcomer High School, in a block of East Oakland that houses four schools. One victim died of his injuries in November 2022.[113]
1998 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 30- to 60-year sentence in a prison for young offenders.[11][114]
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.[115][116][117]
2015 Northern Arizona University shooting: 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.[118]
2003 Case Western Reserve University shooting: On May 9, 2003, Biswanath Halder, a 62-year-old business school alumnus of Case Western Reserve University, killed a graduate student, wounded a professor, and another student using a semi-automatic rifle. He held the building and its nearly 100 occupant's hostage for seven hours and exchanged fire with police and SWAT officers several times during the incident before being wounded and apprehended by a SWAT team. He was sentenced to life in prison.[119][120]
2005 Campbell County High School shooting: Inside the Campbell County High School office, 15-year-old Kenneth Bartley, shot the schools then 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.[121][122][123]
2022 East High School shooting: Around 2:42 P.M. CST, shooters from multiple vehicles opened fire on a group of teenagers in front of East High School in a drive-by shooting. 3 teenagers, a 15-year-old targeted male, a 16-year-old female, and an 18-year-old female, were shot and transferred to hospitals where they were reported to be in critical condition. The targeted victim died from his injuries shortly thereafter. 6 teenagers were arrested in the following hours and were later charged as adults for murder.[124]
Feather River School shooting: In a religiously motivated attack, a gunman attacked the Feather River School of the Seventh-Day Adventists, killing himself and injuring two kindergarten students. Both students were taken to the hospital in critical condition.[125]
2007 Delaware State University shooting: Two 17-year-old Delaware State University freshmen were shot on campus. One died 32 days later on October 23, from critical injuries sustained in the attack. A freshman student from East Orange, New Jersey, Loyer D. Braden, was arrested and charged with murder. However, the charges were dismissed in May 2009 due to a lack of evidence, as well as eyewitnesses saying that Braden was not the shooter.
Buell Elementary School school shooting: At Buell Elementary School, a 6-year-old boy fatally shot 6-year-old girl classmate Kayla Rolland. To date, the boy is the youngest documented fatal school shooter.[102]
Lake Worth Middle School shooting: 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, who was popular at the school.[102][126]
2006 Weston High School shooting: Eric Hainstock, a 15-year-old freshman, entered Weston High School and aimed a shotgun at a social studies teacher before it was wrestled from him by a school custodian. Hainstock then shot the high school principal, who died later that afternoon.[127][128] Hainstock was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence.[123][129]
Liberty Point International Middle School shooting: Richard Ward, a 32-year-old man, was fatally shot by a Pueblo County deputy outside Liberty Point International Middle School. The incident occurred in the school parking lot after deputies responded to a report of a man opening car doors. Ward was killed during a physical altercation with law enforcement. No students were injured.
E.O. Green Junior High School shooting: 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.[130]
Utah Valley University shooting: Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot in the neck while speaking at an outdoor campus event. The perpetrator, 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson, fired a single round from a .30-06 Mauser M98 rifle from a rooftop of the Losee Center. Robinson was later arrested and charged with aggravated murder and related offenses; prosecutors announced their intent to seek the death penalty.
Bath School disaster, a 1927 attack against an elementary school primarily perpetrated with explosives; it is the deadliest school-related massacre in United States history
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