Timeline: US shooting sprees – History of school shootings

‘Are you not all dead yet?’ — teenage gunman kills 15 in school massacre in Germany | World news | guardian.co.uk: Wednesday 11 March 2009
“• Nine pupils among dead in rampage by former pupil
• Teenager killed himself after shoot-out with police”

Some of the worst shooting incidents inside US schools and universities in recent years:

August 1966: Charles Whitman is one of the most notorious names among America’s mass killers. In August 1966 he climbed a 27-storey tower at the University of Texas in Aust in and shot passersby on the campus below before being killed by police. Fifteen people were killed, including his mother and wife, whom he had shot the night before. An autopsy found he had been suffering from a brain tumour.

October 1997: A 16-year-old boy stabs his mother, then shoots dead two students at a school in Mississippi, injuring several others.

December 1997: A 14-year-old boy kills three students in Kentucky.

March 1998: At Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas, two boys aged 13 and 11 set off the fire alarm and killed four students and a teacher as they left the school.

April 1998: A 14-year-old shoots dead a teacher and wounds two students in Pennsylvania.

May 1998: A 15-year-old shoots dead two students in a school cafeteria in Oregon.

June1998: Two adults are hurt in a shooting by a teenage student at a Virginia high school.

April 1999: Two heavily armed teenage students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, rampage through their school in Littleton, Colorado, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 24 others, before committing suicide

May 1999: A student injures six pupils in a shoot-out in Georgia.

November 1999:A 13-year-old girl is shot dead by a classmate in New Mexico.

February 2000: A six-year-old girl is shot dead by a classmate in Michigan.

March 2001: A pupil opens fire at a school in California, killing two students.

January 2002: A student who had been dismissed from the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia, kills the dean, a professor and a student, and wounds three others.

April 2003: A teenager shoots dead the head-teacher at a Pennsylvania school, then kills himself.

May 2004: Four people are injured in a shooting at a school in Maryland.

March 2005: Jeffrey Weise, a 16-year-old high school student guns down five students, a teacher and a security guard at Red Lake High School in northern Minnesota before killing himself. He also killed his grandfather and his grandfather’s girlfriend elsewhere on the Chippewa Indian reservation.

November 2005: A student in Tennessee shoots dead an assistant principal and wounds two other administrators.

September 2006: Duane Morrison, a 53-year-old drifter, takes six female high school students hostage in Bailey, Colorado, after entering Platte Canyon High School, claiming to be carrying a bomb. He sexually assaulted them and then shot one, fatally, before killing himself when police arrived.

September 2006: Two days after the Bailey killing, a 15-year-old student kills his school’s principal in western Wisconsin after telling another student “you better run”.

October 2006: Charles Roberts, a 32-year-old milk truck driver takes hostages and eventually shoots 10 girls girls aged seven to 13, killing five, before shooting himself. Roberts had indicated to his wife over the phone that he had dreams about molesting children.

April 2007: A gunman kills at least 31 people in a dormitory and classroom at Virginia Tech university before being shot dead himself.

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April 2007: At least 22 people are killed as a gunman goes on the rampage at the campus of Virginia Tech

October 2006: A 32-year-old gunman goes on the rampage at an Amish school in Pennsylvania, shooting dead at least three girls before killing himself

September 2006: A gunman in Colorado shoots and fatally wounds a teenage schoolgirl, and then kills himself

September 2006: Two days later a teenager kills the headteacher of a school in Cazenovia, Wisconsin

November 2005: Student in Tennessee shoots dead an assistant principal and wounds two other administrators

March 2005: Schoolboy in Minnesota kills nine, and then shoots himself

May 2004: Four people are injured in a shooting at a school in Maryland

April 2003: Teenager shoots dead a head-teacher at a Pennsylvania school, and then kills himself

January 2002: A student who had been dismissed from the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia, killed the dean, a professor and a student, and wounded three others.

March 2001: A pupil kills two students after opening fire at a school in California

February 2000: A classmate shoots dead a six-year-old girl in Michigan.

November 1999: A 13-year-old girl is murdered by a classmate in New Mexico, again via a shooting.

May 1999: Six are injured by a student in a shoot-out in Georgia.

April 1999: Two teenagers shoot dead 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves at Columbine School in Colorado. An award-winning documentary was later made about the killing.

June 1998: Two adults are hurt in shooting by teenage student at high school in Virginia

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The Erfurt massacre is the worst school shooting in Europe since a gunman killed 16 children and their teacher in Scotland in 1996.

Detailed below are some of the worst incidents of the past decade.

Scotland, March 1996: Gun enthusiast Thomas Hamilton shoots 16 children and their teacher dead at their primary school in Dunblane, Scotland before killing himself.

Yemen, March 1997: A man with an assault rifle attacked hundreds of pupils at two schools in Sanaa, Yemen, killing six children and two others. He was sentenced to death the next day.

United States, October 1997: A 16-year-old boy fatally stabbed his mother before shooting dead two students, including his former girlfriend, at Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi.

United States, December 1997: A 14-year old boy killed three students attending a prayer meeting at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky.

United States, March 1998: Two boys aged 13 and 11 killed four pupils and a teacher after setting off fire alarms at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

United States, April 1999: Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 of their classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, before killing themselves.

Germany, November 1999: A 15-year-old student in Meissen, eastern Germany, stabbed his teacher to death after taking bets from classmates he would dare commit the crime.

He was later jailed for seven years.

Germany, March 2000: A 16-year-old pupil at a private boarding school in the Bavarian town of Branneburg, shot a 57-year-old teacher, who later died from injuries.

The teenager – who also shot himself – was facing expulsion from school after failing a cannabis test.

Germany, February 2002: A former pupil killed his headmaster and set off pipe bombs in the technical school he had recently been expelled from in Freising near Munich.

The man also shot dead his boss and a foreman at the company he worked for before turning the gun on himself. Another teacher was shot in the face, but survived.

Germany, April 2002: Seventeen people killed after a gunman – a former pupil – opens fire in a school in Erfurt, eastern Germany. He then turned the gun on himself.

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Following is a chronology of some of the deadlier mass shootings in the United States in recent years:

March 1998 – At Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas, two boys aged 13 and 11 pulled a fire alarm and began shooting teachers and classmates as they left the school, killing four students and a teacher.

April 1999 – Two students shot to death 12 other students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, before killing themselves.

July 1999 – A day trader killed his wife and two children before shooting nine people to death at two Atlanta brokerages. He then killed himself.

September 1999 – A 47-year-old loner killed seven people in a Fort Worth, Texas, Baptist church. Then he killed himself.

November 1999 – A Xerox copier repairman in Honolulu gunned down seven co-workers before fleeing, triggering one of the biggest manhunts in Hawaii history. He was located and surrendered to police after a five-hour armed standoff.

March 2005 – A 16-year-old high school student gunned down five students, a teacher and a security guard at Red Lake High School in far northern Minnesota before killing himself. He also killed his grandfather and his grandfather’s companion elsewhere on the Chippewa Indian reservation.

October 2, 2006 – A local milk truck driver who was not Amish, tied up and shot 10 Amish schoolgirls aged 6 to 14 in their classroom, killing five of them before turning the gun on himself in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles (97 km) west of Philadelphia.

April 16, 2007 – A university in Blacksburg, Virginia, Virginia Tech, became the site of the deadliest rampage in U.S. history when a gunman killed 32 people and himself.

December 5, 2007 – A gunman opened fire from a balcony in a shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska, killing eight people and wounding five, before taking his own life, police said.

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Following is a chronology of some of the deadly mass shootings in the United States in the past year, a period in which candidates have been actively campaigning for the November 2008 presidential election:

April 16, 2007 – Virginia Tech, a university in Blacksburg, Virginia, became the site of the deadliest rampage in U.S. history when a gunman killed 32 people and himself.

December 5, 2007 – A gunman opened fire from a balcony in a shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska, killing eight people and wounding five, before fatally shooting himself, police said.

February 2, 2008 – Five women were shot dead in a clothing store at a suburban Chicago shopping center in what police said appeared to be a botched robbery. Police were searching for a gunman spotted outside the store by a witness.

Feb 7, 2008 – A gunman killed two police officers and three city officials when he stormed a city council meeting in a St. Louis suburb. The gunman was later shot dead by police.

February 8, 2008 – A nursing student fatally shot two women and killed herself in front of classmates at Louisiana Technical College in the state capital, Baton Rouge.

February 14, 2008 – A man fired into a lecture hall packed with students at North Illinois University, killing five people and wounding 18 before shooting himself dead.

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Feb. 14, 2008: A 27-year-old man goes on a rampage at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, shooting 21 people, killing five and later himself. University police report that the suspect, a former student, had stopped taking medication and had been acting “somewhat erratic.”

Feb. 12, 2008: In Oxnard, Calif., a 14-year-old shoots a 15-year-old classmate, who later dies of his injuries. Law enforcement cites “bad blood” between the teens.

Feb. 11, 2008: In Memphis, a 19-year-old senior is shot in his school’s gym by a 17-year-old sophomore, following a feud that started off campus earlier in the week; after the shooting, the suspect hands his gun to a coach, saying, “It’s over now.”

Feb. 8, 2008: A nursing student shoots two women and then herself in a classroom at Louisiana Technical College, outside Baton Rouge.

Feb. 7, 2008: In Portsmouth, Ohio, a small community near the Kentucky border, a man shoots his estranged wife at the Notre Dame Elementary School.

Feb. 4, 2008: In Memphis’s Hamilton High School, a 16-year-old student is shot in the leg during an argument with another student over music.

Jan. 16, 2008: As students are being dismissed early from school, one is wounded in the shoulder after being shot in the parking lot of Crossroads Charter High School in Charlotte, N.C.

Dec. 13, 2007: Two doctoral students from India are shot and killed in student apartments on the Louisiana State University campus.

Dec. 12, 2007: After taking his father’s pistol to school, a student shoots a 14-year-old classmate at a private school outside New Delhi; gun violence is very rare in India.

Dec. 10, 2007: A 24-year-old goes on a shooting spree at a megachurch in Colorado Springs and a Denver-area missionary training school, killing four and wounding four others; the gunman, who law enforcement sources said “hated Christians,” kills himself.

Nov. 7, 2007: An 18-year-old man, a former student, shoots seven people and wounds 11 others before taking his own life at a high school in southern Finland; this is the first known school shooting in Finland, where gun ownership is fairly common by European standards but shootings are rare.

Oct. 24, 2007: In Saginaw, Mich., four South Middle School students are shot by a high school student at a middle school football game; the victims’ injuries are not life threatening.

Oct. 10, 2007: A 14-year-old gunman opens fire at Success Tech Academy, a nontraditional high school in Cleveland, wounding two students and two teachers before killing himself.

Sept. 30, 2007: A University of Memphis football player dies after being shot and then crashing his car into a tree, following a botched robbery attempt outside a university housing complex.

Sept. 21, 2007: Two Delaware State University students are shot and wounded at the Campus Mall while returning from an on-campus cafe.

Aug. 5, 2007: Four young people are shot in the head at close range, three fatally, in the parking lot of the K-8 Mount Vernon School in Newark, N.J.; all of the victims had been planning to attend Delaware State in the fall.

April 16, 2007: Before killing himself, a 23-year-old Virginia Tech student, Seung Hui Cho, kills two students in a dorm; then two hours later across campus in Norris Hall, he kills 25 more students and five faculty members. Fifteen others are wounded in the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history.

April 2, 2007: A program coordinator for the University of Washington’s College of Architecture is shot and killed by a man in an apparent murder-suicide.

Oct. 2, 2006: A gunman kills six people, including himself, and wounds more at a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pa.

Sept. 29, 2006: A 15-year-old student brings two guns to Weston Schools in rural Cazenovia, Wis., and fatally shoots his principal after the principal had given him a disciplinary warning for having tobacco on school grounds.

Sept. 27, 2006: A 53-year-old gunman takes six girls hostage at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colo. The gunman uses the girls as human shields for hours before fatally wounding a 16-year-old and then killing himself.

Sept. 17, 2006: Five Duquesne University basketball players are injured in a campus shooting by two men after a dance.

Sept. 2, 2006: Douglas Pennington, 49, kills his two sons and himself while visiting Shepherd University in West Virginia.

Nov. 8, 2005: A high school freshman is arrested in the fatal shooting of an assistant principal and wounding of two other school administrators at Campbell County High School in eastern Tennessee.

March 21, 2005: A 16-year-old student shoots and kills five schoolmates, a teacher, and an unarmed guard at Red Lake High School on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota before taking his own life.

Sept. 24, 2003: A 15-year-old student fatally shoots two fellow students at Rocori High School in Cold Spring, Minn.

April 24, 2003: A 14-year-old student shoots and kills the principal of Red Lion Area Junior High School in south-central Pennsylvania before killing himself.

Oct. 28, 2002: A student at the University of Arizona Nursing College kills three of his instructors before killing himself.

Jan. 16, 2002: A graduate student at the Appalachian School of Law shoots and kills the dean, a professor, and a student and wounds three other students.

March 5, 2001: A 15-year-old student kills two fellow students and wounds 13 others at Santana High School in Santee, Calif., in San Diego County.

Aug. 28, 2000: A graduate student at the University of Arkansas is found dead with his English professor in an apparent murder-suicide.

May 26, 2000: A 13-year-old student kills his English teacher on the last day of classes in Lake Worth, Fla., after the teacher refused to let him talk with two girls in his classroom.

March 10, 2000: Two students in Savannah, Ga., are killed by a 19-year-old student while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School.

Feb. 29, 2000: A 6-year-old boy shoots and kills a 6-year-old classmate at Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Mich.

Nov. 19, 1999: A 13-year-old girl is shot in the head by a 12-year-old boy in school at Deming, N.M.

April 20, 1999: Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, kill 12 students and a teacher and wound 23 others before killing themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

June 15, 1998: One teacher and one guidance counselor are wounded by a 14-year-old boy in a Richmond, Va., school hallway.

May 21, 1998: Two teenagers are killed and more than 20 people hurt when a teenage boy opens fire at a high school in Springfield, Ore., after killing his parents.

May 19, 1998: Three days before his graduation, an 18-year-old honor student opens fire at a high school in Fayetteville, Tenn., killing a classmate who was dating his ex-girlfriend.

April 24, 1998: A 15-year-old student opens fire at an eighth-grade dance in Edinboro, Pa., killing a science teacher.

March 24, 1998: Two boys, 11 and 13, fire on their Jonesboro, Ark., middle school from nearby woods, killing four girls and a teacher and wounding 10 others.

Dec. 15, 1997: Two students in Stamps, Ark., are wounded by a 14-year-old boy who was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot.

Dec. 1, 1997: Three students are killed and five wounded by a 14-year-old student at Heath High School in West Paducah, Ky.

Oct. 1, 1997: A 16-year-old in Pearl, Miss., fatally shoots two students to death and wounds seven others after stabbing his mother to death.

Feb. 19, 1997: A 16-year-old boy takes a shotgun and a bag of shells to school in Bethel, Alaska, and kills the principal and a student and injures two others.

Aug. 15, 1996: A graduate student studying engineering at San Diego State University shoots and kills three professors while he defends his thesis.

Feb. 2, 1996: Two students and one teacher are killed and another is wounded when a 14-year-old student in Moses Lake, Wash., opens fire on his algebra class.

March 23, 1994: A 16-year-old student in Seattle is killed in a gang-related drive-by shooting at the school.

Nov. 1, 1991: A physics graduate student kills five University of Iowa officials and wounds two others. The student then fatally shoots himself.

Aug. 12, 1986: Five people are shot and one killed by a student at New York Technical College in Brooklyn.

Nov. 26, 1985: A high school student in Washington State dies after shooting herself the previous day. Police say the female student earlier shot and killed two 14-year-old boys, one of them her former boyfriend.

Oct. 23, 1985: The dean of Bates College in Maine is shot in the back by a sniper while standing in his kitchen in a house just off campus. The dean survives the shooting, and the captain of the school’s swim team is arrested in connection with the incident.

Feb. 22, 1978: After being taunted for his beliefs, a 15-year-old self-proclaimed Nazi, kills one student and wounds a second with a Luger-style pistol in Lansing, Mich.

Dec. 30, 1974: In Olean, N.Y., Anthony Barbaro, a 17-year-old Regents scholar armed with a rifle and shotgun, kills three adults and wounds 11 others at his high school, which was closed for the Christmas holiday. Barbaro was reportedly a loner who kept a diary describing several “battle plans” for his attack on the school.

May 4, 1970: Four students are killed and nine wounded when National Guard soldiers attempt to control an antiwar demonstration at Ohio’s Kent State University.

Jan. 17, 1969: Two students are shot and killed at the University of California-Los Angeles during a student meeting.

Aug. 1, 1966: Charles Whitman climbs atop the observation deck at the University of Texas-Austin, killing 16 people and wounding 31 during a 96-minute rampage.

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Timeline: School shootings

School mass shootings since 1966

• Rachel Stevenson and agencies
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 September 2008
• Article history

August 1966, United States: A student at the University of Texas in Austin killed 14 people and wounded 31 others in a shooting rampage from the observation deck of the university’s 32-storey administrative building. Charles Joseph, 25, was eventually shot and killed by police. An autopsy revealed he had a highly cancerous brain tumour.

January 1979, United States: Brenda Spencer was 16 when she went to the school opposite her house and began shooting at pupils and staff with a gun she had been given by her father for Christmas. The principal and the head custodian were killed, and eight children and a police officer were wounded in the six-hour siege. When asked why she had done it, she is reported to have said: “I don’t like Mondays”. She is currently serving life imprisonment in California.

December 1989, Canada: The École Polytechnique massacre in Quebec left 14 women dead and another 14 injured. Marc Lépine, 25, armed with a legally obtained semi-automatic rifle, a hunting knife and claiming to be “fighting feminism”, moved through the college specifically targeting women to shoot. In less than 20 minutes, he shot 28 people, killing 14 women, before turning the gun on himself. The incident led to more stringent gun control laws in Canada.

March 1996, Scotland: An unemployed former Scout leader opened fire at Dunblane primary school, killing 16 children and one teacher before committing suicide. Thomas Hamilton walked into the school and made his way to the gymnasium where he began shooting a class of five and six year olds, killing all but one of them. He then made his way around the school, injuring a further eleven children and three adults.

March 1997, Yemen: Hundreds of pupils at the Sanaa school in Sanaa came under a hail of bullets from Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri, 48, who fired on the school with an assault rifle. He killed six pupils and two teachers. He was sentenced to death the next day and executed.

April 1999, United States: The schoolboys Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold embarked on a shooting spree at Columbine high school in Denver, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 23 others, before both committing suicide. The massacre provoked huge debate regarding gun control laws in the US.

April 2002, Germany: Wearing a mask and dressed as a ninja, 19-year-old expelled student Robert Steinhäuser shot and killed 16 people at the Johann Gutenberg gymnasium in Erfurt. Thirteen teachers, two students and one police officer were killed and another seven people were injured, as he moved from classroom to classroom. His last words before his suicide were: “That’s enough for today”, said to a teacher who confronted him.

October 2006, United States: A one-room schoolhouse in the Amish community of Nickel Mines in Pennsylvania became the target of the gunman Charles Carl Roberts. He ordered the boys to leave before barricading himself in the school with the female pupils. He lined them up in front of the blackboard, killing five and injuring seven. The schoolhouse was knocked down after the killings.

April 2007, United States: Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded many more at the Virginia Tech college in Blacksburg, Virginia, in two separate incidents on the same day. Cho had been diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder. A review of the killings criticised the college for failing to take action after the first reports of the shooting, which might have reduced the number of casualties.

November 2007: Pekka-Eric Auvinen, an 18-year-old student, opened fire at his school in Tuusula, killing eight people. Among the dead were a number of pupils and a teacher at the Jokela high school. On the morning of the incident, Auvinen posted a video on YouTube announcing the massacre at the school.

February 2008, United States: Students at the Northern Illinois University, near Chicago, had to run for cover as a man armed with two handguns and a shotgun opened fire during a science lecture. The 27-year-old former student Stephen Kazmierczak killed five people and then turned the gun on himself. Another 15 people were injured in the attack.

September 2008, Finland: A student killed 10 people after opening fire at a vocational school in Kauhajoki, north-west Finland. According to local reports, the gunman was carrying an automatic weapon and wearing a ski mask as he entered the school. He turned the gun on himself and later died from his injuries.

3 people shot at Gardena High School

Los Angeles Times | January 18, 2011 | 11:12 a.m.

Three people were shot at Gardena High School on Wednesday morning, according to police.

The shooting occurred at about 10:30 a.m. on the campus on the 1300 W. 182nd St. The condition of the victims was not known, and it’s unclear what sparked the violence. The school was placed on lockdown, and police said the gunman was still at large.

School police officer shot near El Camino Real High

Los Angeles Times | January 19, 2011 | 12:06 p.m.

Police say a Los Angeles Unified School District police officer has been wounded in a shooting near El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills.
The shooting occurred at about 11:45 a.m. today on the campus at Valley Circle and Burbank Boulevard.

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