Studies on various aspects of school shootings and school violence PART ONE

I often hear "The government has done no studies on school shootings in over 2 decades!!!" Why wait for the government? "The government has funded studies through various universities and colleges. But when "the government" funds studies, a number of people do not like the findings, or find fault with the authors of the studies based on real or perceived political biases. 

Below are a few studies, articles, etc., in no particular order. I added them as I located them from my files. Be sure to check the dates on the studies; some are indeed older than 2 decades. That doesn't make them worthless; it is helpful to see that research has been done, added to, corrected over the years, and so on.

The link is under the title of each study; copy and paste the link into your browser. As I have time, I will make the hyperlinks clickable. 

LINK TO PART TWO

LINK TO PART THREE

LINK TO PART FOUR

LINK TO PART FIVE

PART ONE, 25 studies:

Averting School Rampage: Student Intervention Amid a Persistent Code of Silence

https://www.academia.edu/25568776/Averting_School_Rampage_Student_Intervention_Amid_a_Persistent_Code_of_Silence

Gun Culture in the USA. The Initial Print News Coverage of the Parkland High School Shooting and Further Frames

https://www.academia.edu/40154768/Gun_Culture_in_the_USA_The_Initial_Print_News_Coverage_of_the_Parkland_High_School_Shooting_and_Further_Frames

When Prevention Isn’t Enough: Managing School Mass Shootings Along The Risk Continuum

https://www.academia.edu/79779167/When_Prevention_Isn_t_Enough_Managing_School_Mass_Shootings_Along_The_Risk_Continuum

Offender and Offence Characteristics of School Shooting Incidents

https://www.academia.edu/61004481/Offender_and_Offence_Characteristics_of_School_Shooting_Incidents

The School Rampage in International Perspective: The Salience of Cumulative Strain Theory

https://www.academia.edu/39212734/The_School_Rampage_in_International_Perspective_The_Salience_of_Cumulative_Strain_Theory

Fatal school shootings and the epidemiological context of firearm mortality in the United States

https://www.academia.edu/103378351/Fatal_school_shootings_and_the_epidemiological_context_of_firearm_mortality_in_the_United_States

The costs of gun violence against children

https://www.academia.edu/13819666/The_costs_of_gun_violence_against_children

Effect of Gun Culture and Firearm Laws on Gun Violence and Mass Shootings in the United States: A Multi-Level Quantitative Analysis

https://www.academia.edu/83578647/Effect_of_Gun_Culture_and_Firearm_Laws_on_Gun_Violence_and_Mass_Shootings_in_the_United_States_A_Multi_Level_Quantitative_Analysis

Exploring school rampage shootings: Research, theory, and policy

https://www.academia.edu/2525708/Exploring_school_rampage_shootings_Research_theory_and_policy

The Effects of Witnessing a School Shooting on a Teacher's Career: A Narrative Study

https://www.academia.edu/5777897/The_Effects_of_Witnessing_a_School_Shooting_on_a_Teachers_Career_A_Narrative_Study

Should Teachers Carry Guns? An Emergency Room Survey of Parents of Two New York Communities

https://www.academia.edu/98912075/Should_Teachers_Carry_Guns_An_Emergency_Room_Survey_of_Parents_of_Two_New_York_Communities

Teacher Experience, Learning, and Change: An Investigation of the Effects of Long-Term Professional Development

https://www.academia.edu/1540192/Teacher_Experience_Learning_and_Change_An_Investigation_of_the_Effects_of_Long_Term_Professional_Development

What can be done about school shootings? A review of the evidence

https://www.academia.edu/2623748/What_can_be_done_about_school_shootings_A_review_of_the_evidence

Gun Violence and the Meaning of American Schools

https://www.academia.edu/90364999/Gun_Violence_and_the_Meaning_of_American_Schools

An Examination of Public School Safety Measures Across Geographic Settings

https://www.academia.edu/4412198/An_Examination_of_Public_School_Safety_Measures_Across_Geographic_Settings

The American Gun Culture: Potential Impact on K-12 School Violence

https://www.academia.edu/33341902/The_American_Gun_Culture_Potential_Impact_on_K_12_School_Violence

Mental Illness, the Media, and the Moral Politics of Mass Violence: The Role of Race in Mass Shootings Coverage

https://www.academia.edu/37032312/Mental_Illness_the_Media_and_the_Moral_Politics_of_Mass_Violence_The_Role_of_Race_in_Mass_Shootings_Coverage

School House Hype: School Shootings and the Real Risks Kids Face in America. Policy Report

https://www.academia.edu/23136456/School_House_Hype_School_Shootings_and_the_Real_Risks_Kids_Face_in_America_Policy_Report

The norm of solidarity: Experiencing negative aspects of community life after a school shooting tragedy

https://www.academia.edu/1130439/The_norm_of_solidarity_Experiencing_negative_aspects_of_community_life_after_a_school_shooting_tragedy

How to Improve Early Warning Systems at US Institutions of Higher Education

https://www.academia.edu/75848070/How_to_Improve_Early_Warning_Systems_at_US_Institutions_of_Higher_Education

Commentary on: "For Safety's Sake: A Case Study of School Security Efforts and Their Impact on Education Reform

https://www.academia.edu/68535809/Commentary_on_For_Safetys_Sake_A_Case_Study_of_School_Security_Effor_ts_and_Their_I_mpact_on_Education_Reform

Presence of Armed School Officials and Fatal and Nonfatal Gunshot Injuries During Mass School Shootings, United States, 1980-2019

https://www.academia.edu/69508148/Presence_of_Armed_School_Officials_and_Fatal_and_Nonfatal_Gunshot_Injuries_During_Mass_School_Shootings_United_States_1980_2019

School Violence and Disruption: Rhetoric, Reality, and Reasonable Balance

https://www.academia.edu/22246801/School_Violence_and_Disruption_Rhetoric_Reality_and_Reasonable_Balance

Psychological Profiles of School Shooters: Positive Directions and One Big Wrong Turn

https://www.academia.edu/7321771/Psychological_Profiles_of_School_Shooters_Positive_Directions_and_One_Big_Wrong_Turn

13: In the Eye of the Storm: Students' Perceptions of Helpful Faculty Actions Following a Collective Tragedy

https://www.academia.edu/103528670/13_In_the_Eye_of_the_Storm_Students_Perceptions_of_Helpful_Faculty_Actions_Following_a_Collective_Tragedy

More studies will be posted as time allows. I do this on my own with no compensation.

© Julie Clark 2023. Please seek permission to use material from this blog.

Westside Middle School shooting 25th anniversary

Twenty-five years ago, March 24, 1998, two of the youngest mass shooters--11 and 13 years old-- committed a sniper-style rampage on their school, Westside Middle School, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. They served juvenile life; each getting out at age twenty-one. Both were able to legally purchase weapons--which they did. The older boy served a prison sentence as an adult for weapons charges.

The night before their rampage, the two boys amassed an arsenal of 13 weapons and over 2,000 rounds of ammunition. They loaded the weapons and ammunition into a van belonging to a mother of one of the boys. They also packed food, drinks, snacks, and camping gear. All of this activity went unnoticed by all the adults around them. 

The next morning, one of the boys took his mother's keys and drove her van to pick up his accomplice. He was 13 and didn't know how to drive very well. It was later reported by a neighbor that he saw the van almost take out a stop sign and land in a ditch. No one reported the near mishap. 

After picking up the younger boy, they needed to get gas. Neither of the boys knew how to pump gas and asked for help at two different gas stations but people declined to help. At the third gas station, someone did help the boy to pump gas into the van. But not one person called police to report two little boys driving around by themselves without an adult. No one asked the boys why they were out driving, or asked where their parents were. 

Apparently no one in these boys lives or in their community paid any attention to what they were doing. Tragically. 

Links to more info:

A shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas kills 5

Westside School Shooting

There are many lessons in this tragic shooting. Parents need to be more involved in the lives of their children--these parents didn't even know that their van was being stocked with weapons, ammunition, camping supplies, etc.! The guns were stolen from the grandfather of one of the boys; the weapons were only minimally secured. Apparently no one noticed the weapons were missing. Same with 2,000 rounds of ammunition--no one noticed it was missing.

The driver of the van nearly wrecked. A neighbor saw it happen but didn't report the incident. A handful of people saw the boys trying to get gas. No one asked them anything, or reported them. 

And that's for starters. Each school shooting incident teaches what went wrong and what could be done better in the future. Twenty-five years have passed. It seems we have not learned anything. And there seems to be no interest in learning. And these tragedies will keep occurring until people get serious. And I don't mean screeching at politicians--on all sides--on social media. That's easy. Anyone can do that. 

While people screech for "commonsense gun laws," they think that's all they need to do. There were more than 40 laws broken for the Columbine shooting to take place (to be included in a future post). Were those laws not commonsense laws? If a warrant for Eric Harris on other matters had been served in a timely manner, Columbine may not have happened. We already have laws against killing others. But as we often see on the news, laws are sometimes not enforced. Unenforced laws are no laws at all. The 5 year enhancement for gun charges is seldom applied now. Every law, "commonsense" or not, can be broken. All laws can be broken.

And, as we have seen, human error contributes to school shootings--parents with felony records who pass background checks because no one took the time to do the research. Some school officials fail to have threat assessments in place, or to use them properly, and sometimes don't take it seriously when told of threats by students. Sometimes doors are left unlocked. Law enforcement who didn't serve timely warrants, or act on tips.

The shooting on March 23, 2023 in Colorado at East High School shows that the shooter was attending school while on probation for previous gun charges. He'd been kicked out of one school and to enroll in another school, he had to agree to a "safety plan" that included daily pat-downs for weapons. So much for that "safety plan."

Why do I study school shootings and share what I learn? Hopefully to get others to learn these things, too. Parents, community, schools, law enforcement all play a part. One thing people better be aware of, especially school officials--school shooters study previous shooters. They find out the mistakes made, what went went right, what to do better, what not to do, best times to act. They often hope to out-do previous shooters. It would serve school officials well to study these tragedies--because potential school shooters do study them. The Columbine shooters planned for 13 months...

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Remembering Todd Brown

The boy in this photo is Todd Brown. On February 5th, 2010, 14-year-old Hammad Memon shot 14-year-old Todd, who was walking down a hallway during class change, in the back of the head. Brown died soon after he was shot. No clear motive was ever established.

In 2012, while out on bond, Memon and his mother were arrested at an airport while trying to leave the country for their native Pakistan. Memon's bond was revoked and he was sent to jail. Both of his parents were found guilty of hindering prosecution; they each had suspended jail time and a fine. They then left the country for their native Pakistan.

Memon took a plea deal for 30 years i prison and will be eligible for parole in 2026. If he is released on parole, he will be deported to Pakistan.

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Aftermath of what school shooting victims have to live with

On January 14, 2014, two students were injured by a shotgun blast in the gymnasium of their middle school by a 12-year-old shooter. The photo to the left is of X-rays of the 12-year-old male victim. Sometimes we need visual reminders that after shootings happen, it isn't over for the victims. In addition to the mental scars that are invisible to the rest of us, there are physical scars. And there is often long term internal damage that will be with victims for the rest of their lives. In the X-ray, you can see over 1000 pellets left in his body. They are too numerous, and too deep, to be removed. Lead poisoning will be a lifelong threat. His blood is tested every six months to check his lead levels. 

In addition to the pellets that remain in his body, he was immediately blinded in his left eye, and needs yearly Lasik surgery on his right eye to try to keep the little vision that he does have.

Nathanial Tavares tells a bit about his experience here: Nathaniel Tavarez

The shooter planned the shooting and brought the modified shotgun to school in a duffle bag. It was reported that the shooter developed scoliosis and possibly some other health concerns and that his parents were suing CYFD because they felt their son had been rehabilitated after 4 years and wanted him released...yet his victims will never be released from their on-going mental and physical pain and medical treatments that their son caused,

The shooter was sentenced to juvenile detention until age 21.

School shooting victims are left paralyzed, scarred, blind, with the possibility of long term lead poisoning, PTSD, and numerous other effects that keep them from enjoying a healthier, more productive life. If this doesn't wake gun owners up to their responsibility to secure their firearms, I don't know what will. More unenforced laws don't seem to be working--an unenforced law is no law at all. All the laws can do is add extra charges after an incident--gun owners must do better! 

And schools must do better at keeping guns out of their schools...the shooter in this post brought in a "modified shotgun" in a duffle bag--just like the Parkland shooter and several other school shooters have done.

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Content copyright © Julie Clark 2023. Please seek permission to use material from this blog.

Remembering Preston Cope and Bailey Holt

On January 23, 2018, Preston Cope and Bailey Holt, both 15-years-old, were shot at Marshall County High school in Benton, Kentucky. Bailey died at the scene; Preston died later at the hospital. Eighteen others were injured in the shooting or the ensuing chaos.

The shooter was also 15-years-old. He used his step-father’s Ruger handgun, which had been stored in a closet.

People always want to know the motive, the “why.” The shooter’s response was he was interested in science and considered it a science experiment—he wanted to see how students, police, and society would respond.

After the shooting, he called his mother on his cell phone to tell her that there had been a school shooting.

The shooter was sentenced to two life terms plus 70 years and will be eligible for parole after serving 20 years.

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Remembering Kayla Rolland

 

The girl in this photo was 6-year-old Kayla Rolland.

Kayla was shot and killed in her elementary school in February 2000--almost 23 years ago. I keep hearing and seeing that what happened at Richneck Elementary school in Newport News is "unprecedented." And hearing it from those who should know better. 6-year-old used mother's gun to shoot 'hero' Newport News teacher, police say

Some are saying the world is traumatized right now because of what happened at Richneck Elementary school. But they'll forget. Just like everyone has forgotten Kayla. The 6-year-old who shot Kayla had told her the day before that he would shoot her if she didn't kiss him. He made good on that promise (known as "leakage") the very next day when he came to school armed with a knife and gun. 

Were the parents charged? The boy was living in a crack house with his 8-year-old brother and crack-dealing 19-year-old uncle because the mom was a homeless drug addict and the father was in jail. The uncle was charged and served a small amount of jail time; it was his gun the boy used to murder Kayla. Kids like Kayla are why I do this. I don't forget.

While I can understand the world forgetting, since it is soon off of the news cycle, those tasked with keeping our children safe in school should know these things. We learn from past shootings--or, we should be learning from them. Law enforcement and school officials should know what has gone on before and what is happening to this day. There are too many resources out there to not know. 

Setting up a Google Alert for "student took gun to school" will show how, almost every day, and sometimes multiple times a day, loaded guns are found in many schools. And many of those times are in elementary schools. Second graders seem especially enamored with guns and take them to school. There have been instances this school year of 4-year-olds taking loaded guns to school. We should be paying attention. Elementary schools are not immune to gun violence as we have seen, and they are not immune from kids taking loaded guns to school. The boy in the news article above shot his teacher around 2 o'clock in the afternoon--meaning he had that loaded gun with him all day long. In a press conference, Police Chief Drew stated that there were more bullets in the gun. It could've been a lot worse. 

This starts in the home, of course. Too many parents are negligent with their firearms. Some say they have to keep the guns handy "in case of emergency" and for their safety. Domestic violence is reason given for some to have guns. Owners say it would take too much time to go to a room and unlock a gun, go to another locked case for the ammo, load the gun, etc. They say "By then I'd be dead." These kids don't live in Mayberry. Many live in crime-ridden, violent areas with high drug use. Some of these kids live in homes where drugs and guns are their normal. 

Kids like Kayla are why I do this. I don't forget. We need to keep remembering kids like Kayla, and do better. In the almost 23 years since Kayla was murdered, school violence is getting worse. Who will be the next Kayla? 

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December 14, 2022

I have several drafts of blog posts but haven't felt like finishing them to publish. It all seems so futile. Parents don't listen, those in charge of school safety don't listen. So much has been learned about school safety in the last 2 decades. 

I often think of this quote by Mary Ellen O'Toole (a former FBI agent, she consulted on the Columbine High School shooting as well as the shooting at Red Lake Minnesota and the mass school killings in Finland. Dr. O'Toole was the lead researcher and author of the FBI's seminal work in school violence, The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective).

“On the news, people are saying we should be concerned about this and that," and I thought, ‘We identified that 20 years ago. Did you not read this stuff 20 years ago?’ … It’s fatiguing. I just feel a sense of fatigue.”  

One criminologist recently wrote "I am sitting on mountains of data and evidence-based solutions and I can’t give my help away. I had more interest in my work from the Canadian government (thankfully) after ONE mass casualty event than from the US after hundreds."

I know a good number of school safety experts, and people only contact them after an incident. 

I often hear people say "There are no studies! The government cut funding for studies!" But that isn't true; there are more studies out there than you can shake the proverbial stick at. I'll post a number of them in the next few days. There are tons of books (I probably own nearly every nonfiction book on school shootings and school safety), articles, webinars, newsletters, and so on. People don't want to hear that; it's easier to claim there is nothing out there than to do the heavy lifting and do some real research. There's so much that I can't get to it all. After just over 2 decades, I have to stop and think--to what end do I pursue this research? People already don't read the books that exist, take a free webinar, talk to other parents about school safety, they don't bring up school safety at school board meetings--if they even attend a school board meeting... I've had a Board of Supervisors member tell me "For God's sake, give it a rest" when I cautioned a parents to make sure of something she was passing around as a safety feature was in fact a good idea--it seems that books and studies can't be read but a Facebook meme catches fire!

I haven't made a decision yet on whether to continue my research or not, to write a book or not. I feel like if I write the book I'll get it out of my system and can at least try to share the things I've learned. I hadn't planned on writing this post today until I read this article--maybe this is what it will take to get people interested in learning what each of us can do--as a parent, community member, teacher, every one of us. Teacher injured in Oxford school shooting shares story of trauma, change

Future blog posts will have those ideas and they are things I learned from the best research out there-studying the shootings that already have happened--what did the parents miss, what did the community miss, what did the schools miss. No one needs a study--just study the details of past shootings. It's the same methodology a researcher would use, but then researchers hide all that in highly technical terms that no one will take the time to read and understand. The information is freely available to anyone with a device that connects to the Internet!

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