the problem isn't the guns. The rate of shootings since the early 1900's hasn't changed much. The thing is back in the day they didn't really cover the shootings in the media so nobody heard about it. Only recently the media has started shouting out all shootings. They do this because they want to strip our right to bear arms.
Yeah, that's it, the killing has always been the same but because they want to take your guns away (which any sane person knows is an impossibility) they just started reporting them.
Right.
[h=4]1760s[
edit][/h]The earliest known
United States shooting to happen on school property was the
Pontiac's Rebellion school massacre on July 26, 1764, where four
Lenape American Indians entered the schoolhouse near present-day
Greencastle, Pennsylvania, shot and killed schoolmaster
Enoch Brown, and killed nine or ten children (reports vary). Only three children survived.[SUP]
[1][/SUP]
[h=3]19th century[
edit][/h][h=4]1850s[
edit][/h]
- November 2, 1853: Louisville, Kentucky, The student Matthew Ward bought a pistol in the morning, went to school and killed the schoolmaster Mr. Butler, as revenge for what Ward thought was excessive punishment of his brother the day before. Ward was acquitted.[SUP][2][/SUP]
- September 11, 1859: Oakland, California, Edward Carpenter accidentally shot himself dead while hunting on campus; he was one of the few students permitted to have a firearm at school.[SUP][3][/SUP]
[h=4]1860s[
edit][/h]
- February 16, 1867: Knights Ferry, California, Mr. McGinnis was shot and killed by his daughter's teacher after McGinnis threatened the teacher for expelling his daughter from school. When McGinnis's son learned of this, he went to the school and killed the teacher.[SUP][4][/SUP]
- June 8, 1867: New York City, Arthur Day, a 13-year-old boy, secretly took a loaded pistol to Public School No. 18 to shoot a dog he said had bitten him. While playing with the pistol, Day accidentally shot and injured classmate Robert Morton.[SUP][5][/SUP]
- December 22, 1868: Chattanooga, Tennessee, A boy who refused to be whipped by his teacher, left the school. The next day he returned with his brother and a friend for revenge. Not finding the teacher at the school, they continued to his house, where a gun battle took place and three died. Only the brother survived.[SUP][6][/SUP]
[h=4]1870s[
edit][/h]
- June 23, 1871: Lagrange, Indiana, Miss Anna Dwight was shot to death in front of her students by a rejected suitor.[SUP][7][/SUP]
- March 7, 1873: Salisbury, Maryland, On leaving school, teacher Miss Shockley was shot by 19-year-old George W. Hall. She died almost instantly. Four small children walking with the teacher were unharmed. The next night, Hall threw himself under a train, completing the incident as a murder-suicide.[SUP][8][/SUP]
The issue of students carrying guns to school was a topic of discussion dating to the mid-1870s, as noted in this 1874
Los Angeles Herald article:
"
Boys and Pistols Yesterday at noon a boy sixteen years of age shot himself, or was shot by his brother. It matters not who fired the fatal shot. No criminal act was intended or committed, and the boy is dead. He was a member of the High School of this city and was, we are told, something over the average good boy of
Los Angeles. This boy lost his life through the too common habit among boys of carrying deadly weapons. We do not know that this habit can be broken up. We do not know that school teachers have the right, or would exercise it if they had, of searching the pockets of their pupils, but it seems almost a necessity that some such rule be enforced. The hills west of town are not safe for pedestrians after school hours. Nearly every school-boy carries a pistol, and the power of these pistols range from the harmless six-bit auction concern to the deadly
Colt's six-shooter..."[SUP]
[9][/SUP]
- January 26, 1876: San Francisco, California, A young boy at the Lincoln Primary School accidentally shot himself while playing with a pistol under his desk. His fingers were badly hurt and he received a flesh wound to his leg. The principal, Miss Kate Sullivan, sent him home in the hopes that his parents would teach him to be a little more careful when handling firearms.[SUP][10][/SUP]
- May 24, 1879: Lancaster, New York, Frank Shugart, a telegraph operator, shot and severely injured Mr. Carr, Superintendent of the stables at a girls' school.[SUP][11][/SUP]
[h=4]1880s[
edit][/h]
- March 6, 1884: Boston, Massachusetts, As news of Jesse James reached the east coast, young kids started to act in the same manner. An article from the New York Times reads,
Another "Jesse James" Gang
- Word was brought to the Fifth Police Station to-night that a number of boys were using the Concord-street School-house for some unknown purpose, and a posse of officers was sent to investigate. The gang scattered at the approach of the police, and in their flight one drew a revolver and fired at Officer Rowan, without effect, however. William Nangle, aged 14, and Sidney Duncan, aged 12, were captured, but the other five or six escaped, among them the one who did the shooting. The boys refused to disclose the object of their meeting, but it is thought that another "Jesse James" organization has been broken up.[SUP]
[12][/SUP]
- March 15, 1884: Gainesville, Georgia, In the middle of the day, a group of very drunk Jackson County farmers left the Jug Tavern drinking and shooting their revolvers as they headed down the street driving people into their homes. As they approached the female academy, the girls fled the schoolyard into the school where the gang followed swearing and shooting, firing several rounds into the front door. No one was hurt.[SUP][13][/SUP]
- June 12, 1887: Cleveland, Tennessee, Will Guess went to the school and fatally shot Miss Irene Fann, his little sister's teacher, for whipping her the day before.[SUP][14][/SUP]
- May 17, 1889: Washington, D.C., Sarah E. Allen, a third grade teacher at the Jefferson school, is shot to death in front of her class by her estranged husband Oswald C. Allen, who then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.[SUP][15][/SUP]
- June 13, 1889: New Brunswick, New Jersey, Charles Crawford, upset over an argument with a school Trustee, went up to the window and fired a pistol into a crowded school room. The bullet lodged in the wall just above the teacher's head.[SUP][16][/SUP]
[h=4]1890s[
edit][/h]
- April 24, 1890: Brazil, Indiana, While the pupils of the Meridian Street School were at play, Ben Corbery drew a revolver and shot Cora Brubach, aged 10, seriously wounding her in the face. The reason for the assault was that the girl had informed the teacher of Ben's misconduct.[SUP][17][/SUP]
- December 27, 1890: Staunton, Virginia, At the Kable's Military Academy a 15-year-old student, A. H. Hathaway of Dennison, Texas, was accidentally shot dead by his 17-year-old classmate James Whitworth of Sulphur Springs, Texas while they were playing with an old pistol.[SUP][18][/SUP]
- January 20, 1891: Syracuse, New York, In an abusive rage, Wilber F. Baker went to the Bassett Street School where his wife was teaching, entered the classroom and shot her five times, killing her. He was caught by police after a 40 mile chase.[SUP][19][/SUP]
- March 30, 1891: Liberty, Mississippi, During a school exhibition and concert given at the Parson Hill schoolhouse, just as the performances were starting in front of a large mixed audience of black people and white people, crowded with teachers, pupils, and spectators, a double barreled shotgun, heavily charged with shot, was fired into the assemblage by an unknown assailant. 14 people were wounded, some seriously.[SUP][20][/SUP]
- April 9, 1891: Newburgh, New York, James Ferguson, 70, fired a shotgun at a group of students in the playground of St. Mary's Parochial School, causing minor injuries to several of the students.[SUP][21][/SUP]
- October 10, 1892: At Kansas University, two students, E. Higgins and Jack Craycroft, were shot as they were walking back to their dorm rooms from practicing football at the athletic field by a double barreled shotgun as they passed the home of law student, Fred Basset. Basset said they were warned not to trespass on his farm as students so frequently did.[SUP][22][/SUP]
- March 26, 1893: Plain Dealing, Louisiana, During an evening school dance at Plain Dealing High School, a fight broke out. When the smoke cleared; two were shot dead, two more were fatally wounded, and the high school's Professor Johnson was shot in the arm.[SUP][23][/SUP]
- October 17, 1894: Brighton, near Parkersburg, West Virginia, when school was let out, Willis Gardner, 15, was shot to death and his 8-year-old brother fatally stabbed.[SUP][24][/SUP]
- February 1, 1896: Eureka, California, In the evening, a second attempt was made to burn down the High School Building in a weeks time. However, this time the watchman, shot at the arsonists, and frightened them away.[SUP][25][/SUP]
- December 13, 1898: Charles Town, West Virginia, During the School exhibition, a group of young men attempted to break up a student performance. The teacher Fisher, tried to throw the trouble makers out, when the group turned on him and several of the audience members jumped up to assist, when a free for all fight broke out. 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, George Gibson was shot in the hand, and Haz Harding had his skull crushed and several others received minor wounds[SUP][26][/SUP]
- December 28, 1898: Sioux City, Iowa, Teacher, May Thomas was lured out of the schoolhouse by Harry Garvey who was devoted to her, but she had refused his further attentions. He then pulled a revolver out and shot her dead, then killed himself.[SUP][27][/SUP]
[h=3]20th century[
edit][/h]There are very seldom reports of mass or multiple school shootings during the first three decades of the 20th Century, with the three most violent attacks on schools involving either arson or explosions.
[h=4]1900-1909[
edit][/h]
- May 12, 1900: Danbury, Connecticut, After being repeatedly refused by Teacher Lillian Owen, Herbert Horton went to the schoolhouse and pleaded one last time. He then pulled out a revolver and demanded entry or he would kill himself. Miss Owen and pupils barricaded the door. Horton then shot himself in the chest.[SUP][28][/SUP]
- September 3, 1900: Boise, Idaho, During an exciting school board committee elections, H. C. Branstetter attempted to murder H. B. Eastman. One shot was fired, but the gun was struck down and the weapon was snatched from Branstetter before he could shoot again.[SUP][29][/SUP]
- February 26, 1902: Camargo, Illinois, Teacher Fletcher R. Barnett shot and killed another teacher, Eva C. Wiseman, in front of her class at a school. After shooting at a pupil who came to help Miss Wiseman and wounding himself in a failed suicide attempt, he waited in the classroom until a group of farmers came to lynch him. He then ran out of the school building, grabbed a shotgun from one of the farmers and shot himself, before running away and leaping into a well where he finally drowned. The incident was likely sparked by Wiseman's refusal to marry Barnett.[SUP][30][/SUP]
- February 24, 1903: Inman, South Carolina, Edward Foster, a 17-year-old student at Inman High school, was shot and fatally wounded by his teacher Reuben Pitts after he had jerked a rod from Pitts' hands to resist punishment. According to the teacher, Foster struck the pistol Pitts had drawn to defend himself, thus causing its discharge. Pitts was later acquitted of murder.[SUP][31][/SUP]
- July 21, 1903: Jackson, Kentucky, at the Cave Run School, James Barrett and Mack Howard fought a duel with pistols over a card game killing each other. Another student James Vires, aged 12, was also found shot in the abdomen while sitting at his desk.[SUP][32][/SUP]
- September 23, 1903: Bakersfield, California, Victor Powers, a 14-year-old student while hanging out with his classmates, accidentally dropped a loaded shotgun on the schoolhouse steps, shooting himself dead in the abdomen.[SUP][33][/SUP]
- April 6, 1904: Chicago, Illinois, Two students who have been fighting over a girl for the better part of a year, clashing every time they crossed paths. Until one fight, where Henry Schaze threw 16-year-old Paul Jelick to the ground, drew a revolver, and shot Paul dead.[SUP][34][/SUP]
- September 27, 1904: Mount Ayr, Iowa, Two school directors got into a heated discussion over school business. When Director Samuel Egly threatened Director William Kling with an ax, Kling shot Egly through the heart, killing him.[SUP][35][/SUP]
- November 16, 1904: Riverside, California, at the Indian School, a gun fight broke out between pupils. Charles Colby was hit in the head with a pistol, then returned fire killing Tom Bucanoros and fatally wounding Fred Smith.[SUP][36][/SUP]
- December 16, 1904: Magee, Mississippi, E. E. Mangum was shot through the head and killed by the principal of the high school, Professor J. E. Woodward. Mangum remonstrated with Woodward because he had administered a severe whipping to Mangum's 15-year-old son. Mangum finally lost his temper and shot Woodward through the wrist. Woodward was handed a pistol by a bystander and shot Mangum through the head.[SUP][37][/SUP]
- February 9, 1905: Colusa, California, After being suspended from school, Elmer Hildreth, a 17-year-old student, confronted a school trustee, William Ingrim. They entered into a heated argument, when the trustee grabbed an ax and went after Hildreth. Hildreth ordered him to stop, but the trustee kept coming, so the schoolboy shot him in the stomach.[SUP][38][/SUP]
- July 31, 1905: Tempe, Arizona, Professor S. O. Lewis, 32-year-old principal of Tempe public schools, was found dead by the painters in the schoolhouse with a self inflicted gunshot to the temple by his own revolver.[SUP][39][/SUP]
- May 18, 1906: Boston, Massachusetts, George M. DeWolfe, aged 18, shot fellow graduate Lillian Thoroughgood, aged 17, then shot and killed himself in the head, during the closing ceremonies of the Cambridge Commercial College. The bullet was stopped from injuring Lillian by the locket she wore, but her clothes were singed.[SUP][40][/SUP]
- August 8, 1906: Covelo, California, Jacob Fret, was found shot dead in the head next to the Harrington School House by the school children that morning. Jacob was making his usual cooling snow delivery to the town the night before.[SUP][41][/SUP]
- October 10, 1906: Cleveland, Ohio, In front of 60 students, Harry Smith shot and killed 22-year-old teacher Mary Shepard at South Euclid School after she had rejected him. Smith escaped and committed suicide in a barn near his home two hours later.[SUP][42][/SUP]
- March 23, 1907: Carmi, Illinois, George Nicholson shot and killed John Kurd at a schoolhouse during a school rehearsal. The motive for the shooting was Kurd making a disparaging remark about Nicholson's daughter during her recital.[SUP][43][/SUP]
- December 20, 1907: Chico, California, Arthur Roberts, aged 9 years, was shot in the head and killed during a military drill by the school children of the Dayton school district. The children, armed with old guns believed to be empty, aimed and pulled triggers. Instantly the Roberts boy, who had just emerged from the school building, threw his hands to his head and cried, "I'm shot."[SUP][44][/SUP]
- March 11, 1908: Boston, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Bailey Hardee was shot to death by Sarah Chamberlain Weed at the Laurens School, a finishing school in Boston. Weed then turned the gun on herself and committed suicide.[SUP][45][/SUP]
- March 20, 1908: Los Angeles, California, Ruth Sargent, a 12-year-old student at the San Pedro Street School, shot herself. She asked permission to leave the class in the middle of a lesson, but the teacher refused. So, she got up pointed a gun at the teacher and left the class room, went down the stairs and shot herself. The students and teachers rushed to her side and she said "I shot myself and no one is to blame." The bullet entered the left breast, missed the heart, perforated the lung, and lodged near the spine. Her father said she was distraught over the workload at school.[SUP][46][/SUP]
- April 15, 1908: Asheville, North Carolina, Dr. C. O. Swinney shot and fatally wounded his 16-year-old daughter Nellie in a reception room at Normal and Collegiate Institute. He then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.[SUP][47][/SUP]
- December 23, 1908: New York City, Van Dwight Sheldon, an engineering student at New York University was staying in the Dean's Manor, with his older cousin and Dean of the Engineering College, Dean Snow. A burglar broke into the cellar of the home when Sheldon confronted him. The burglar shot Sheldon in the abdomen, killing him, and escaped after a chase.[SUP][48][/SUP]
- February 12, 1909: San Francisco, California, 10-year-old Dorothy Malakanoff was shot and killed by 49-year-old Demetri Tereaschinko as she arrived at her school in San Francisco. Tereaschinko then shot himself in a failed suicide attempt. Tereaschinko was reportedly upset that Malakanoff refused to elope with him.[SUP][49][/SUP]
- March 19, 1909: Mount Vernon, Illinois, During a school performance of "the Grand Central", John Moake, portraying the villain, was shot in the forehead and dangerously wounded by the hero, Roy Slater. The cartridge was thought to have been blank.[SUP][50][/SUP]
- June 10, 1909: Trinidad, Colorado Walter Harris, 11 years old student accidentally shot and killed his teacher B. C. Briggs in the head while on a school field trip.[SUP][51][/SUP]
- August 18, 1909: Bakersfield, California, A group of six young men after dove hunting, deliberately shot out the glass in the doors and windows of the Fruitvale School, then shot at the nearby residence of A. J. Hunter, narrowly missing several children in the rear yard.[SUP][52][/SUP]
- September 11, 1909: Gravette, Arkansas, John Butram, an unruly student at the Bear Hollow School announced to his fellow students that school is canceled. The teacher, A. T. Kelly insisted that the day's lesson was not over. Butram then drew a knife on his teacher, so the teacher drew his gun and shot him.[SUP][53][/SUP]
From what is considered the third most violent decade in United States 'school shootings' history (1900–1909) comes this article from the "Los Angeles Herald":
Gang Of School Lads Confesses To Robbery
NEVADA CITY, Cal., Dec. 7. (1909) - The discovery of the fact that a number of school boys of tender years have been in the habit of carrying revolvers with them to school led today to the capture of an organized gang of school lads who have confessed to robbing a hardware store of revolvers of all sizes and several rifles. The investigation was started last week when one of the boys was shot and slightly wounded in a class room at school.
The sheriff learned that many of the boys went armed all the time, and was told by them the weapons were purchased from certain other boys. The latter were questioned today and confessed that they robbed the store and disposed of the loot at prices ranging from 50 cents up. No legal steps have been taken against the boys.[SUP]
[54][/SUP]
[h=4]1910s[
edit][/h]
- January 12, 1910: New York City, "A black bearded maniac drew an automatic pistol" and fired five shots into a crowd of the Harlem School boys. The kids were taunting him, so he shot into the crowd of children. Robert Lomas, aged 6, was hit in the heart and died instantly, Arthur Shively also aged 6 was shot through the left lung and critically wounded.[SUP][55][/SUP]
- March 10, 1910: Ione, California, At the reform school, Preston School of Industry, students Albert Brown and Eugene Griffin tried to escape as they stole a revolver from the school's bakery shop. They then shot at Captain William H. White as he was in pursuit. No one was hurt, but the two boys were no longer welcome at the school and were sent to the penitentiary.[SUP][56][/SUP]
- August 16, 1910: Lexington, Kentucky, A general fight broke out during school elections where Lewis Napier was shot and killed and several others hurt. Several were arrested.[SUP][57][/SUP]
- April 27, 1911: Manhattan, Kansas, During a school play rehearsal, a revolver was accidentally loaded by a boy who tried to shoot a bird with it the day before. When the girl was to use the firearm as written in the script, she picked it up, then laid it down saying she was afraid of the old thing. The Teacher, Miss Reedy then grabbed the gun and said there was no need for alarm and pointed it at the girl, Pearl Reedy, 18 years old, and squeezed the trigger. The bullet lodged near her heart fatally wounding her[SUP][58][/SUP]
- January 10, 1912: Warrenville, Illinois, Sylvester E. Adams shot and killed teacher Edith Smith after she rejected his advances. Adams then shot and killed himself. The incident took place in a schoolhouse after the students had been dismissed for the day.[SUP][59][/SUP] A month later the students refused to go back to the school saying it was haunted by ghosts, so the little schoolhouse was torn down and a new one was built.[SUP][60][/SUP]
- January 31, 1912: San Francisco, California, In a brawl between the white and Chinese students at the Oriental School, James Kane was shot dead.[SUP][61][/SUP]
- January 17, 1913: Honolulu, Hawaii, While the children in the schoolhouse were quietly seated, Manuel Fernandez entered the classroom and shot his wife, the teacher, Johanna Fernandez killing her with a shotgun. Seven of the children were hit by the scattering buckshot, dangerously wounding one. He then shot and killed himself. Jealousy is quoted as the motive.[SUP][62][/SUP]
- March 27, 1919: Lodi Township, Michigan, Teacher Irma Caler was shot and killed in her classroom at Rentschler school by 19-year-old Robert Warner, apparently because she had rejected his advances.[SUP][63][/SUP]
- August 8, 1919: San Francisco, California, An assistant in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California was distraught over his inability to obtain a position, shot Professor Edmond O'Neill, and Professor Dr. J. H. Hildebrand in the administration offices of Gilman Hall, then went to shoot Vice President May L. Cheney but only managed to hit her hair braid before being subdued.[SUP][64][/SUP]
[h=4]1920s[
edit][/h]
- May 15, 1920: Bowling Green, Ohio, While attending her son's school track meet, Mrs. F. Mahl was shot and killed accidentally, by the starter's pistol.[SUP][65][/SUP]
- April 2, 1921: Syracuse, New York, Professor Holmes Beckwith shot and killed dean J. Herman Wharton in his office at Syracuse University before committing suicide.[SUP][66][/SUP]
- February 15, 1927: Hempstead, New York, James O'Donnell, 18-year-old senior at Hempstead High School, shot himself to death on the stage in the school's auditorium. A suicide note stated that O'Donnell killed himself to lessen the financial burden on his family.[SUP][67][/SUP]
[h=4]1930s[
edit][/h]
- May 22, 1930: Ringe, Minnesota, Margaret Wegman, 20-year-old teacher at the local rural school, was shot and killed in the school by 24-year-old Douglas Petersen.[SUP][68][/SUP]
- May 28, 1931: Duluth, Minnesota, Katherine McMillen, 24-year-old teacher at the Howard Gensen rural school near Duluth, was accidentally shot and killed by a revolver brought to school by a pupil.[SUP][69][/SUP]
- February 15, 1933: Downey, California, Dr. Vernon Blythe shot and killed his wife Eleanor, as well as his 8-year-old son Robert at Gallatin grammar school and committed suicide after firing three more shots at his other son Vernon. His wife, who had been a teacher at the school, had filed for divorce the week before.[SUP][70][/SUP]
- February 2, 1934: Harlan, Iowa, Margaret Graves, 23, school teacher at Monroe School No. 2, was shot to death in front of her 20 students by former suitor Herman Seick, 28. Seick then took his own life in the classroom.[SUP][71][/SUP]
- September 14, 1934: Gill, Massachusetts, Headmaster Elliott Speer was murdered by a shotgun blast through the window of his study at Northfield Mount Hermon School. The crime was never solved.[SUP][72][/SUP]
- March 27, 1935: Medora, North Dakota, Emily Hartl, 24-year-old teacher at the Manlon school northwest of Medora, was shot and killed at the school by 28-year-old Harry McGill, a former suitor.[SUP][73][/SUP]
- May 7, 1935: Irvington, New York, Dr. Paul Kyle, head of the Kyle School for Boys, was found shot to death in the school, just before classes were to begin for the day.[SUP][74][/SUP]
- December 12, 1935: New York City, Victor Koussow, a Russian laboratory worker at the School of Dental and Oral Surgery, shot Prof. Arthur Taylor Rowe, Prof. Paul B. Wiberg, and wounded Dr. William H. Crawford at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, before committing suicide.[SUP][75][/SUP]
- April 27, 1936: Lincoln, Nebraska, Prof. John Weller shot and wounded Prof. Harry Kurz in a corridor of the University of Nebraska, apparently because of his impending dismissal at the end of the semester. After shooting Kurz Weller tried to escape, but was surrounded by police on the campus, whereupon he killed himself with a shot in the chest.[SUP][76][/SUP]
- June 4, 1936: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Wesley Clow shot and killed his Lehigh University English instructor, C. Wesley Phy. Clow went to Phy's office and demanded that Phy change his grade to a passing mark. Clow committed suicide after shooting Phy.[SUP][77][/SUP]
- June 4, 1937: Isabel, Kansas, Robert Douthitt, 16, was accidentally shot to death backstage during high school play practice. The revolver was to have been loaded with blanks, but it held live ammo.[SUP][78][/SUP]
- September 24, 1937: Toledo, Ohio, 12-year-old Robert Snyder shot and wounded his principal, June Mapes, in her office at Arlington Public School when she declined his request to call a classmate. He then fled the school grounds and shot and wounded himself.[SUP][79][/SUP]
[h=4]1940s[
edit][/h]
- May 6, 1940: South Pasadena, California, After being removed as principal of South Pasadena Junior High School, Vieling Spencer shot six school officials, killing five, before attempting to commit suicide by shooting himself in the neck.[SUP][80][/SUP][SUP][81][/SUP]
- May 23, 1940: New York City, Infuriated by a grievance, Matthew Gillespie, 62-year-old janitor at the Dwight School for Girls, shot and critically wounded Mrs. Marshall Coxe, secretary of the junior school.[SUP][82][/SUP]
- July 4, 1940: Valhalla, New York, Angered by the refusal of his daughter, Melba, 15, to leave a boarding school and return to his home, Joseph Moshell, 47, visited the school and shot and killed the girl.[SUP][83][/SUP]
- September 12, 1940: Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 29-year-old teacher Carolyn Dellamea is shot to death inside her third grade classroom by 35-year-old William Kuhns. Kuhns then shot himself in the chest in a failed suicide attempt. Kuhns had reportedly been courting Dellamea for over a year but the relationship was ended when Dellamea discovered that Kuhns was already married.[SUP][84][/SUP][SUP][85][/SUP]
- October 2, 1942: New York City, Irwin Goodman, 36-year-old mathematics teacher at William J. Gaynor Junior High School, was shot and killed in the school corridor by a youth.[SUP][86][/SUP][SUP][87][/SUP]
- February 23, 1943: Port Chester, New York, Harry Wyman, 13, shot himself dead at the Harvey School, a boys’ preparatory school.[SUP][88][/SUP]
- June 26, 1946: New York City, A 15-year-old student who balked at turning over his pocket money to a gang of seven youths was shot in the chest in the basement of the Public School 147 annex of the Brooklyn High School for Automotive Trades.[SUP][89][/SUP]
- November 24, 1946: New York City, A 13-year-old student at St. Benedict’s Parochial School, shot and fatally wounded himself while sitting in an audience watching a school play.[SUP][90][/SUP]
- February 5, 1947: Madill, Oklahoma, 1st grade teacher Jessie Laird, 40, was shot to death in her classroom, during recess by her estranged husband, Ellis Laird, 62. Laird then fatally shot himself.[SUP][91][/SUP]
- December 1, 1947: Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, Donald Peabody Sargent, 14, shot himself to death in his junior high school classroom.[SUP][92][/SUP]
- December 24, 1948: New York City, A 14-year-old student was fatally wounded by a shot from the .22 caliber rifle of a fellow student Robert Ross, 17. The youth was accidentally shot in the head when he chanced into range where Ross was target shooting near a lake on the school property.[SUP][93][/SUP]
- March 11, 1949: New York City, A 16-year-old student at Stuyvesant High School was accidentally shot in the arm by a fellow student who was ‘showing off’ with a pistol in a classroom.[SUP][94][/SUP]
- November 13, 1949: Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State University freshman James Heer grabbed a .45 caliber handgun from the room of a Delta Tau Delta fraternity brother and shot and killed his fraternity brother Jack McKeown, 21, an Ohio State senior.[SUP][95][/SUP]
[h=4]1950s[
edit][/h]
- April 25, 1950: Peru, Nebraska, Dr. William Nicholas, 48, president of Peru State College and Dr. Paul Maxwell, 56, education department head, were shot to death at their desks by Dr. Barney Baker, 54-year-old psychology professor. Baker was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot at his home on campus.[SUP][96][/SUP]
- July 22, 1950: New York City, A 16-year-old boy was shot in the wrist and abdomen at the Public School 141 dance during an argument with a former classmate.[SUP][97][/SUP]
- January 24, 1951: Alton, Illinois, Henry Suhre, 61, quartermaster at Western Military Academy was shot to death in the cadet store on campus.[SUP][98][/SUP]
- March 12, 1951: Union Mills, North Carolina, Professor W. E. Sweatt, superintendent and teacher at the Alexander School, was shot to death by students Billy Ray Powell, 16, and Hugh Justice, 19. The assailants had been reprimanded by Sweatt, and they waited for him as he locked his office door.[SUP][99][/SUP]
- June 4, 1951: New York City, Carl Arch, a 50-year-old intruder to a girl's gym class was shot and killed by a police officer at Manhattan's Central Commercial High School.[SUP][100][/SUP]
- November 27, 1951: New York City, David Brooks, a 15-year-old student, was fatally shot as fellow pupils looked on in a grade school.[SUP][101][/SUP]
- April 9, 1952: New York City, A 15-year-old boarding school student shot a dean rather than relinquish pin-up pictures of girls in bathing suits.[SUP][102][/SUP]
- July 14, 1952: New York City, Bayard Peakes walked into the offices of the American Physical Society (APS) at Columbia University and shot and killed secretary Eileen Fahey with a .22 caliber pistol. Peakes was reportedly upset that the APS had rejected a pamphlet he had written.[SUP][103][/SUP]
- September 3, 1952: Lawrenceville, Illinois, After Georgine Lyon, 25, ended her engagement with Charles Petrach, Petrach shot and killed Lyon in a classroom at Lawrenceville High School where she worked as a librarian.[SUP][104][/SUP]
- November 20, 1952: New York City, Rear Admiral E. E. Herrmann, 56, superintendent of the Naval Postgraduate School, was found dead in his office with a bullet in his head. A service revolver was found by his side.[SUP][105][/SUP]
- October 2, 1953: Chicago, Illinois, Patrick Colletta, 14, was shot to death by Bernice Turner,14, in a classroom of Kelly High School. It was reported that after Turner refused to date Colletta he handed her the gun and dared her to pull the trigger, telling her that the gun was “only a toy.” A coroner’s jury later ruled that the shooting was an accident.[SUP][106][/SUP]
- October 8, 1953: New York City, Larry Licitra, 17-year-old student at the Machine and Metal Trades High School, was shot and slightly wounded in the right shoulder in the lobby of the school while inspecting a handmade pistol owned by one of several students.[SUP][107][/SUP]
- March 31, 1954: Newton, Massachusetts, John Frankenberger, 14, was accidentally shot to death in a classroom at Day Junior High School when a pistol being held by a classmate discharged.[SUP][108][/SUP]
- May 15, 1954: Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Putnam Davis Jr. was shot and killed during a fraternity house carnival at the Phi Delta Theta house at the University of North Carolina. William Joyner and Allen Long were shot and wounded during the exchange of gunfire in their fraternity bedroom. The incident took place after an all-night beer party. Mr. Long reported to the police that, while the three were drinking beer at 7 a.m., Davis pulled out a gun and started shooting with a gun he had obtained from the car of a former roommate.[SUP][109][/SUP]
- January 11, 1955: Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, After some of his dormmates urinated on his mattress, Bob Bechtel, a 20-year-old student at Swarthmore College, returned to his dorm with a shotgun and used it to shoot and kill fellow student Holmes Strozier.[SUP][110][/SUP]
- May 4, 1956: Prince George's County, Maryland, 15-year-old student Billy Prevatte fatally shot one teacher and injured two others at Maryland Park Junior High School after he had been reprimanded from the school.[SUP][111][/SUP]
- October 20, 1956: New York City, A Booker T. Washington Junior High School student was wounded in the forearm by another student armed with a home-made weapon.[SUP][112][/SUP]
- October 2, 1957: New York City, A 16-year-old student was shot in the leg by a 15-year-old classmate at a city high school.[SUP][113][/SUP]
- March 4, 1958: New York City, A 17-year-old student shot a boy in the Manual Training High School.[SUP][114][/SUP]
- May 1, 1958: Massapequa, New York, A 15-year-old high Massapequa High School freshman was shot and killed by a classmate in a washroom.[SUP][115][/SUP]
- September 24, 1959: New York City, Twenty-seven men and boys and an arsenal were seized in the Bronx as the police headed off a gang war resulting from the fatal shooting of a teenager at Morris High School.[SUP][116][/SUP]
[h=4]1960s[
edit][/h]
- February 2, 1960: Hartford City, Indiana, Principal Leonard Redden shot and killed two teachers with a shotgun at William Reed Elementary School before fleeing into a remote forest, where he committed suicide.[SUP][117][/SUP]
- March 30, 1960: Alice, Texas, Donna Dvorak, 14, brought a .22 target pistol to Dubose Junior High School, and fatally shot Bobby Whitford, 15, in their 9th grade science class. Dvorak believed Whitford posed a threat to one of her girlfriends.[SUP][118][/SUP]
- June 7, 1960: Blaine, Minnesota, Lester Betts, a 40-year-old mail-carrier, walked into the office of 33-year-old principal Carson Hammond and shot him to death with a 12-gauge shotgun.[SUP][119][/SUP]
- January 4, 1961: Delmont, South Dakota, Donald Kurtz, 17-year-old senior at Delmont High School, was fatally wounded by a .22 caliber bullet from a rifle. The shot, intended as a sound effect for a school play, hit him in the chest during a rehearsal just minutes before the play was to take place.[SUP][120][/SUP]
- October 17, 1961: Denver, Colorado, Tennyson Beard, 14, got into an argument with William Hachmeister, 15, at Morey Junior High School. During the argument Beard pulled out a .38 caliber revolver and shot at Hachmeister, wounding him. A stray bullet also struck Deborah Faith Humphrey, 14, who died from her gunshot wound.[SUP][121][/SUP]
- April 27, 1966: Bay Shore, New York, Teacher John S. Lane, 48, was shot and fatally wounded when he tried to stop 16-year-old student James Arthur Frampton, who was walking through the halls of Bay Shore Senior High School with a shotgun, searching for some boys with whom he had an argument earlier that day. Lane died of his wounds on June 13, 1966.[SUP][122][/SUP][SUP][123][/SUP][SUP][124][/SUP]
- August 1, 1966: Charles Whitman, aged 25, climbed atop the observation deck at the University of Texas-Austin, and killed 17 people and wounded 31 during a 96-minute shooting rampage in the University of Texas massacre.[SUP][125][/SUP]
- October 5, 1966: Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Grand Rapids High School student David Black, 15, killed school administrator Forrest Willey and seriously wounded fellow student Kevin Roth, 14.[SUP][126][/SUP][SUP][127][/SUP]
- November 12, 1966: Mesa, Arizona, Bob Smith, 18, took seven people hostage at Rose-Mar College of Beauty. Smith ordered the hostages to lie down on the floor in a circle. He then proceeded to shoot them in the head with a 22 caliber pistol. Four women and a three-year-old girl died, one woman and a baby were injured but survived. Police arrested Smith after the massacre. Smith had reportedly admired Richard Speck and Charles Whitman.[SUP][128][/SUP]
- January 24, 1968: High Point, North Carolina, David Walker, 15, was shot to death just outside Central High School by Gerald Locklear, 15.
- January 30, 1968: Miami, Florida, 16-year-old Blanche Ward shot and killed fellow student Linda Lipscomb, 16, with a .22 caliber pistol at Miami Jackson High School. According to Ward, she was threatened with a razor by Lipscomb during an argument over a fountain pen, and in the ensuing struggle the gun went off.[SUP][129][/SUP]
- February 8, 1968: Orangeburg, South Carolina, In the days leading up to February 8, 1968, about 200 mostly student protesters gathered on the campus of South Carolina State University, located in the city of Orangeburg, to protest the segregation of the All Star Bowling Lane. The bowling alley was owned by the late Harry K. Floyd. That night, students started a bonfire. As police attempted to put out the fire, an officer was injured by a thrown piece of banister. The police said they believed they were under attack by small weapons fire. The officers fired into the crowd, killing three young men: Samuel Hammond, Delano Middleton, and Henry Smith, and wounding twenty-seven others.[SUP][130][/SUP]
- May 22, 1968: Miami, Florida, Ernest Lee Grissom, a 15-year-old student at Drew Junior High School, shot and seriously wounded a teacher and a 13-year-old student after he had been reprimanded for causing a disturbance.[SUP][131][/SUP]
- January 17, 1969: Los Angeles, California, Two student members of the Black Panther Party, Alprentice Carter and John Huggins, were fatally shot during a student meeting inside Campbell Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles. The motive of the shooting regarded who would own the school's African American Studies Center. The shooter, Claude Hubert, was never to be found but three other men were arrested in connection with the shooting.[SUP][132][/SUP]
- January 23, 1969: Washington, DC, Cardozo Senior High School assistant principal Herman Clifford, 45, was shot to death in the school's hallway by Ronald Joyner, 18, while scuffling with three youths who robbed the school's bank.[SUP][133][/SUP]
- May 13, 1969: Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Ernest Napoleon Carter Jr., 13, was accidentally shot and killed at Hanes Junior High School by a 13-year-old classmate, who was armed with a .32-caliber pistol. The 13-year-old shooter was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Carter's mother filed a lawsuit against the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education for $50,000 in damages.[SUP][134][/SUP][SUP][135][/SUP]
- November 19, 1969: Tomah, Wisconsin, Principal Martin Mogensen was shot to death in his office by a 14-year-old boy armed with a 20-gauge shotgun.[SUP][136][/SUP]
[h=4]1970s[
edit][/h]The mid- to late-1970s is considered the second most violent period in U.S. school history.[SUP]
[citation needed][/SUP]
- January 5, 1970: Washington, DC, Tyrone Perry, 15, was shot to death at Hine Junior High School.[SUP][137][/SUP]
- May 4, 1970: Kent, Ohio, During protests of the Vietnam War on the college Campus of Kent State University, Armed National Guard Soldiers opened fire on unarmed students killing four people.[SUP][138][/SUP]
- February 2, 1971: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Teacher Samson L. Freedman, 56, was shot to death as he left Morris E. Leeds School, by Kevin Simmons, 14. Freedman had suspended Simmons earlier in the day for cursing in the hallway.[SUP][139][/SUP]
- November 8, 1971: Grove, Oklahoma, School custodian, Jim "James" Underwood brought a .22 caliber revolver to school hidden in a brown paper bag. School principal, T. J. Melton, 49, was shot in the left shoulder, left ear and in the top of his head, according to published reports. He died around 9 a.m. and Underwood was charged the next day with first-degree murder.[SUP][140][/SUP]
- November 11, 1971: Spokane, Washington, Former MIT student Larry J. Harmon, 21, entered St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church on the Gonzaga University campus armed with a .22 caliber rifle. Harmon killed the caretaker, 68-year-old Hilary Kunz, and upon emerging from the church, wounded four more people before police officers shot and killed him. Harmon was described by his father as a religious fanatic who believed that he had seen the devil and that Christ was an imposter.[SUP][141][/SUP]
- January 5, 1972: Washington, DC, Fifth-grade teacher Margaret Brooks, 57, was shot to death in front of her students by her estranged husband James A. Brooks.[SUP][142][/SUP]
- February 26, 1973: Richmond, Virginia, Wayne Phillips, 17, was shot to death when he was caught between two youths who were fighting in the hallway of Armstrong High School.[SUP][143][/SUP]
- October 1, 1973: Elmwood Park, Illinois, Elmwood Park Community High School student Cynthia Schulze was shot and killed in the hallway between classes by student William Rossi, with whom she was probably not acquainted. Rossi then ran out of the school and shot himself to death in an alley nearby.[SUP][144][/SUP]
- January 17, 1974: Chicago, Illinois, Elementary school principal Rudolph Jezek, Jr., 52, was shot to death in his office by Steven Guy, 14, a former student said to be angry at being transferred from the school to a social adjustment center.[SUP][145][/SUP]
- March 22, 1974: Brownstown, Indiana, Jessie Blevins, 48, athletic director at Brownstown Central High School, was shot to death in the school parking lot by a 17-year-old student.[SUP][146][/SUP]
- December 30, 1974: Olean, New York, Regents scholar Anthony Barbaro, 17, 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.[SUP][147][/SUP][SUP][148][/SUP]
- February 18, 1975: Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York, Marist College student Shelley Lynn Sperling was shot and killed by a scorned suitor in the Marist College cafeteria.[SUP][149][/SUP]
- September 11, 1975: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. Grant High School student Randy Truitt was shot and killed by James Briggs at the school, leaving several others injured.[SUP][150][/SUP]
- February 12, 1976: Detroit, Michigan, Intruders shot five Murray-Wright High School students after an apparent dispute over one of the intruders girlfriends.[SUP][151][/SUP]
- June 12, 1976: California State University, Custodian Edward Charles Allaway, 37, opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle in the library on the California State University, Fullerton campus killing 7, and wounding 2.[SUP][citation needed][/SUP]
- November 10, 1976: Detroit, Michigan, Second grade teacher Bettye McCaster, 45, was shot to death in front of her 29 students at Burt Elementary School, by her estranged husband, Al Lewis.[SUP][152][/SUP]
- April 7, 1977: Whitharral, Texas, High School principal M. O. Tripp was shot to death on the front steps of the school by Ricardo Lopez, 17.[SUP][153][/SUP]
- February 9, 1978: St. Albans, West Virginia, A 15-year-old student was shot and killed by another student at Hayes Junior High School.[SUP][citation needed][/SUP]
- February 22, 1978: Lansing, Michigan, After being taunted for his beliefs, a 15-year-old self-proclaimed Nazi, killed one student and wounded a second with a Luger pistol at Everett High School.[SUP][148][/SUP]
- April 26, 1978: Dallas, Texas, Woodrow Porter, 38, who was a janitor at Paul Dunbar Elementary School, was shot to death by the 56-year-old grandmother of an 8-year-old that was allegedly spanked by Porter earlier.[SUP][154][/SUP]
- May 18, 1978: Austin, Texas, John Daniel Christian, 13, son of Lyndon B. Johnson's former press secretary George Christian, shot to death his English teacher, Wilbur Grayson, 29, with his father's .22 caliber rifle in front of approximately 30 classmates. John Christian was arrested and charged but was not prosecuted. He spent two years in a mental hospital. He is now a practicing attorney in Austin, Texas.[SUP][155][/SUP]
- January 29, 1979: San Diego, California, Brenda Spencer opened fire on Grover Cleveland Elementary School from the window of her home across the street, killing two adults and wounding nine others, eight of whom were children.[SUP][156][/SUP] The shootings inspired the song I Don't Like Mondays.
[h=4]1980s[
edit][/h]
- January 7, 1980: Stamps, Arkansas, Evan Hampton, 16, high school freshman student at Stamps High School walked into a classroom and quietly waited for 19-year-old Mike Sanders to enter the classroom and walk to his desk. Hampton pulled a .22 caliber revolver and shot Sanders twice in the chest and once in the temple, killing him instantly. Hampton walked quietly down the hallway and handed the gun to the school principal and then waited quietly in the principal's office until his arrest.[SUP][157][/SUP]
- March 20, 1980: Dallas, Texas, Rosie Pearson, 49, fifth grade teacher, was shot to death in the hallway of J. Leslie Patton School, by an unknown assailant.[SUP][158][/SUP]
- March 26, 1980: Big Rapids, Michigan, Robert Brauer, Business Professor, was shot by student Thomas Kakonis, 20, at Ferris State College. Robert Brauer had failed Kakonis on an examination. Kakonis was the son of an associate dean at the college.[SUP][159][/SUP]
- March 19, 1982: Las Vegas, Nevada, 17-year-old Valley High School student Patrick Lizotte shot and killed his teacher Clarence Pigott and wounded two students.[SUP][160][/SUP]
- April 7, 1982: Littleton, Colorado, Deer Creek Jr. High School student Jason Rocha, 14, shot and killed Scott Darwin Michael, 13.[SUP][161][/SUP]
- November 12, 1982: Jackson, Mississippi, Faye Williams, 17, was shot to death in her algebra classroom at Wingfield High School by her ex-boyfriend, James Hartzog, 18. Hartzog then killed himself.[SUP][162][/SUP]
- January 20, 1983: St. Louis County, Missouri, Eighth grade Parkway South Middle School student David F. Lawler entered a study hall classroom and opened fire, killing Randall Koger, 15, and injuring Greg Saffo, 15. Lawler then committed suicide.
- April 20, 1984: Detroit, Michigan, Kelly Crittendon, 13, was accidentally shot to death in a classroom at the Precious Blood School by two classmates.[SUP][163][/SUP]
- May 17, 1984: Altoona, Iowa, While students in a French class at Southeast Polk High School were taking a test in the hallway, a 17-year-old male student shot and killed a 16-year-old female student before killing himself.[SUP][164][/SUP][SUP][165][/SUP]
- January 21, 1985: Goddard, Kansas, James Alan Kearbey, 14, armed with a M1-A semiautomatic rifle and a .357-caliber handgun, killed principal James McGee and wounded two teachers and a student at Goddard Junior High School.[SUP][166][/SUP]
- September 4, 1985: Richmond, Virginia, A 12-year-old East End Middle School boy shot a girl with his mother's gun.[SUP][167][/SUP][SUP][168][/SUP]
- October 18, 1985: Detroit, Michigan, During halftime of the homecoming football game between Northwestern High School and Murray-Wright High School, a boy who was in a fight earlier that day pulled out a shotgun and opened fire, injuring six students.[SUP][169][/SUP][SUP][170][/SUP]
- November 26, 1985: Spanaway, Washington, A 14-year-old girl shot two boys fatally, then killed herself with a .22 caliber rifle at Spanaway Junior High School.[SUP][171][/SUP][SUP][172][/SUP][SUP][173][/SUP]
- December 3, 1985: Concord, New Hampshire - At Concord High School, Louis "Louie" Cartier, a 16-year-old male dropout walked into the school with a shotgun and took two students hostage. The situation ended with responding police officers fatally shooting him when he "...aimed the shotgun at a teacher who was trying to talk him into surrendering."[SUP][174][/SUP][SUP][175][/SUP][SUP][176][/SUP] (The following month, this same high school lost its teacher Christa McAuliffe in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.)
- December 10, 1985: Portland, Connecticut At Portland Junior High School, a 13-year-old male student pulled out a 9mm firearm and opened fire, injuring the school secretary and killing a custodian.[SUP][177][/SUP]
- February 24, 1986: Slidell, Louisiana, 13-year-old gifted Boyet Junior High School student Matt Cooper shot himself in class with a .45-caliber pistol.[SUP][178][/SUP][SUP][179][/SUP]
- May 16, 1986: Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis, In a ransom scheme, David and Doris Young took 150 students and teachers hostage. Their demand for $300 million dollars came to an abrupt end when Doris accidentally set off a bomb, killing herself and injuring 78 students and teachers. David wounded John Miller, a teacher who was trying to flee, then killed himself.
- December 5, 1986: Lewistown, Montana, A 14-year-old Fergus High School student shot and killed a substitute teacher and wounded a vice principal and two classmates.
- March 2, 1987: De Kalb, Missouri Honors student Nathan Ferris, 12, killed a classmate and then himself.[SUP][180][/SUP]
- April 16, 1987: Detroit, Michigan, A ninth-grade Murray Wright High School student killed Chester Jackson, 17, and wounded Damon Matthews, 17, and Tomeka Turner, 18.[SUP][181][/SUP][SUP][182][/SUP]
- September 28, 1987: Lansing, Illinois, After being kicked off the soccer team for smoking on school grounds, Illiana Christian High School student Blake Docter, 16, shot and wounded John Hoogewerf, the teacher who had caught him smoking.[SUP][183][/SUP]
- December 16, 1987: Katy, Texas, Mayde Creek High School student Ramesh D. Tumalad, 15, shot himself to death in his Algebra class as his classmates looked on.[SUP][184][/SUP]
- February 11, 1988: Largo, Florida, Jason Harless, 16, shot and killed one assistant principal and wounded two others, at Pinellas Park High School.
- May 20, 1988: Winnetka, Illinois, Laurie Dann, 30, shot and killed one elementary school student and wounded five others, then took a family hostage and shot a man before killing herself.
- September 26, 1988: Greenwood, South Carolina, James William Wilson Jr., 19, entered Oakland Elementary School and opened fire, killing two 8-year-old girls and wounding 6 other students and 2 teachers.
- December 16, 1988: Virginia Beach, Virginia, Nicholas Elliott, 15, opened fire with a SWD Cobray M-11 semiautomatic pistol at Atlantic Shores Christian School, killing teacher Karen Farley and wounding another.
- January 17, 1989: Stockton, California, Cleveland School massacre Patrick Edward Purdy, 24, killing five children and wounding 32 others including students and a teacher. Purdy then killed himself.[SUP][185][/SUP][SUP][186][/SUP][SUP][187][/SUP]
