List of school shootings in the United States by death toll

This article lists school shootings in the United States by death toll (four or more deaths, including any perpetrators that died during the shooting).

School shootings in the United States by death toll

List

This table is organized first by deaths, and then injuries, and then date.

List of school shootings by death toll (four or more deaths)
Date Location Deaths Injuries Description
April 16, 2007Blacksburg, Virginia33[n 1]17Virginia Tech shooting: 23-year-old student, Seung-Hui Cho, killed thirty-two students and faculty members at Virginia Tech, and wounded another seventeen students and faculty members in two separate attacks before committing suicide. The incident is the third-deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in modern U.S. history.
December 14, 2012Newtown, Connecticut28[n 1]2Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed twenty-six people and himself. He first killed his mother at their shared home before taking her guns and driving to the school. Lanza brought four guns with him. He killed twenty first-grade children aged six and seven during the attack at school, along with six adults, including four teachers, the principal, and the school psychologist. Two other people were injured. Lanza then killed himself as police arrived at the school.[1][2]
August 1, 1966Austin, Texas18[n 1]31University of Texas tower shooting: 25-year-old engineering student Charles Whitman got onto the observation deck at the University of Texas-Austin, from where he killed 17 people and wounded 31 during a 96-minute shooting rampage. He had earlier murdered his wife and mother at their homes.[3][4][5] It was the deadliest shooting on a U.S. college campus until the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.
February 14, 2018Parkland, Florida1717Stoneman Douglas High School shooting: Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student whose behavior had led to his expulsion, began shooting students and staff members with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after activating a fire alarm. 17 people were killed, and 17 others were injured. The suspect blended in with the crowd of fleeing students and was arrested in a residential area of neighboring Coral Springs after walking away from the school.[6] He was later charged with murder and attempted murder.[7]
April 20, 1999Littleton, Colorado15[n 2]21Columbine High School massacre: 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold, students at Columbine High School, killed 12 students and one teacher. They injured 21 additional people, and three more were injured while attempting to escape the school. The pair committed suicide at the end of the massacre.[8][9]
May 18, 2018Santa Fe, Texas1014[n 1]Santa Fe High School shooting: School was evacuated when fire alarms were pulled at 7:45 am after students said they had heard gunshots. The shooter had a shotgun and .38 revolver. Multiple IEDs and pipe bombs were also found around the school.[10]
October 1, 2015Roseburg, Oregon10[n 1]9Umpqua Community College shooting: 26-year-old student Christopher Harper-Mercer opened fire in a hall on the Umpqua Community College campus, killing eight students and one teacher, and injuring nine others. Mercer then committed suicide after engaging responding police officers in a brief gunfight.[11]
March 21, 2005Red Lake, Minnesota10[n 1]7Red Lake shootings: 16-year-old student Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather and grandfather's companion at their home, where he had been living, at the Red Lake Indian Reservation. He drove to Red Lake Senior High School. Armed with his grandfather's police weapons, Weise killed five students, one teacher, and one security guard, wounding seven others, before committing suicide.[12]
July 26, 1764Greencastle, Pennsylvania102Enoch Brown school massacre: Perhaps the earliest shooting to happen on school or college property, in what would become the United States, was the notorious Enoch Brown school massacre during the Pontiac's War. Four Delaware (Lenape) American Indians entered the schoolhouse near present-day Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and shot and killed schoolmaster Enoch Brown and nine children (reports vary). Only two children survived. However, this incident may only incidentally be considered a school shooting because only the teacher was shot, while the other nine victims were killed with melee weapons. [13][14]
April 2, 2012Oakland, California73Oikos University shooting: 43-year-old One L. Goh was accused of shooting dead seven students with a handgun and wounding three others at Oikos University, a Christian college. He fled the scene, stealing a victim's car, and was apprehended hours later nearby. Goh was charged with seven counts of murder. In January 2013, Goh was determined to be mentally unfit for trial and committed for treatment.[15]
July 12, 1976Fullerton, California72California State University, Fullerton massacre: The gunman, 37-year-old Edward Charles Allaway, was a custodian at the California State University, Fullerton library. Allaway killed seven people and wounded two others in the library's first-floor lobby and at the building's Instructional Media Center (IMC), located in the basement.
January 17, 1989Stockton, California6[n 1]32Stockton schoolyard shooting: 24-year-old Patrick Edward Purdy fatally shot five children and wounded 32 others at the Cleveland Elementary School before taking his own life. The victims were children of refugees from Southeast Asia. Purdy had a history of violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, and criminality.[16][17]
February 14, 2008DeKalb, Illinois6[n 1]21Northern Illinois University shooting: 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak shot multiple people with a shotgun in a classroom of Northern Illinois University, killing five and injuring 21 before taking his own life. Kazmierczak was not enrolled at the university, but had attended in the years prior to the attack.[18]
November 14, 2017Rancho Tehama Reserve, California6[n 1]18Rancho Tehama Reserve shootings: 43-year-old Kevin Neal injured one student at Rancho Tehama Elementary School and fatally shot five adults at several locations.[19] The secretary heard the gunfire near the school and ordered the school to go on lockdown. After a custodian and the teachers put it into action, Neal rammed a truck into the gate of the school and fired at the classrooms, hitting one student when a bullet pierced the wall. Neal fatally shot himself after sheriff's deputies rammed his vehicle during a pursuit.[19][20]
June 7, 2013Santa Monica, California6[n 1]42013 Santa Monica shooting: 23-year-old John Zawahri began a killing spree at his home. After killing his 55-year-old father, Samir "Sam" Zawahri, and 25-year-old brother, Chris Zawahri, he set the house ablaze. Dressed all in black with body armor and wielding an AR-15-type semi-automatic rifle, Zawahri carjacked 41-year-old Laura Siska, shooting 50-year-old Debra Fine as she attempted to intervene, before forcing Siska to drive to Santa Monica College. Upon arriving on the college campus, Zawahri began shooting at passing vehicles, including a police car and a city bus, leaving three people with minor injuries. Zawahri next targeted a Ford Explorer, killing the driver, 68-year-old campus groundskeeper Carlos Navarro Franco, and fatally wounding the passenger, his 26-year-old daughter Marcela Diaz-Franco, a student at the college, who died two days later. 68-year-old Margarita Gomez, who was collecting cans outside the library, died after being shot in the abdomen and chest. Zawahri opened fire on students who were trying to run away. It ended at the college library where he opened fire on students studying for finals, before being fatally wounded in an exchange of gunfire with responding police officers.[21]
October 2, 2006Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania6[n 1]3West Nickel Mines School shooting: 32-year-old milk truck driver, Charles Carl Roberts IV, killed five Amish girls and wounded five others before killing himself in an Amish school in the hamlet of Nickel Mines, in Bart Township, Lancaster County.[22]
December 13, 1898Charleston, West Virginia61+During the school exhibition, a group of young men tried to break up a student performance. When the teacher Fisher tried to throw them out, they turned on him. Audience members joined the fray. The fight resulted in deaths: Harry Flasher was shot in the heart and instantly killed, Henry Carney was fatally shot in the back, Ralph Jones and two others were also fatally shot, and George Gibson was shot in the hand; Haz Harding had his skull crushed and several others received minor wounds.[23]
November 1, 1991Iowa City, Iowa6[n 1]1University of Iowa shooting: 28-year-old former graduate student Gang Lu killed four members of University of Iowa's faculty and a research student, and seriously wounded another student. 47-year-old professor of physics and astronomy Christoph K. Goertz, 45-year-old associate professor of physics and astronomy Robert Alan Smith, 44-year-old chairman of the physics and astronomy department Dwight R. Nicholson, and 56-year-old associate vice president for academic affairs Dr. Theresa Anne Cleary were shot in the head and died the following day, and 27-year-old research investigator in physics and astronomy Dr. Shan Linhua. 23-year-old Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, Dr. Cleary's temporary student receptionist in the grievance office, survived but was left paralyzed from the neck down. Lu then shot himself in the head and died shortly after police arrived.[24][25][26][27]
March 24, 1998Craighead County, Arkansas510Westside Middle School shootings: 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year-old Andrew Golden killed a teacher and four students and wounded 10 others as Westside Middle School emptied during a fire alarm intentionally set off by Golden.[28][8]
November 12, 1966Mesa, Arizona5218-year-old Bob Smith took seven people hostage at Rose-Mar College of Beauty and ordered them to lie down in a circle. He shot each in the head. Four women and a 3-year-old girl died; a woman and a baby were injured but survived. Police arrested Smith, who reportedly admired Richard Speck and Charles Whitman.[29]
May 6, 1940South Pasadena, California52[n 1]South Pasadena Junior High School murders: Outrage by his dismissal following conflicts with other staff, 38-year-old Verlin H. Spencer shot and killed 62-year-old superintendent of the South Pasadena city schools George C. Bush, 50-year-old principal of South Pasadena High School John E. Alman, and 52-year-old School District business manager Will R. Speer. He then attempted to kill Bush's secretary, 32-year-old Dorothea Talbert; she was struck near the shoulder. He later shot and killed 45-year-old art teacher Ruth Sturgeon, with whom he'd been in conflict, fatally wounding her in the chest and, following an intense struggle, 35-year-old mechanical arts teacher Verner V. Vanderlip, another with whom he had a grievance. Spencer was cornered by police as he attempted to escape through the school cafeteria; as one officer aimed, Spencer pressed the .22 caliber automatic pistol against his right side and fired twice, critically wounding himself. Police later found a suicide note from Spencer to his wife, Polly. He survived his wounds and was tried for murder. Pleading guilty to all charges, he received 5 consecutive life terms. He was discharged from California's Department of Correction in 1977, aged 75. Verlin Spencer died January 11, 1991.[30][31][32][33]
October 24, 2014Marysville, Washington5[n 1]1Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting. 15-year-old freshman Jaylen Fryberg shot five students in the school cafeteria of Marysville Pilchuck High School, fatally wounding four, before committing suicide.[1][34]
May 21, 1998Springfield, Oregon423Thurston High School shooting: After killing his parents at home, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel drove to Thurston High School, where he killed two students and wounded 23 others.[8] After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to 111 years of prison.[35]
May 1, 1992Olivehurst, California410Lindhurst High School shooting: Former student 20-year-old Eric Houston killed three students and one teacher and wounded nine other students and a teacher before surrendering to police.[36][16]
May 4, 1970Kent, Ohio49Kent State shootings: During protests of the Vietnam War at Kent State University, armed National Guard Soldiers opened fire on unarmed students, killing four people.[5][37][38]
March 26, 1893Plain Dealing, Louisiana41During an evening school dance at Plain Dealing High School, a fight broke out. When the smoke cleared, two students were dead, two more were fatally wounded, and the high school's Professor Johnson was wounded in the arm.[39]
October 28, 2002Tucson, Arizona4[n 1]0Failing nursing college student and Gulf War veteran 40-year-old Robert Stewart Flores, Jr. killed three assistant professors of nursing at the University of Arizona, 50-year-old Robin Rogers, 44-year-old Cheryl McGaffic, and 45-year-old Barbara Monroe, before turning the gun on himself.[40]

See also

Notes
  1. Including the perpetrator
  2. Including both perpetrators

References
  1. Crews 2016, p. 4.
  2. "Sandy Hook shooting: What happened?". CNN International. December 2012. Archived from the original on August 20, 2013.
  3. "Sniper In Texas U. Tower Kills 12, Hits 33". The New York Times. August 2, 1966. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016.
  4. Finley 2011, pp. 524-527.
  5. Finley 2014, p. 323.
  6. "Florida school shooting suspect hid among students after massacre". CBS News. CBS/AP. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  7. Burch, Audra D. S. (14 February 2018). "Death Toll Is at 17 and Could Rise in Shooting". The New York Times.
  8. Finley 2014, p. 329.
  9. Klein 2013, pp. 152-153.
  10. "10 Dead in Santa Fe, Texas, School Shooting; Suspect Used Shotgun and Revolver". The New York Times. 2018-05-18. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
  11. Andrew Blankstein; Tom Winter; Jacquellena Carrero (October 1, 2015). "10 Killed in Shooting at Oregon's Umpqua Community College". NBC News. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015.
  12. "School gunman stole police pistol, vest". CNN International. March 23, 2005. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014.
  13. Middleton 2007, p. 171.
  14. Dixon 2005, p. 223.
  15. "Accused gunman in Oakland shooting unfit for trial: judge". London. Reuters. January 7, 2013. Archived from the original on September 30, 2015.
  16. Crews 2016, p. 7.
  17. Jay Mathews; Matt Lait (January 18, 1989). "Rifleman Slays Five At School; 29 Pupils, Teacher Shot in California; Assailant Kills Self". The Washington Post (Washington, D.C.). p. A1. Archived from the original on August 15, 2017.
  18. "18 shot, six dead including gunman, at Northern Illinois University". CNN International. February 14, 2008. Archived from the original on February 15, 2008.
  19. "5 dead at multiple shooting locations in N. California county, including a school; gunman is killed". www.msn.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  20. Branson-Potts, Hailey (November 17, 2017). "Mother driving her boys to school when Rancho Tehama gunman struck shielded her son despite her wounds". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  21. "6th Person Dies As A Result Of Santa Monica Rampage". KCBS-TV/KCAL-TV (Los Angeles, California). June 9, 2013. Archived from the original on June 12, 2013.
  22. "Six killed in Pennsylvania school attack". The San Diego Union-Tribune (San Diego, California). October 2, 2006. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  23. "Virginia Hoodlums". The Herald, Volume 26, Number 74 (Los Angeles, California). December 13, 1898. p. 3. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016.
  24. Phil Hersh; Blair Kamin; Steve Johnson; Teresa Wiltz; Monica Copeland; Matt Murray; Allan Johnson; Helaine Olen; Jerry Crimmins; Eric Detwiler (November 2, 1991). "Student Goes On Killing Spree At Iowa Campus". Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois). Archived from the original on April 19, 2016.
  25. Michel Marriott (November 4, 1991). "Iowa Gunman Was Torn by Academic Challenge". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 10, 2016.
  26. Jim Mann (June 7, 1992). "The Physics of Revenge : When Dr. Lu Gang's American Dream Died, Six People Died With It". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California). Archived from the original on March 25, 2015.
  27. Ruthanne Shpiner (December 10, 2008). "Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, 1968 E008". Berkeley Daily Planet (Berkeley, California). Archived from the original on March 30, 2016.
  28. "From wild talk and friendship, to five deaths in schoolyard". The New York Times. March 29, 1998. Archived from the original on March 14, 2017.
  29. "Youth, 18, Slays 4 Women and Child in Beauty School". The New York Times. November 13, 1966. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016.
  30. Cecilia Rasmussen (July 20, 1997). "A Principal's Bloody Rampage". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California). Archived from the original on October 23, 2012.
  31. Cecilia Rasmussen (May 7, 2010). "Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 7, 1940". Los Angeles Times The Daily Mirror (Los Angeles, California). Archived from the original on April 23, 2016.
  32. "Timeline: 1940 South Pasadena Shooting". KPCC's databases (Pasadena, California). Archived from the original on September 13, 2016.
  33. Nash 1992, p. 534.
  34. "Two dead, four hurt in shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck HS". KING-TV. October 25, 2014. Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  35. Tony Clark (May 21, 1998). "Teen jailed after Oregon high school shooting spree". CNN. Archived from the original on July 13, 2016.
  36. Klein 2013, p. 153.
  37. "Heavy Guard at Kent State After 4 Students Are Killed". The Free Lance–Star, Volume 86, Number 106 (Fredericksburg, Virginia). May 5, 1970. p. 1.
  38. Finley 2011, pp. 247-252.
  39. "Shot to Death at a Dance". The Morning Call, Volume 73, Number 117 (San Francisco, California). March 27, 1893. p. 1. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016.
  40. "4 Dead In Univ. Of Arizona Shooting". CBS News. October 29, 2002. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013.
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