K-12 School Shooting Database

Methodology

Learn more about how we complied this data through extensive research following this three step process:

STEP 1: DATABASE COMPILATION AND PRELIMINARY RESEARCH
STEP 2: DETAILED RESEARCH
STEP 3: RELIABILITY SCORING

About the Database and CHDS

The School Shooting Database Project is conducted as part of the Advanced Thinking in Homeland Security (HSx) program at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS).

The Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) is located at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. Since 2003, CHDS has conducted a wide range of programs focused on assisting current and emerging leaders in Homeland Defense and Security to develop the policies, strategies, programs and organizational elements needed to defeat terrorism and prepare for and respond to natural disasters and public safety threats across the United States.

Visit CHDS Learn about the team

K-12 SSDB News See All News

"Responding to Shooting Threats: Strategies for Schools" (webinar)

Free webinar held on 12/17/2021 to address viral threats of “National School Shooting Day” on TikTok and other social media platforms. Panel (David Riedman, Jillian Peterson, and James Densley) discuss best practices for school-based threat assessment programs and recent trends in rapidly growing number of threats made against schools across the country.

Assessing Shooting Threats Is a Matter of Life or Death. Why Aren’t Experts Better at It?

Assessing Shooting Threats Is a Matter of Life or Death. Why Aren’t Experts Better at It? There is no playbook for schools, and they need all the help they can get By David Riedman, Jillian Peterson & James Densley — December 16, 2021 (Published by Education Week) David Riedman is the co-creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database at the Naval Postgraduate...

The rise in school shooting threats is alarming — and a cry for help

BY JAMES DENSLEY, DAVID RIEDMAN AND JILLIAN PETERSON (Published by Los Angeles Times) NOV. 5, 2021 “I hate Ms. [school principal]. … On Friday, October 29, I am going to take my dad’s shotgun and shoot her … after that I will go into my first period class and shoot it up. … I know the...

School shootings are increasing — and changing. Easily accessible guns are to blame.

Opinion: School shootings are increasing — and changing. Easily accessible guns are to blame. By Jillian Peterson, James Densley and David Riedman (Published by The Washington Post October 8, 2021 at 8:00 a.m. EDT Jillian Peterson is a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Hamline University. James Densley is a professor of criminal justice at...

Tweets by @K12ssdb

K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

@maxschachter We have lots of data, lots of research, and lots of best practices. Our focus needs to be transforming those concepts into practice. If the same operational failures keep occurring, there is a fundamental problem that needs to be addressed.

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

"Schools face threats on social media, in classrooms, in scribblings on walls, said. There is no uniform training for how personnel should assess threats and, according to Riedman (@david_riedman)." via @PerryStein washingtonpost.com/education/2022…

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

Biggest failure at Robb Elementary is we didn't stop it *before* the first shot was fired. Every warning sign and red flag was there. People who knew the shooter had an opportunity to de-escalate this if they knew how. We need crisis intervention programs in every community.

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

"What we can see is common characteristics between the shooters. A pathway to violence they followed. And if we can recognize that early, we can stop the next shooting before it happens," Riedman said. wptv.com/news/region-c-…

Florida man creates tool to study school violence

Many different faith leaders will gather at a Lake Worth Beach mosque just south of Lantana Road on Friday evening for a small rally calling to stop gun violence in the wake of a deadly mass shooting at a Texas elementary school.

WPTV

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

Since 1970, there have been at least 188 indiscriminate school shootings, according to a New York Times analysis of data from the K-12 School Shooting Database. via @PostOpinions washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

@USATODAY @usatodayopinion Hydra-rams are on every fire apparatus in the country. Many were at Robb Elementary. Interagency coordination is a priority of every single active shooter or school shooting exercise. This failure to communicate the challenge and leverage resources is beyond explanation.

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

@ari4change Firefighters force open steel doors during building fires all the time. Just requires appropriate tools and training.

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

--Break from Robb Elementary-- Police responded to Riverside University High (WI) twice on Tuesday for shots fired during fights. Shots fired at 11:00am, shooter fled Shots fired at 12:30pm, shooter fled

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

School staff member found a person dead in the parking lot of Mevers School of Excellence (SC). Victim identified as a Berkeley County Sheriff's Deputy who was off duty. Multiple casings found. Ruled homicide. School moved to remote learning. No other details.

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

In 1986, a barricade situation at Cokeville Elementary (WY) had a disastrous ending when 79 students were burned by gasoline bombs detonated by one of two adult shooters during a shootout with police. Lessons learned from the past can prevent mistakes from being repeated.

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

Researchers scoured news reports and court records to build a database of school shootings going back to 1970. @sharonlurye @usnews

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@K12ssdb

Since 2013, 77 students in grades K-12 have been killed in 11 school mass shootings, each involving at least one student fatality and four or more gunshot victims overall, based on my analysis of the K-12 School Shooting Database. via @BostonGlobe bostonglobe.com/2022/05/27/opi…

Responses to school shootings should be based on the level of risk, not the level of fear - The Boston Globe

The fear of school shootings is rampant, and understandable, but this is not an epidemic. We can make schools safer without turning them into armed fortresses.

BostonGlobe.com

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

2021 set a record for the most school shootings since 1970, with 249 incidents, including active shooters and times when a gun was drawn but no shots were fired, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. via @csmonitor csmonitor.com/USA/2022/0527/…

Sandy Hook Promise: School shootings don’t have to be inevitable

As school shootings have mounted, so too has a sense of helplessness. Sandy Hook Promise provides training in concrete steps that target prevention.

The Christian Science Monitor

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

Standard procedure for school "lockdown" is to lock all doors. Based on that procedure, first responders should be trained and equipped if they encounter locked doors. Something has gone very wrong if the basics are being overlooked in training and exercises.

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

Need to open a locked classroom door in seconds? The fire department is also on the scene of a major incident like the school shooting at Robb Elementary.

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

How to force open a door in seconds via the Forth Worth, TX fire department. This tool is on every fire apparatus. Coordination between police and fire should be seamless during a school shooting. Years of training has emphasized this. youtube.com/watch?v=odSaPJ…

Hydra-Ram

The use and maintenance of the Hydra-Ram (Rabbit tool)

YouTube

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

@GMA This is on every fire apparatus in the country. Many were at the scene. A door can be opened in seconds.

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

Every single fire apparatus in the country has a hydra-ram. It slides into a door frame and breaks any standard doorlock. There was at least 1, probably many of them, at Robb Elementary. Interagency communication is part of every single school shooting training and exercise.

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

@GarrettHaake Every single fire apparatus in the country has a hydra-ram that can open a locked door in seconds. Multiple were on the scene. Multi-agency coordination was a lesson learned from 9/11.

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K-12 School Shooting Database

@K12ssdb

@brianstelter @ShimonPro In addition to police at Robb Elementary, fire apparatus were at the school. Every single engine/truck has a "forcible entry kit", Halligan bar, hydra-ram, ax, and many other tools. Multiagency coordination is essential! No lock should prevent first responders from getting in.

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