Of the 13 mass shootings in schools that have taken place in the United States, the three deadliest have occurred in the last decade. Data from these attacks helped criminologists build a profile of the gunmen.
When the Columbine High School massacre took place in 1999, it was considered a watershed moment in America: the worst mass shooting at a school in the country’s history.
Now, it ranks fourth. The three school shootings that have surpassed their 13 fatalities figure – 12 students and a teacher – have all taken place in the past decade: the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School attack, in which a gunman killed 26 children and school teachers; the 2018 shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which claimed the lives of 17 people; and now the assault on the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde (Texas), where on May 24, 2022, at least 19 children and two adults were murdered.
We are criminologists who study the biographies of the attackers in mass shootings in the United States. As part of that investigation, we built a comprehensive database of these shootings using public data, with more than 200 different variables, including location and racial profiling.
For the purposes of our database, mass public shootings are defined as incidents in which four or more victims are killed and at least one of those killings takes place in a public place and is unconnected to underlying criminal activity, such as gangs or drugs.
Our database shows that since 1966, the year his timeline begins, there have been 13 such shootings at schools across the United States, the first in Stockton, California, in 1989.
Four of those shootings — including the one at Robb Elementary School — involved a murder elsewhere, each of a family member at a private home. It is reported that the attacker in this latest case shot his grandmother before going to Uvalde’s school, although this has yet to be officially confirmed.
a single shooter
Nearly all mass school shootings have been carried out by a single gunman. Only two – the Columbine shooting and the 1988 Westside School shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas – were carried out by two gunmen. In total, some 146 people were killed in the attacks and at least 182 were injured.
Calling the perpetrators of these massacres “gunmen” is apt: all of the mass school shootings in our database were carried out by men or boys. And the median age of those involved in the attacks was 18.
This matches details that have emerged of the shooter in the Robb Elementary School attack. He turned 18 just a few days ago and bought two military-grade weapons that are believed to have been used in the attack.
Police have yet to release key information about the shooter, including what motivated him to kill the children and adults at Robb Elementary School. The image of the shooter that has transcended fits the profile that we have built from previous authors in some aspects, but differs in others.
Differences and similarities
We know that most school attackers have a connection to the school they attack. Twelve of the fourteen shooters in our database prior to the latest attack in Texas were current or former students of the school. No prior connection between the latest shooter and Robb Elementary School has been revealed.
Our research and dozens of interviews with jailed mass shooting perpetrators suggest that for most perpetrators, the mass shooting is intended as a final act. Most perpetrators of mass school shootings die in the attack. Of the 15 perpetrators listed in our database, only seven were arrested. The rest died at the scene, almost all by suicide. The one exception was the elementary school shooter Robb, who was killed by police.
In addition, school shooters tend to anticipate their attacks by leaving messages or videos warning of their intentions.
Inspired by previous attackers, some of these gunslingers seek fame and notoriety. However, most school attackers are motivated by anger. Their path to violence involves self-hatred and a despair that turns against the world.
Our research finds that they often communicate their intent to harm in advance as a last desperate cry for help. The key to stopping these tragedies is for society to be aware of these warning signs and act immediately.
This article has been published in The Conversation
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