School Shootings Research

Since 2013, there have been 153 school shootings in the United States, although not all have resulted in injury or death. Some of the most horrifying school shootings include the 1966 University of Texas clock tower shooting, the 1999 Columbine High School shooting and the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. More recent was the school shooting that killed 20 children and 6 adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Most parents want to believe that their children are safe in school, but statistics show that instances of gun violence are still a justifiable concern.
The first example of a university mass shooting is the University of Texas clock tower shooting. In 1966 a former eagle scout and marine, Charles Whitman, carried several pistols,
The shooters were 18-year old Eric Harris and 17-year old Dylan Klebold. Both adolescents attended the high school. They arrived at approximately 11:10 in the morning in the school cafeteria, carrying two duffel bags, each with a 20-pound propane bomb. Eric and Dylan started their shooting spree at 11:19 after the bombs failed to detonate. The first shot students outside of the school, until finally making their way into the school library. By 11:35, Eric and Dylan had killed 12 students and one teacher and wounded more than twenty others. The school shooting ended around 12 PM when the two teens turned their guns on themselves and committed suicide. The SWAT team entered the school 45 minutes after the shooting began, and it took them 5 hours to declare that the school was
Adam Lanza, a Newtown resident, masterminded the attack. His first victim was l his mother, Nancy, whom he killed with a .22 caliber Savage Mark II rifle. After her death, he drove her car to Sandy Hook five miles away. Around 9:30AM, he arrived at the school. A new security system has just been installed, but Lanza shot his way through the entrance. The first people to respond to the noise were the principal, Dawn Hochsprung, and the school psychologist, Mary Sherlach, followed by the Vice Principal, Natalie Hammond. Lanza kills Hochsprung and Sherlach and Hammond is severely injured. Soon after, Lanza enters the classroom of substitute teacher Lauren Rousseau, and he kills 14 children, Rousseau, and the teacher's aide. He then enters the classroom of Victoria Soto, where he kills 6 children, Soto and the teacher's aide. In the same classroom, Lanza commits suicide, ending his massacre that lasted less than 11 minutes. Even with a new security system, Sandy Hook still fell victim to this horrifying