{"id":46581,"date":"2021-10-30T15:58:10","date_gmt":"2021-10-30T15:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/?page_id=46581"},"modified":"2025-12-13T20:14:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T20:14:26","slug":"school-shooting","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/school-shooting\/","title":{"rendered":"School shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The expression \u2018school shooting\u2019 is commonly used to define acts of violence committed with the use of firearms by students or former students, but also by external persons, inside a school.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For almost a century there have been numerous schools around the world that have been the setting for mass killings with dozens of victims being children<\/a>. The United States has the highest number of assaults with firearms in schools<\/strong>, and is consequently the country where the debate surrounding weapons and safety in the classroom has become increasingly heated. However, the number of victims<\/a> is also very high in other countries such as Japan<\/a>, Germany, Finland<\/a> and Russia<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brief history of school shootings around the world<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Michigan, 1927<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Three bombs exploded on May 18 at a school in the village of Bath, causing the highest number of victims in the history of American<\/a> school massacres: Forty-five people died in the attack, most of them being children<\/a>. The perpetrator of the massacre was the previous “treasurer” of the school, who died in the attack. He is said to have been driven to the act by economic problems due to a tax imposed by the school on the community. (NPR, 2021) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scotland \u2013 Colorado, the 90s<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 1996, it was the turn of the Dunblane school massacre in Scotland<\/a>. On March 13 of that year, an armed man entered the town’s elementary school and shot dead sixteen children between the ages of five and six, as well as their teacher. Accused in the past of pedophilia<\/a>, the author wanted revenge on society and, after completing the massacre, committed suicide. (Britannica, 2000)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three years later, on April 20, 1999, back in the United States<\/a>, thirteen students and teachers at the Columbine High School, in Colorado, were killed in a shootout. The perpetrators were two students aged seventeen and eighteen who entered the building armed and opened fire on fellow students and teachers. The two young men proceeded to then take their own lives. (Britannica, 2010)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan \u2013 Germany, 2000-2001<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The new millennium followed the path of bloodshed traced in the previous years and massacres continued all over the world. In 2001, in Japan<\/a>, a man suffering from schizophrenia stabbed eight children<\/a> to death in an elementary school in Ikeda, near Osaka. (The Guardian, 2001)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following year in Erfurt, Germany, a nineteen-year-old boy committed a massacre in his high school. Flunking out twice and recently expelled, he disguised himself as a ninja, armed himself with a gun, and killed eighteen people, fourteen of whom were teachers, before ultimately committing suicide. (The Guardian, 2002)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Ossetia, 2004<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Year 2004 was also the year of a massacre in Beslan, in North Ossetia, an autonomous republic of the Russian<\/a> Federation. Thirty-two terrorists, Islamic fundamentalists and Chechen separatists, entered a school on September 1, kidnapping 1200 adults and children<\/a>. Three days later, special forces raided the institution: a move that resulted in the massacre of 334 people, including 186 children<\/a>, who died during the operation. In 2017, the European Court condemned Moscow’s security forces because they “contributed to causing casualties among the hostages<\/em>.” (CNN World, 2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finland, 2007<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 2007, in Finland<\/a>, an eighteen -year old student opened fire in the high school he was enrolled in, in Tuusula, near Helsinki, killing seven of his classmates as well as the principal of the institute, after which he shot himself. (New York Times, 2007)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Germany \u2013 Azerbaijan, 2009<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 2009, in Winnendem, Germany, a seventeen-year-old killed fifteen people at his former school before committing suicide. (New York Times, 2009)This was followed by a student opening fire in the prestigious State Oil Academy in Baku, Azerbaijan<\/a>. He killed thirteen people before killing himself. (The Guardian, 2009)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connecticut, 2012<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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In 2012, the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut<\/a> shocked the world. A twenty-year-old, after killing his mother, headed to the elementary school where he slaughtered twenty children<\/a> between the ages of six and seven, along with six adults. Committing suicide before the arrival of the police, he had used weapons commonly owned by his mother. (Britannica, 2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crimea, 2018<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

On October 17, 2018, at a vocational school in Kerch, Crimea, an eighteen-year-old student broke into the building and killed twenty people, wounding forty-three, before committing suicide in the library. Among the victims<\/a> were teachers and students, some of whom were underage. The killer acted alone, armed with a shotgun and a device detonated at lunchtime in the crowded cafeteria of the institution. Sources close to the boy revealed his “strong hostility” towards the school and a “desire for revenge against the teachers”. (BBC, 2018)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazil, 2019<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

On March 13, 2019, two armed youths, ages seventeen and twenty-five, fired into the Raul Brasil School in Suzano, in the S\u00e3o Paulo metropolitan region of Brazil<\/a>. The assailants committed suicide after killing at least eight people, almost all of them being young students. The hooded killers burst inside the structure, shooting wildly before committing suicide and leaving about ten people wounded. Inside the state school, police found a .38 caliber revolver, a medieval weapon known as a “beast”, which bears similarities to a crossbow, as well as bottles similar to Molotov cocktails. (BBC, 2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia, 2021<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

An armed young man broke into a school in Russia<\/a> in School No.175 in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, and through gun violence, massacred children<\/a> and young people before being arrested by the police. The death toll was at least nine and among the victims<\/a>, were seven students, probably between thirteen and fifteen years old, a teacher, as well as an employee of the institute. Twenty-one people were injured and eight children<\/a> were hospitalized in serious conditions. According to certain media outlets, the perpetrator used the same model of weapon used by the young man who killed twenty people in a school in Crimea back in 2018. (BBC, 2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recurring traits in the attacks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The brief history of school shootings allows us to highlight two recurring traits in the events: the psychological profile of the assailant and the unsupervised access to different weapons of assault. (Research Gate, 2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychological profile<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It is pivotal to understand the motives that drive young people to resort to assault weapons as a means to channel their anger or problems. Only in 5% of the cases of school shootings, the shooter was suffering from a mental disorder. The rest of the profiles revealed other triggers such as physical or psychological abuse<\/a>, family neglect<\/a>, school bullying<\/a>, criminal history in the family<\/a>, and access to firearms. (Kean University, 2015)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an attempt to better understand the mental architecture of these young killers, a psychological profile was developed. (NPR, 2019) The main characteristics identified were the following (La mente \u00e8 meravigliosa, 2018):<\/p>\n\n\n\n