School Shootings

Education news, analysis, and opinion about gun violence at schools and during school events

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Sign indicating school zone.
School Shootings This Year: How Many and Where
Education Week is tracking K-12 school shootings in 2024 with injuries or deaths. See the number of incidents and where they occurred.
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Frank DeAngelis, center, greets well-wishers during a vigil at the memorial for victims of the massacre at Columbine High School more than 20 years earlier in Littleton, Colo. on Friday, April 19, 2019. DeAngelis was principal of the school at the time of the attack. The school district is considering razing the current building and putting up a new structure.
Frank DeAngelis, center, greets well-wishers during a vigil at the memorial for victims of the massacre at Columbine High School more than 20 years earlier in Littleton, Colo. on Friday, April 19, 2019. DeAngelis was principal of the school at the time of the attack. The school district is considering razing the current building and putting up a new structure.
David Zalubowski/AP
School & District Management Video 'The Work Is Therapy': Principals Help Each Other Recover From School Shootings
The Principal Recovery Network supports school leaders who've experienced a violent incident on campus.
Olina Banerji & Sam Mallon, June 26, 2024
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2 min read
Forest High School students console one another after a school shooting at Forest High School Friday, April 20, 2018 in Ocala, Fla. One student shot another in the ankle at the high school and a suspect is in custody, authorities said Friday. The injured student was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Forest High School students console one another after a school shooting at Forest High School Friday, April 20, 2018 in Ocala, Fla. One student shot another in the ankle at the high school and a suspect is in custody, authorities said Friday. The injured student was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Doug Engle/Star-Banner via AP
School & District Management Video 'Students Never Forget': Principals Call for Help After School Shootings
School leaders are lobbying Congress for more financial support for schools that experience gun violence.
Olina Banerji & Sam Mallon, June 18, 2024
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2 min read
Students, teachers, victims' families and passersby watch, Friday, June 14, 2024, as crews start the demolition of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School building where 17 people died in the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. Officials plan to complete the weeks-long project before the school's 3,300 students return in August from summer vacation.
Students, teachers, and victims' families are among those watching on June 14, 2024, as crews start the demolition of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School building in Parkland, Fla., where 17 people died in the 2018 mass shooting. Officials plan to complete the weeks-long project before students return from summer vacation.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
School & District Management Photos Six Years After Parkland Tragedy, Crews Demolish a Painful Reminder
The school building in Florida where a gunman killed 17 people is being pulled down. Victims' families have toured the site with lawmakers to push for change.
Evie Blad & Jaclyn Borowski, June 14, 2024
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4 min read
School staff cheer as students returned to in-person classes at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, following a shooting on Oct. 24, 2022, that killed a student and a teacher. Kacy Shahid, then the school's principal, faced the challenge of guiding the school community through recovery as she struggled herself to process the events.
School staff cheer as students returned to in-person classes at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, following a shooting on Oct. 24, 2022, that killed a student and a teacher. Kacy Shahid, then the school's principal, faced the challenge of guiding the school community through recovery as she struggled herself to process the events.
Jim Salter/AP
School Climate & Safety What Helped These K-12 Leaders After School Shootings
School shootings leave deep and lasting impact on the community, including those charged with leading students and staff in the aftermath.
Caitlynn Peetz, May 16, 2024
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5 min read
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School Climate & Safety Video WATCH: Columbine Author on Myths, Lessons, and Warning Signs of Violence
David Cullen discusses how educators still grapple with painful lessons from the 1999 shooting.
Evie Blad & Catriona Ni Aolain, April 19, 2024
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1 min read
A group protesting school safety in Laurel County, K.Y., on Feb. 21, 2018. In the wake of a mass shooting at a Florida high school, parents and educators are mobilizing to demand more school safety measures, including armed officers, security cameras, door locks, etc.
A group calls for additional school safety measures in Laurel County, Ky., on Feb. 21, 2018, following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in which 14 students and three staff members died. Districts have invested billions in personnel and physical security measures in the 25 years since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
Claire Crouch/Lex18News via AP
School Climate & Safety 25 Years After Columbine, America Spends Billions to Prevent Shootings That Keep Happening
Districts have invested in more personnel and physical security measures to keep students safe, but shootings have continued unabated.
Mark Lieberman, April 18, 2024
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9 min read
Candles burn at a makeshift memorial near Columbine High School on April 27, 1999, for each of the of the 13 people killed during a shooting spree at the Littleton, Colo., school.
Candles burn at a makeshift memorial near Columbine High School on April 27, 1999, for each of the of the 13 people killed during a shooting spree at the Littleton, Colo., school.
Michael S. Green/AP
School Climate & Safety How Columbine Shaped 25 Years of School Safety
Columbine ushered in the modern school safety era. A quarter decade later, its lessons remain relevant—and sometimes elusive.
Evie Blad, April 17, 2024
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14 min read
Image of a school hallway with icons representing lockdowns, SRO, metal detectors.
via Canva
School Climate & Safety Most Teachers Worry a Shooting Could Happen at Their School
Teachers say their schools could do more to prepare them for an active-shooter situation.
Evie Blad, April 11, 2024
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4 min read
Four roses are placed on a fence to honor Hana St. Juliana, 14, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Tate Myre, 16, and Justin Shilling, 17, the four teens killed in last week's shooting, outside Oxford High School in Oxford, Mich., on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021.
Four roses are placed on a fence outside Oxford High School in Oxford, Mich., honor Hana St. Juliana, 14, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Tate Myre, 16, and Justin Shilling, 17, the four teens killed in the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting at the school.
Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP
Law & Courts Oxford School Shooter's Parents Were Convicted. Holding District Liable Could Be Tougher
The conviction of parents in the Oxford, Mich., case expanded the scope of responsibility, but it remains difficult to hold schools liable.
Mark Walsh, April 10, 2024
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12 min read
Visitors walk past a makeshift memorial honoring those recently killed at Robb Elementary School, Tuesday, July 12, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. A Texas lawmaker says surveillance video from the school hallway where police waited as a gunman opened fire in a fourth-grade classroom will be shown this weekend to residents of Uvalde.
Visitors walk past a makeshift memorial on July 12, 2022, honoring those killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in a May 2022 school shooting. Nearly a year after the Uvalde shooting, lawmakers in Texas passed a bill requiring that every public school classroom have a panic alarm system.
Eric Gay/AP
School Climate & Safety Could Panic Buttons Save Lives in a School Shooting? More Schools Think So
There's legislative momentum to require panic alarm systems in schools. But many districts are installing the systems without a mandate.
Caitlynn Peetz, January 30, 2024
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6 min read
Attorney General Merrick Garland, right, and Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, left, tour murals of shooting victims on Jan. 17, 2024, in Uvalde, Texas.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, right, and Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, left, tour murals of shooting victims on Jan. 17, 2024, in Uvalde, Texas. Details of the U.S. Department of Justice Department's long-awaited investigation into the tragedy were released Jan. 18.
Eric Gay/AP
School Climate & Safety 'Cascade of Failures' in Response to Uvalde School Shooting, Investigation Finds
The long-awaited federal review emphasized law enforcement failures, but also noted lapses in the district's safety policies.
Evie Blad, January 18, 2024
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6 min read
Police respond to Perry High School in Perry, Iowa., on Jan. 4, 2024. Police say there has been a shooting at the city's high school.
Police respond to Perry High School in Perry, Iowa., on Jan. 4, 2024. Police say there has been a shooting at the city's high school.
Andrew Harnik/AP
School Climate & Safety 6th Grader Killed and 5 Others Injured in Iowa School Shooting
The shooting was reported early Thursday, before classes began.
Caitlynn Peetz & Mark Lieberman, January 4, 2024
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4 min read
Photo of no gun sign on door.
iStock
School Climate & Safety School Shootings in 2023: Fewer Injuries and Deaths While Gun Violence Continues
Fewer people died or were injured than in the previous two years. But EdWeek still counted 38 school shootings.
Mark Lieberman, Hyon-Young Kim & Holly Peele, December 29, 2023
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2 min read
Illustration of teen boy making threats on social media.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
School Climate & Safety Opinion The Troubling Legal Gap in Schools' Ability to Prevent Mass Shootings
I'm a school district lawyer. You don't want to know how many principals bring me violent threats they're not sure how to act on.
Chris W. McCarty, November 1, 2023
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5 min read
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