Five Deadliest School Attacks in the U.S.
A Profile of These Violent Crimes and Their Future Consequences
Sep 23, 2008
School Shooting #1:
Bath School Disaster in Michigan on May 18th, 1927: School board member Andrew Kehoe, who was upset about a property tax instituted to provide for the construction of a school building, blamed the tax for his own financial hardship and farm foreclosure. He consequently murdered his wife, set his farm on fire, and detonated three separate bombs at the nearby Bath school. His attacks killed a total of 45 people and wounded 58.
Kehoe had a somewhat violent history. When his stepmother was accidentally set on fire, Kehoe reportedly watched her burn for a short while before putting water on her. She later died. Kehoe was also known to be abusive to his farm animals, once beating a horse to death. However, unlike future incidences of school violence, the Bath disaster would have no political, social or legislative consequences.
School Shooting #2:
University of Texas, Austin Massacre on August 1st, 1966: From an observation deck on the university rooftop, Charles Whitman, a student, killed 14 people and wounded 31 others by sniper fire after murdering his mother and his wife. In his suicide note, Whitman requested an autopsy to confirm his own suspicions that he was suffering from a brain tumor, which was potentially giving him violent impulses. The tumor was indeed confirmed. Whitman had sought help on one occasion from a psychiatrist but felt his concerns were not taken seriously. After this shooting, SWAT teams were established and President Lyndon Johnson lobbied for stricter gun control.
Shooting #3:
Columbine High School Massacre in Colorado on April 20th, 1999: Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, brutally massacred 13 people and wounded 23 others before killing themselves.
The boys initially planned to bomb the school cafeteria and shoot any students fleeing the scene, but the bombs failed to detonate. The boys began brutally and methodically shooting students outside, on the inner staircases, in the school cafeteria, in classrooms, in hallways and in the library. After the rampage, Harris and Klebold eventually made their way back to the library, where they both committed suicide.
The Columbine massacre had multiple consequences. It provoked a discussion on bullying and high school cliques, as both boys felt isolated and teased by their classmates. Many schools sought anti-bullying programs after Columbine. Also, both boys were portrayed as "Goth" or "nerds," which instigated a larger social assessment of these expressions. The boys were both fans of violent video games, music and movies, which provoked a national discussion on the relationship between watching violence and a consequential desensitization towards violence.
The Columbine Massacre also initiated a debate regarding gun control laws and the availability of guns to teenagers, as well as a discussion about taking teenagers seriously when they made claims of depression, anger, or violence. Lastly, after Columbine many schools initiated a "zero-tolerance" policy regarding weapons and threats of violence, and some installed new security measures including metal detectors and security guards.
School Shooting #4:
Red Lake High School Massacre in Minnesota on March 21st, 2005: Sixteen year old Jeffrey Weise shot and killed seven students on campus at a reservation high school, and wounded fourteen others. Prior to the school shooting, Weise murdered his grandfather and his grandfather’s girlfriend with a pistol. Weise then he stole two of his grandfather’s police-issued weapons, drove to school, and shot the security guard and several students. After a brief shoot-out with police, Weise retreated into a classroom and committed suicide.
The Red Lake Massacre also provoked a discussion about movies and violence, as Weise had seemed to idolize a portion of the movie "Elephant" which shows two students engaging in school violence. Weise had also created violent animated pieces on the Internet and had written expressions of his rage. After the shooting, the school installed metal detectors and hired heavier security.
School Shooting #5:
Virginia Tech Massacre, on April 16th, 2007: Gunman Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded many others. Cho first shot and killed two students in a dormitory. He then went back to his own dorm room, while police were responding. Cho deleted the hard drive on his computer and threw it into a nearby pond, and mailed a package of his writings and video recordings to NBC. He then entered another building with over 400 rounds of ammunition, chained the doors shut, and began shooting students. Once police gained access to the building, Cho committed suicide.
Cho had a complex psychiatric background. He had been diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder in middle school, yet his mental health problems were unable to be disclosed to Virginia Tech due to privacy laws. Several professors had reported Cho’s disturbing writing, and after he was investigated for stalking two female students in 2005, Cho was declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice. However, even though Cho had a history of mental illness, he was still able to purchase handguns. This would later spark the first passage of federal gun control in many years.
The school was later criticized for not properly warning students, and for not locking down the campus after the initial shooting of the two students. Government officials in other countries joined in the criticism. These rumblings did, however, eventually died down.
Overview
None of these profiles can truly depict the heartache, sorrow, and anger that each of the families of the victims must have felt. No amount of speculation or controversy will ever erase their pain. The best that people can do collectively is to understand and interpret these crimes, and do their best to prevent future incidences of school violence.
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