Report: Frequency of school shootings has increased dramatically since Columbine
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The frequency of school shootings has increased dramatically since the Columbine massacre in 1999, according to a new report from Tarleton State University.
Researchers with the Institute for Predictive Analytics in Criminal Justice (IPAC) compiled more than 20 years of data to find what school shootings have in common and what can be done to prevent them.
"After all these school shootings, both political parties, they represent reality as they see reality fit their agenda," said IPAC founder Dr. Alex del Carmen, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts at Tarleton State University. "We feel compelled to actually look at this and look at it from a scientific perspective to see what we learned from it."
The analysis looked at more than 300 school shootings that have happened in the U.S. since Columbine, excluding any incidents at college or university campuses.
Researchers found some compelling patterns in the data:
- 96% of school shooters were male
- 65% percent of these shootings took place on high school campuses
- 63% percent of the shooters were between 14 and 18 years old, which means most were too young to legally obtain a weapon
"It puts families on notice that that the individuals that are going to go into a school and shoot at a school are going to be using weapons that they have access to," Dr. del Carmen said.
The report also found that most school shootings aren't random. Schools are most often targeted for specific reasons by shooters with some type of relationship to the campus.
The shooter was a current or former student 60% of the time.
"That prompts us to rethink how we think of security," said Dr. del Carmen. "It's not just a matter of keeping strangers or bad people away from the school, but it's also the idea that somebody that goes to that school can actually be a shooter, and in fact make it really difficult for law enforcement to be able to address the issue."
The data also shows that as shootings move inside school buildings, they are more likely to result in injury and death.
Researchers say that's a key point for districts to consider as they create security policies.
"And then finally, we looked at the fact that most of the shooters were reacting to a grievance that they had," Dr. del Carmen said. "Basically that they were angry at the school, they were angry at individuals in the school, they had expressed that anger through social media."
Dr. del Carmen says that means schools should take any threats or complaints seriously, as they work to address bulling, and everyone should report concerning online posts or actions to law enforcement.
School shootings are still rare events, but they have increased significantly in recent years.
According to this report, there were 41 in 2021, the most ever in a single year. Between 1999 and 2017, the highest amount was 15.