School violence has been a persistent problem in the United States. For example, on January 29, 1979, a 16-year-old opened fire on Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, CA. She killed two adults and wounded eight students and one police officer, for seemingly no reason at all. In each decade since, we have experienced tragedies of this kind. In the 1980s, communities across the country suffered from school killings—in Alabama and Nevada, in Missouri and Kansas, in Washington, North Carolina, Michigan, and Virginia. The incidents continued during the 1990s and never stopped there.
January 29, 1979 Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, CA—two adults killed, eight students and one police officer wounded
October 31, 1980 Hueytown High School in Hueytown, AL—one student wounded, shooter takes his own life
March 19, 1982 Valley High School in Las Vegas, NV—one teacher killed, two students wounded
January 20, 1983 Parkway South Junior High in St. Louis, MO—one student killed, one wounded, shooter takes his own life
January 21, 1985 Goddard Junior High School in Goddard, KS—school principal killed, two teachers and one student wounded
November 27, 1985 Spanaway Junior High School in Spanaway, WA—two students killed, shooter takes her own life
May 9, 1986 Pine Forest High School in Fayetteville, NC—three students wounded, one critically
April 17, 1987 Murray Wright High School in Detroit, MI—one student killed, two wounded
December 16, 1988 Atlantic Shores Christian School in Virginia Beach, VA—two teachers shot, one fatally
January 17, 1989 Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, CA—five students killed, 29 others wounded, shooter takes his own life
February 2, 1996 Frontier Middle School in Moses Lake, WA—one teacher and two students killed, another student wounded
October 1, 1997 Pearl High School in Pearl, MS—shooter kills his mother then kills two classmates and injures seven others
December 1, 1997 Heath High School in West Paducah, KY—three students killed and five others wounded
March 24, 1998 Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, AR—four students and one teacher killed, 11 others wounded 6 Federal Commission on School Safety
March 25, 2001 Santana High School in Santee, CA—two students killed and 13 wounded
December 5, 2001 Springfield High School in Springfield, MA—school counselor killed
April 14, 2003 John McDonogh Senior High School in New Orleans, LA—one student killed and three wounded
September 24, 2003 Rocori High School in Cold Spring, MN—two students killed
March 21, 2005 Red Lake High School in Red Lake, MN—after killing his grandparents, shooter kills five students, a teacher,
and an unarmed security guard
April 16, 2007 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, VA—shooter kills 32 people, takes his
own life
February 27, 2012 Chardon High School in Chardon, OH—three students killed and two wounded
December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, CT—shooter kills his mother, 20 students, and six adults before
taking his own life
October 21, 2013 Sparks Middle School in Sparks, NV—shooter kills a teacher, wounds two classmates, and takes his own life
December 13, 2013 Arapahoe High School in Centennial, CO—one student killed, shooter takes his own life
May 27, 2014 University of California Santa Barbara, CA—six students killed, 14 wounded, shooter takes his own life
June 10, 2014 Reynolds High School in Troutdale, OR—one student killed, one teacher wounded, shooter takes his own life
October 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Marysville, WA—four students killed and a fifth critically wounded
April 10, 2017 North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino, CA—one teacher and one student killed, one student
wounded, shooter takes his own life
January 23, 2018 Marshall County High School in Benton, KY—two students killed, 18 other people wounded
February 14, 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL—14 students and three teachers killed
May 18, 2018 Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, TX—eight students and two teachers killed, 10 others wounded.
SOURCE: FINAL REPORT OF THE FEDERAL COMMISSION ON SCHOOL SAFETY