School Violence 2010-2011

Violence in Our Schools

August 1, 2010 through July 31, 2011

School Violence Around the World Date Stats It's Not Always About the Gun School Violence Links Guest Book Email Me

To report a threat of school violence before the instigator has a chance to act on his/her intentions, please contact Speak Up at 1-866-SPEAKUP (that is 1-866-773-2587)

I would like to thank all of the Survivors and others who have contacted me with information about school violence. I really do appreciate the help, for without their help, several of these occurrences would not be here.

One other thing I would like to ask of those who read over this list of tragedies is this: If you can provide me with any more details of any of these incidents, I would greatly appreciate the information. Or, if you know of another violent act at a school that is not on this list, please forward that information to me as well. The link to my e-mail is above.

Boshan District Experimental Kindergarten, Zibo, Shandong Province, China

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

School violence continues in China even as the new year gets underway. Around four this afternoon, Fang Jiantang, a 26-year-old man, entered the kindergarten as parents were picking up their children. He began slashing at the students with a 24-inch knife. He wounded 20 children and staff members and killed three children and one teacher. He was detained by the police the next morning. State run media did not report this attack, fearing copycat attacks, however Xinhua News Agency did release an English-language report lat Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo! News - 3 Children, Teacher Killed in China Attack; New York Times - 4 Believed Dead in China School Attack

Greensburg High School, Greensburg, Indiana

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Students said it was common knowledge that they bullied 15-year-old Billy Lucas for being different. Although Billy never told anyone he was gay, his classmates thought he was and they picked on him. They even went so far as to say to Billy to kill himself. Today, Billy's mother found him hanging from the rafters in their barn. Principal Phil Chapple didn't deny that his students were being bullied, however, he did say he didn't know Billy was one of the students being tormented by his classmates.

Webmaster's note: Even though Billy took his own life on the family farm, I am including it on my list because of the amount of bullying that Billy endured, leading him to take his life.

Source: Fox 59 - Bullied Greensburg Student Takes His Own Life

University of Texas, Austin, Texas

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Sophomore math major Colton Tooley, 19, put on a dark suit and walked to the fountain in front of the UT Tower. He donned a ski mask, pulled out an AK-47assault rifle and opened fire on his classmates. He then walked to the library, which is several blocks away, shooting randomly as he went. Once inside the library, he went up to the sixth floor and killed himself. Just over 44 years ago, Charles Whitman opened fire on students and passer-bys from atop the Tower in one of the deadliest shooting rampages ever.

Source: Yahoo! News - Gunman Opens Fire at UT in Austin, Kills Himself

Mid-Atlantic Christian University, Elizabeth City, North Carolina

Sunday, October 3, 2010

A dispute between sophomore Jonathan Schipper and Pinetops auxiliary police officer Christopher Amyx, 23 ended with Jonathan dead in Christopher's dorm room and Christopher in the hallway holding an unloaded gun. The shooting occured around 1 p.m. Christopher surrendered to the police when they arrived on scene but so far has not been charged. The university has a student body population of 180. Pinetops is two hours away to the southwest of Elizabeth City.

Source: Associated Press Bible College Student Killed in Dorm; UPI - One Dead in Shooting at Christian College; WAVY-TV - School Shooting Suspect ID'ed as Officer

Kelly Elementary School, Carlsbad, California

Friday, October 8, 2010

Just after noon today, 41-year-old Brendan Liam O'Rourke opened fire on students outside the school during their lunch period. He was carrying a .357 Magnum handgun and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and black pants. His flying bullets grazed the arms of two second-grade girls, one 6 and the other 7. The two girls were flown to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego for treatment. Construction workers at the school were able to apprehend Brendan and hold him until the police arrived. He is charged with six counts of attempted murder and numerous weapons violations.

Source: CNN - Police: Gunman Faces Six Counts of Attempted Murder in School Shooting; Los Angeles Times - Gunman Captured in School Playground Shooting; KGTV Channel 10 - Man Accused in School Shooting Described as Loner

Talisayan Elementary School, Zamboanga City, Philippines

Friday, October 22, 2010

Just before two this afternoon, Felin Mateo, an ex-convict, burst into a classroom at Talisayan Elementary School and stabbed a teacher to death. He then went into another room on the second floor, rounded up 5th grade students and moved them into a restroom and began stabbing them one by one. Parents of the students tackled Felin, pelted him with rocks and stabbed him to death with his own machete. In all, a female teacher, a 12-year-old female student, the student's grandfather (who was visiting the school at the time) and Felin died during this act of school violence. The grandfather was part of the group of parents who tackled Felin to end this tragic event. Four students and two teachers were wounded and taken to Zamboanga's Brent Hospital for treatment.

Source: MSN - Convicted Killer Stabs 5th Graders, Teachers; Philippine Star - Teacher, Student Stabbed to Death in Zamboanga; AFP - Knifeman Kills Three in Philippines School Attack

Marinette High School, Marinette, Wisconsin

Monday, November 29, 2010

Around 1:30 this afternoon, a social studies class began watching a movie when 15-year-old sophomore Samuel Hengel asked to use the restroom. When he returned a few minutes later, he came in carrying two handguns, a 9 mm semi-automatic and a .22-caliber semi-automatic. He shot the projector and then fired another round. Samuel ordered his 23 classmates to pile their cell phones in the middle of the room. During the siege, his own cell phone went off. He snapped it in half and added it to the pile. He refused to talk to the teacher, Valerie Burd, but he did talk with his classmates. They talked about his passion of hunting and fishing. They even got Samuel to laugh once, but he still refused to let any of them leave the room. After holding his classmates hostage for almost five hours, Samuel let Zach Campbell, one of the students, and four others out of the room to use the restroom. Once the students were in the hallway, police whisked them to safety. About 20 minutes later, the police heard three shots from the teen gunman. They broke down the door and saw Samuel standing at the front of the classroom. He shot himself as the police officers approached him. He was rushed to the hospital for treatment of the self-inflicted wound. Samuel died on Tuesday, November 30, 2010. Marinette High School has about 800 students and lies 50 miles north of Green Bay.

Source: Yahoo! News - Wis. Students Chatted with Gunman to Keep Him Calm; MSNBC - Wis. Gunman Dies from Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound

Charles Fourier Preschool, Besancon, France

Monday, December 13, 2010

Today, an unnamed 17-year-old male showed up at the Charles Fourier Preschool just before 9 a.m. He was carrying two swords and mumbling that he "wanted something." He took a classroom full of preschooler's, and their teacher, hostage. When the siege began, there were 20 preschoolers in the room. Throughout the morning, the sword-wielding teen released 14 of the children. The last half-dozen students and their teacher were freed just before 1 p.m. While lunch was being brought in to feed the last group of youngsters, police officers from the elite GIPN force slipped into the school, separated the children, freed them and then apprehend the hostage-taker. The teen's motive is unclear, however, he does suffer from depression and psychological problems. It was also reported that he had not been taking is medication for some time.

Source: Yahoo! News - Children Hostages Freed in French School; MSNBC - Sword-Wielding Hostage-Taker is Detained

Millard South High School, Omaha, Nebraska

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Robert Butler Jr., 17, and his family moved from Lincoln to Omaha last October. During his time there, Robert felt that Omaha changed him and said on Facebook he wanted people to remember him for who he was before affecting "the lives of the families I have ruined." Today, at 12:50 p.m., Robert ruined three families when he opened fire in the office of Millard South High School. The senior high school student fired 4 - 5 shots, striking Principal Curtis Case and Assistant Principal Vicki Kaspar. Robert then fled the school in his red Honda Accord and killed himself in a parking lot a mile away. Vicki, 58, died from her wounds about six hours later at Creighton University Medical Center. Curtis, 45, survived the shooting. Robert is the son of an Omaha police detective. The school is on the west side of Omaha and has about 2,100 students.

Source: NPR - Alleged Gunman in Omaha High School Kills Vice Principal, Self; CBS - Omaha School Shooting: Millard South High School Shooter Dead, Say Police; Lincoln Journal Star - Assistant Principal Injured in Shooting Dies

Gardena High School, Los Angeles, California

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

This morning around 10:30, a 12th-grader dropped his backpack, causing the gun inside the backpack to go off. The bullet struck a female student in the head and a male student in the neck. Both of those students are 15-years-old and were treated at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The wounds are described as being "through and through." The 17-year-old senior who dropped his backpack rushed into another classroom and was taken into custody there. He was dressed in a long sleeve dark shirt and jeans and said he was sorry the gun had gone off and injured his classmates. The school has over 3,100 students and is in the Harbor Gateway neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Source: Yahoo! News - 2 Wounded at LA School When Gun in Backpack Fires; ABC - Los Angeles School Shooting Injures Two, Student in Custody; Los Angeles Times - Student Suspected of Bringing Gun to Gardena High to be Charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon, LAPD Says; CNN - 2 Additional Students are Charged in L.A. High School Shooting

Martinsville West Middle School, Martinsville, Indiana

Friday, March 25, 2011

This morning at 7:00, an argument broke out on the south side of the school between two 15-year-olds, Michael Phelps and Chance Jackson. The two boys were just inside a doorway on the last day of school before spring break. The argument climaxed when Michael pulled out a gun and shot Chance in the stomach. Chance, an eighth-grader, was airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and underwent surgery. The police arrested Michael later in the day. He was charged as a juvenile on Monday, March 28, 2011 with attempted murder, aggravated battery, carrying a handgun without a permit on school property, trespassing on school property and possessing a firearm on school property. However, prosecutors are asking that he be tried as an adult.

Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Police: Expelled Teen Shot Student; Indianapolis Star - Martinsville School Shooting Suspect, 15, is Charged

Southern Union Community College, Opelika, Alabama

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

A domestic dispute ended tragically outside an academic building at this community college today when Thomas Franklin May III, 34, opened fire on minivan filled with Maude Ethell Marshall, 93 and the grandmother of Thomas's wife, Brenda Watson, 62 and his mother-in-law, Bethany Lynn May, his 36-year-old estranged wife and their 4-year-old daughter. Brenda died at the scene. Maude and Bethany were shot, but survived, while the young girl was cut by broken glass. Thomas was arrested later in the day when he returned to the scene of the crime after the police had left. He asked a news photographer if he could borrow his phone and told him he did this. The photographer, Todd Van Emst, asked him if he was the shooter and he said he was. Other journalist at the scene called the police, who returned and took Thomas into custody. He is charged with one count of capital murder and two counts of attempted murder. On April 1, 2001, Bethany had filed a request seeking protection from Thomas and a temporary order was issued, however the police were unable to locate Thomas to serve him the papers.

Source: Reuters - One Dead, Three Injured in Alabama College Shooting; All Headline News - Suspect in Alabama College Shooting Surrenders to Media; Daily Mail - 'I Did All This': Moment a Gunman Calmly Surrendered to Reporters in Blood-Stained Car Park... Hours After Police Had Left; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Police: Gunman Targeted His Kin

Tasso da Silveira Municipal (Elementary) School, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Thursday, April 7, 2011

This morning around 8:30, Wellington Menezes Oliveira, a former student of the elementary school, walked into the school carrying two guns and a suicide note. He told officials he was there to deliver a speech. He went into a classroom on the ground floor where students were learning Portuguese, and then he opened fire upon them. Wellington, 23, killed 11 students in the school, ten girls between the ages of 12 and 14 and one male student. Two injured male students were able to escape the building. They then ran two blocks to two police officers and told them about the shootings at the school. The two officers sprinted to the school and one of them spotted Wellington right away. The police officer, Marcio Alves, shot Wellington in the leg after he left a classroom and was on his way to the third floor. Wellington fell onto the stairs and then killed himself. Thirteen children were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds. In his suicide note, Wellington said he had contracted the AIDS virus, but no other information was released. Twelve hours later, one of the injured boys that had been taken to the hospital died, rising the overall death total to 13.

Source: MSNBC - Gunman Kills at Least 11 Children at Brazil School; CNN - 11 Students Die in Brazil School Shooting; Police Kill Suspect; All Headline News - Brazil School Shooting Rampage Kills 10 Students; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Rio School Gunman Kills 12 Students, Self

Ross Elementary School, Houston, Texas

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

A day before the twelfth anniversary of the Columbine Massacre, a 6-year-old boy brought a loaded gun to school with him today. The gun fell from his pocket and fired one round at 10:22 this morning. The bullet struck the boy, a kindergartner, in the leg and another 6-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl were wounded by the debris from the gunshot. The parents of the boys were allowed to take them to the hospital. Police began investigating the shooting and could possibly charge the boy's parents.

Source: KPRC Houston - Parents Could Face Charges in School Shooting; Toronto Sun - 3 Injured in Accidental Texas School Shooting

San Jose State University, San Jose, California

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

This evening at 8:36, as accounting students made their way through the North Garage on the campus of San Jose State University, shots rang out from the fifth level of the parking garage. The North Garage houses the student services center and is on the corner of South 10th and East San Fernando streets. Thomas Kyle Williams, 26 and Marcory Tarlit "Cindy" Caliguiran, 25, were sitting in her black Mercedes when Cindy's 54-year-old husband, Napoleon Lavarias Caliguiran opened fire upon them. Napoleon killed both of the students and then turned the gun on himself. The paramedics and police arrived in short order. Napoleon was taken to Valley Medical Center where he died later that night.

Source: MSNBC - Three Die After San Jose State Campus Shooting; San Francisco Gate - 3 Die in Shooting at SJSU Garage; San Jose Mercury News - SJSU Shooting: 3 Who Died ID'd as Student, 25; Her Husband, 54; Another Student, 26

A Kindergarten in Muar, Johor, Malaysia

Thursday, July 7, 2011

In March of 2010, an unknown man barged into a kindergarten wielding a hammer. There were about 20 children eating breakfast at the time he entered the building. Using the hammer, he bludgeoned three six-year-olds, leaving them with head injuries. He also injured the school's operator, a 45-year-old unidentified person. Today, police believe the man struck again, this time the outcome was much better. Today's attack happened at a private kindergarten housed in a two-story bungalow. After holding 30 pre-school children and four teachers hostage for seven hours with a hammer and a machete, a sharp shooter with the Kuala Lumpur Special Action Unit ended the siege with one bullet, killing the man. No students or teachers were injured during the siege, but they were hungry when they were released to their family members.

Source: Vancouver Sun - Malaysian Children Safe After Hostage-Taker Shot; Daily Mail - Machete-Wielding Man Holds 30 Children and Teachers Hostage in Nursery School

Never Forget Always Remember