Violence In Our Schools

September 5, 1595 through July 31, 1980

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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 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.

Royal High School, Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland

Tuesday, September 5, 1595

School violence and students with guns is not exclusive to the late 20th century American educational system.  In 16th century Scotland, students regularly carried guns to school and staged rebellions against school authorities.  Hercules Rollock was a new teacher at RHS, but was unable to maintain order in the classroom.  The students, all children of politicians and wealthy businessmen, missed a large amount of study time and the school board threatened to cut the week-long autumn holiday completely.  The students were outraged at this.  The students gathered food and weapons, and then locked themselves in the school to stage their rebellion.  Town and school officials called on Bailie John Macmorran, a magistrate of the town and the town's richest merchant, to come to the school to help resolve the situation.  When John Macmorran arrived, he advised on breaking down the door to the school and take command from inside.  Several men, including John, obtained a battering ram and charged the front doors.  As they approached, one of the students yelled out that he would shoot the bailie if they continued their plan.  John ignored the student's warning and charged ahead with the battering ram.  William Sinclair, the student who had previously yelled the warning, fire two shots from his pistol, both of which entered John's head and killed him.  The news story doesn't say if this was the end of the rebellion or not, for it jumps right to the punishment phase.  Seven boys were imprisoned for this rebellion.  However, since they were sons of Edinburgh's elite, their stay in prison was short.  Their real punishment was expulsion from Royal High School.  Just five years later, William Sinclair obtained a remission under the Great Seal for the killing of Bailie John Macmorran.  William was the grandson of the Earl of Caithness and later became a knight, Sir William Sinclair of Mey.  He was knighted by King James VI.  Royal High School was originally built in 1578 and is now (summer 2005) in it's fourth building at Baron in the west of Edinburgh.  Between August 15 and 19, 2005, the Citadel Arts Group at Riddle's Court staged this event as a play at what was the home of Bailie John Macmorran.

Webmaster's note:  With the re-designing of my web site, I am now counting this entry. Previously this entry was not counted, even though it did happen on school grounds.  School violence has been around for a very, very, very long time.

Source: The Scotsman - Infamous Shooting by Pupil to be Relived in Victim's Home; An alumni of the Royal High School of Edinburgh

Enoch Brown (Elementary) School, Franklin County, Pennsylvania

Thursday, July 26, 1764

This is another early act of school violence to show you, my visitor, just how long school violence has been around.  Today, teacher Enoch Brown was teaching a dozen young students in a log school house, that was located in Franklin County, near present-day Greencastle, Pennsylvania.  During the class, four Delaware (Lenape) American Indian warriors entered the school.  Enoch pleaded with the warriors to spare the children.  The Lenape Indians silenced Enoch with a shot and then scalped him.  The warriors then turned on the children with their tomahawks.  The warriors scalped all twelve students and killed ten of them.  Only two survived this early American act of school violence.  In historical records this act of school violence has become known as the Enoch Brown School Massacre.

Webmaster's note:  With the re-designing of my web site, I am now counting this entry. Previously this entry was not counted, even though it did happen on school grounds.  This entry is here to show you, my visitors, that American school violence didn't start with Andrew Kehoe.

Source: Post by "johnynemo" at http://p216.ezboard.com/frigorousintuitionfrm10.showMessageRange?topicID=6362.topic&start=21&stop=34    

St. Mary's Parochial (Elementary) School, Newburgh, New York

Thursday, April 9, 1891

During today's recess, 70-year-old James Foster fires a shot gun at a group of male students on the school's playground.  Several of the boys sustain minor injury from the pellets.  The brief article doesn't say exactly how many boys were injured, so for statistical purposes, I'm going to say that 5 were injured.

Source: Reference.com - List of School-Related Attacks

Consolidated School of Bath, Bath, Michigan

Wednesday, May 18, 1927

Farmer Andrew Kehoe went out for revenge when his farm mortgage was foreclosed upon and the taxes he was paying went to a new school building.  Andrew was the treasurer on the school board, but he quickly became disgruntled and demented when his taxes started going to the school.  This morning, he planted dynamite in the school's basement and left the doomed children and school behind.  At 9:40 a.m., ten minutes after school had started for the day, school violence became a part of American history.  The north wing of the school exploded, killing nearly 40 students and teachers. The fuses in the south wing were smoldering, but timely discovery of the dynamite allowed it to be defused, or else up to 260 students and all the teachers would have died.  As parents rushed toward the blast, Andrew drove back into the school yard. He waved over Emory E. Huyck, the school superintendent, then fired a shot into the back seat of his car that was filled with more dynamite.  By noon, the two explosions had killed 38 students; two teachers; Emory Huyck, the superintendent; Glenn Smith, the village postmaster; a retired farmer, Nelson McFarhen and the demented Andrew.  58 students and teachers were injured in the blast. The next morning, his wife's body was found in an outbuilding on their farm with her skull crushed.  Andrew had dynamited his home, barn and wagon shed, all were still on fire when villagers arrived.  Bath is eight miles northeast of Lansing.  For statistical purposes, I'm counting this as a middle school.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Arnold Victor Bauerle, 8

Henry Bergen

Herman Bergen

Amelia Bromund, 11 (sibling)

Robert Bromund, 12 (sibling)

Floyd Edwin Burnett

Russell Chapman, 10

Cleo Claton, 8

Robert Cockran, 8

Ralph Albert Cushman, 7

Earl Edwin Ewing, 12

Katherine Onalee Foote, 11

Margory Fritz

Carlyle Walter Geisenhaver, 10

Beatrice Gibbs

George Hall, Jr., 8 (sibling)

Willa Marie Hall, 11 (sibling)

Iola Irene Hart, 13

Percy Eugene Hart, 12

Vivian Oletta Hart, 10

Blanche Elizabeth Harte, 30, teacher

Gailand Lyle Harte

Stanley Horace Harte, 10

LaVere Robert Harte, 9

Francis Otto Hoppener

Cecial Lorn Hunter, 14

Emory E. Huyck, superintendent

Doris Elaine Johns, 10

Andrew P. Kehoe, 55, instigator

Nellie Kehoe

Thelma Irene McDonald

Clarence Wendell McFarren, 14

Nelson McFarren

J. Emerson Medcoff

Emma Amelia Nickols, 12

Richard Dibble Richardson, 13

Elsie Mildred Robb, 11

Pauline Mae Shirts

Glenn O. Smith

Hazel Iva Weatherby, 20, teacher

Elizabeth Jane Witchell (sibling)

Lucille June Witchell (sibling)

Harold LeMoyne Woodman, 9

George Orval Zimmerman, 10

Lloyd Zimmerman, 12

THE INJURED:

Lloyd Babcock

Norris Babcock

Vera Babcock

Ruth M. Barnes

Anna Braska

Earl Chapman

Arthur Delau

Ida Delau

Ida Detluff

Adabelle Dolton

Iva Echstruth

Marian Echstruth

Raymond Echstruth

Josephine England

James Foster

Aletha Frederick

Mr. F. M. Fritz

Dorothy Fulton

Kenneth Geisenhaver

Eva Gubbins, 6th grade teacher

Leona Gutekunst, teacher

Elva Hart

Perry Hart

Helen E. Hobert

Ralph R. Hobert

Carlton F. Hollister

Donald J. Huffman

June Rose Huffman

Florence Edith Hunter

Lester King

Florence Komm

Helen Komm

Lee Henry Mast

Nina Matson, English teacher

Pauline Mae McCoy

Willis McCoy

Harold McKenzie

Thelma Medcoff

Ottelia Nickols

Ruth Nickols

Mrs. J. Perrone

Earl Fred Proctor

Ralph Edmund Proctor

Lee Reasoner

Lillian M. Reed

Martha Harriette Richardson

Virginia Blanche Richardson

Oral Riker

Jack Rounds

Norman Sage

Ivan Freemont Seeley

Lester Stolls

Gail Edmond Stebleton

Steve Stivaviske

Ava Thelma Sweet

Ardis Wilson

Kenneth Witchell

Cecelia Zavistoski

Bath Links  Andrew Kehoe  The Bath School Disaster   The Bath School Disaster by Monty J. Ellsworth, first published in 1927

Consolidated School of Bethel, Bethel, Oklahoma

Saturday, August 27, 1932

All week long, somebody (or a group of somebody's) have been stealing gas from the pumps at the Consolidated School of Bethel.  To keep the school's gas in its pumps, Felix Parsons, the school's janitor, Garland Lane, O. C. McMahan, a member of the district school board and C. T. Barton, another district school board member, set up a rotating paired watch between the four of them.  Tonight Garland and C. T. arrived at the school to guard the pumps.  Garland went to one of the school teacherages, across the road and west of the building, to pick up a shotgun.  Felix stopped by to deliver the keys to the school to C. T.  He and his wife, who live across the street from the school, were preparing to drive to Shawnee when he went to the school to drop off the keys.   Around 9 p.m., two men drove up to the school and walked across the yard to the pumps.  Felix and C. T.  caught the bandits and placed them under arrest.  As they began to search the bandits, one of them pulled out a pistol and began firing.  At this time Garland had returned from the teacherage with a shotgun.  The bandit shot at Garland four times, but only one bullet struck him.  Garland fired four times as well, and all four bullets found their target.  The remaining bandit retreated to the car and shot at Felix as he was running to his home.  Felix was shot through the abdomen and Garland had a bullet wound to his left breast.  The car headed east and later turned south.  When the sheriff and his men arrived Felix, Garland and C. T. said they saw only two men during the failed robbery attempt.  However, when the sheriff interviewed witnesses who saw the car fleeing the scene, they said there were two men in the car.  The bandit that Garland shot down was shot in the left chest, right arm and in both legs.  He was taken to the morgue where the town folk tried to identify him, but were unsuccessful.  Doctors estimated his age to be between 35 and 40, was 5'10" tall, slender, dark complected and had dark hair.  On Sunday, the bandit was finally identified as Harry Melvin Phillips, 39, a farmer who lived seven miles southwest of Shawnee.  Also on Sunday, 34-year-old Garland, the school bus driver, died from his single gunshot wound.  Felix remained in critical condition.  

Source: Pottawatomie Online - Bethel School's History Attracting Lots of Attention

Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Thursday, June 4, 1936

College student Wesley Crow failed his English course this semester.  He wanted his professor, C. Wesley Phy, to change the grade instead of suffering the consequences of failing English.  He went to Professor Phy's office and demanded the grade change.  When Professor Phy refused to change the grade, Wesley pulled out a gun and killed his English professor.  Wesley then committed suicide.

Source: Reference.com - List of School-Related Acts

Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Sunday, November 13, 1949

For an undisclosed reason, college freshman James Heer, grabbed .45 caliber handgun from the dorm room of a Delta Tau Delta fraternity brother.  James then used the handgun to kill Jack McKeown, 21, of Norwood, Ohio, a senior at the university.

Source: Reference.com - List of School-Related Acts

Alexander (High) School, Union Mills, North Carolina

 

Monday, March 12, 1951

 

Professor W.E. Sweatt, the superintendent and teacher at Alexander School, was shot and killed by two students who he had just reprimanded: Billy Ray Powell, 16, and Charles Hugh Justice, 19. W.E. called the two to his office to reprimand them over a girl. Newspaper sources vary on why, but interviews with the two students in their jail cells indicate W.E. found out that they were "walking with girls." Charles claims that W.E. "said things about a girl that shouldn't have come from a man of that caliber." The school had a rule about boys talking with girls outside the female dormitory, and they both were talking to a girl after school outside the dormitory that Charle had some kind of romantic relationship with. Charles was so mad over the two-hour lecture that he decided to shoot W.E.  He talked it over with Billy. The two went to a neighbor who lived next to the 300- bed orphanage, where they lived and borrowed a .22 single-shot rifle. They said they wanted it to kill some rats. They then went back to the school to lay in wait inside the darkened school chapel, just down the hall from W.E.s office. They waited until 10:30 PM for W.E. to leave his office and as he was locking his door, Charles fired a shot from the chapel's doorway into his face mortally wounding him. The two then left to seek out a fellow student they believed was responsible for tattling on them. They found their target, Wade Johnson, 15, in a smokers hollow on school grounds; Billy cursed at him and accused Wade of tattling on them for breaking the rules and then he shot Wade in the heart killing him instantly. Billy and Chares then went to a store and told the proprietor what they had done. The owner investigated and found the two bodies. Meanwhile, the two boys then went to faculty member of the school, V.T. Cooper, and told him what they had done. W.E. would die in the hospital at 1 AM. The two were arrested and held in the county jail. Both were charged with murder. Both stated they were extremely sorry for what they had done, and Charles stated he felt really bad for Mrs.Sweatt. Charles formerly lived in Asheville and Greenville, and Billy once lived in Raleigh and Kannapolis. Both Billy and Charles were orphans. Billy was orphaned at three years old when his father killed his mother and then committed suicide. On  May 23of that same year, Charles Hugh Justice was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of W.E.Sweatt. During the trial, Charles attempted suicide twice. He had been prescribed a sleeping tablet each night to help with his nerves and instead of taking them, saved each one until he had twenty-four to take at once. His stomach was pumped, and then at a later time, he was hospitalized for slashing his wrists. Billy was to be tried at a later date, but I haven't been able to find information on him. A Charles Hugh Justice who was born in California on April 19, 1931, died in San Francisco, California in January of 1990. If that was the same person, it would seem to indicate that he was paroled at some point.


Source: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NCRUTHER/2008-02/1203388961; Visitor to this website

Columbia University, New York City, New York

Monday, July 14, 1952

Bayard Peakes submitted a self-published 33-page photo-offset publication on the non-existence of the electron to present it at the next meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) for mass publication entitled So You Love Physics.  Bayard's publication was reject by Karl K. Darrow, head of Bell Labs and the secretary of APS.  Other scientists reviewed the publication and described it "as a pointless and elementary discussion of various aspects of physics."  Bayard was outraged and planned his revenge.  Near the beginning of July, he went all the way to Bangor, Maine, and purchased a .22-caliber automatic pistol and ammunition for the gun.  Eileen Fahey, an 18-year-old secretary who had worked for the APS for the past two years, arrived for work at 9:05 a.m. today with three unopened letters from her fiancé, Ronald Leo, a Marine serving in Korea.  The wonderful girl with reddish-blonde hair and blue eyes sat down at her desk, opened one of the letters and began to read it.  Dressed in a dark gray suit, Bayard arrived at Columbia University this morning with the intention of killing Karl and any other scientist he could find.  He entered the APS office on the ninth floor of the Pupin Building on the campus and saw that only Eileen was in the office.  Frustrated that his target wasn't there, he lashed out at the only person he could.  At 9:20 a.m. Bayard pulled out his pistol and emptied into Eileen's body.  Five of the six shots struck her, three of them in her chest, one in her right hand and one in her right forearm.  The remaining bullet lodged in the desk. He left the office and encountered another secretary for the APS, Mrs. J. V. Lumley, 32, in the hallway by the elevators.  He told her, "You better call the police because I just shot somebody. You better call a doctor.  I just shot a female."  Bayard then walked down one of the staircases and left the building.  Mrs. Lumley raced into the office and found Eileen's body on the floor, one of the letters from Ronald had been open, but the other two were still sealed.  An autopsy on Eileen's body found that her heart, lungs, liver, spleen, left kidney and aorta had all been punctured by the bullets.  Police initially had no leads in Eileen's murder, until they suspected that her murderer could be a disgruntled former member of the APS.  The APS supplied police with a list of members and the investigators went to work.  Early Thursday morning, July 17, 1952, police arrested Bayard, 29-years-old, in Boston's Back Bay section as he returned home from a dance.  He confessed, at length and without remorse, to killing Eileen on the train ride back to New York City.  Bayard was wounded in Belgium during action in World War II and was discharged from the Army in 1945 as mentally ill but not in need of hospitalization.  At a hearing on Friday, experts said that "establishing this thesis, and upsetting the conclusions of the great physicists of the last half century, would be a typical objective for a person with schizophrenic tendencies attributed by military psychiatrists to Bayard."  He was tried and sentenced to the Rockland County Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

Source: The New York Times - Girl Shot in Columbia Office; Killer Strolls Away, Escapes; The New York Times - No Progress Noted in Murder Inquiry;  The New York Times - Pseudo Scientist Confesses Girl's Murder at Columbia; The New York Times - Columbia Slayer Denies He is Mad; Winona Currents (Winona State University Alumni News) (Winter 2003) - Baab Established Memorial Scholarship

Lawrenceville High School, Lawrenceville, Illinois

Wednesday, September 3, 1952

A young man named Charles Petrach shot and killed his girlfriend, a pretty librarian named Georgine Lyon, in a classroom on the first day of classes for the new school year. Police used a wire recorder when interrogating Petrach, which must have been unusual back in '52, and apparently this Petrach/Lyon murder was a well-publicized crime in Lawrenceville at the time it occurred. 

Source: Visitor to this website 

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Saturday, May 15, 1954

The Phi Delta Theta house held a carnival at their fraternity house Friday night, presumably to celebrate the end of the school year.  As any frat party goes, the beverage of choice was beer, and lots of it.  Putnam Davis Jr., William Joyner and Allen Long were still drinking beer on Saturday morning, around 7 a.m., when Putnam pulled out a gun and started shooting at his roommates.  Putnam had obtained the gun from the car of a former roommate.  The entry goes on to say that "during the exchange of gunfire in the dorm room," Putnam is killed while William and Allen are wounded.  What is not clear in the entry is who Putnam was exchanging gunfire with; did William or Allen have a gun in the room as well, did another fraternity brother have a gun and respond to Putnam's shootings, or did the police show up and have to kill Putnam?  None of those questions are answered in the entry.  For statistical purposes, I'm putting Putnam as the instigator of this school shooting, since he shot first.

Source: Reference.com - List of School-Related Acts

Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

Tuesday, January 11, 1955

Five years ago Bob Bechtel's mother requested that her son be hospitalized for psychotic episodes.  After being released from the hospital, Bob, then 22, enrolled at Swarthmore College.  While at Swarthmore, he lived in Wharton Hall and his classmates taunted, bullied, hazed and degraded him.  Today he had finally had enough.  He drove to his home in Pottstown, ate a piece of his mother's coconut cake, picked up his .22-caliber rifle and returned to the college. It was in the evening by the time he returned and he began firing upon his classmates.  The first bullet struck Francis Holmes Strozier in the head and killed him.  Bob fired a few more rounds, realized what he had done and then dropped the rifle to the ground.  At his trial two factors swayed the judge to find him not guilty by reason of insanity: the previous hospitalization and a letter from Francis's mother expressing sympathy and forgiveness. He was sent to Farview State Hospital in Waymart.  Four years and eight months later, Bob was released.  He enrolled in Susquehanna University and pursued a psychology degree.  He got his doctorate at the University of Kansas and began teaching.  He is currently a professor of environmental psychology at the University of Arizona.  When his daughter Carrah turned 19 he told her, his colleagues and his students, what he had done at Swarthmore.  Macky Alston, a filmmaker, produced a documentary, The Killer Within, based on Bob's actions.  However, Bob and school officials at Swarthmore say the documentary doesn't portray Bob or Francis properly.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer - '55 School Killer: A Life Taken, Lived (published April 13, 2007)

Maryland Park Junior High School, Maryland Park, Maryland

Friday, May 4, 1956

Billy Ray Prevatte was kicked out of the public schools of North Carolina for pulling a knife on a teacher.  His troublesome ways didn't stay in North Carolina when he enrolled in Maryland Park Junior High School.  It is unclear whether Billy Ray was expelled or suspended from school that pushed him over the edge.  The fifteen-year-old walked the three miles to his home in Carmody Hills, got a .22-caliber rifle and brought it back to school, intending to kill the principal, Mr. Hrezo.  However, Mr. Hrezo was substituting for Mr. Peters' gym class in the school's annex and not in his office when Billy Ray returned.  So, Billy Ray settled on his favorite teacher, Mr. Cameron, shooting him in the head and chest.  Mr. Cameron taught English.  He also wounded the gym teacher, F. Daniel Wagner, and the shop teacher, Mr. Hicks, during the shooting.  (Previous entry had identified the third teacher as Mr. Thomas, but that has been found to be incorrect.) Mr. Wagner was in the principal's office on the phone trying to find out why the bus was late in picking up the ball team when Billy Ray came in. Billy Ray served time in a juvenile facility until he was 21.

Source: A visitor to this site, two Survivors, and the daughter of another Survivor of this shooting.

Our Lady of the Angels (Elementary) Catholic School, Chicago, Illinois

Monday, December 1, 1958

Built in 1910 and remodeled with additions throughout the years, the two-story brick exterior building surrounded an interior of combustibles: stairs, walls, floors, doors and roof all made of wood.  The building had one fire escape, near one end of the north wing.  However, to use this escape, students would have to traverse the smoke-filled main corridor.  The school did have two fire alarm switches, but both of those were located in the south wing and neither of them were connected to the fire department.  The north wing did have four fire extinguishers. However, they mounted 7-feet off the floor.  The interior ceilings were 12-feet high, so that if someone were to jump from the second story window, they would fall 25-feet before landing on the ground.  A few weeks earlier, Our Lady of the Angels passed a fire department safety inspection.  The school, even with all the flaws, was grandfathered into the 1949 standards, which stated current schools did not have to retrofit their buildings to be as safe as new school buildings.  This cold December afternoon between 2:00 and 2:20 p.m., a 10-year-old boy started a fire in a cardboard trash barrel in the basement at the foot of the northeast stairwell.  The fire burned half an hour, filling the stairwell with smoke and gas.  The intense heat shattered a window supplying the fire with more oxygen.  The stairwell was consumed, and the smoke and gas rose up the stairwell like a chimney.  There was a heavy wooden door at the first-floor landing, which prevented the fire from entering the first floor.  However, there was no such door on the second floor, just an open walkway.  A janitor discovered the fire around 2:40 p.m. and the first call was placed to the fire department at 2:41 p.m.  The fire consumed the stairway as smoke and gas drifted about the second floor.  Also in the wooden stairway was a pipe chase that ran from the basement to the cockloft above the second floor false ceiling.  This pipe chase gave the superheated gas a direct route to the attic.  Once in the attic, the gases rose in temperature until they ignited.  By now the fire was burning the second-floor hallway and the second-floor ceiling, cutting off all escape routes for the 329 students and the five teaching nuns, who were just now realizing the danger they were in.  They were left with two possibilities: jump out of the second story windows (and fall 25 feet to the concrete below) or pray that the fire department would reach them in time.  Some of the nuns led their students in prayer until the smoke, heat and flames forced them to the windows.  No firemen had come yet.  Some of the students jumped, others fell and some were even pushed out the windows.  43 fire trucks and over 200 firemen eventually arrived at the school.  However, they were initially directed to the Rectory, which was around the corner.  Once they found the true location of the fire, they lost valuable minutes repositioning their trucks and hoses.  The firemen then had to bust through a small gate to gain entry to a courtyard where they could began rescuing the trapped students.  However, the intense heat became unbearable and the students were panicking by this point.  Those who did jump out of the window did not all survive the landing.  Those students who were too small to reach the window sills were pulled back those who could.  The firemen couldn't save them all and at times helplessly watched as the classroom exploded in flames, killing the trapped students.  In all 87 students and 3 nuns died in the blaze.  Firemen rescued over 160 children.  By Christmas, three more children had died from their injuries.  By August 9, 1959, two more students had died.  In total, 95 students and nuns died as a result of this school fire and over 100 were injured.  The school regularly taught over 1600 students each day.  1200 students were in the path of the fire.  Our ten-year-old arsonist, a fifth-grader, confessed to setting the fire, but then later recanted.  He wasn't afraid to tell the police, but he was very afraid to tell his parents.  The boy did confess to setting other fires in the neighborhood and told police details about this fire that were never made public.  Even though there was strong evidence against the 10-year-old boy, he, nor anyone else, was ever prosecuted.  Officially, the cause of the fire remains unknown.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Michele Altobell, 13

Robert Anglim, 9

Karen Baroni, 10

David Biscan, 11

Richard Bobrowicz, 13

Beverly Burda, 13

Helen Buziak, 12

Peter Cangelosi, 10

George Cannella III, 10

Kathleen Carr, 9

Margaret Chambers, 9

Sister Mary Clare Therese Champagne, 27

Aurelius Chiapetta, 14

Joan Anne Chiappetta, 10

Joan Chrzas, 9

Bernice Cichocki, 12

Rosalie Ciminello, 12

Roseanna Ciochon, 9

Jo Ann Ciolino, 10

Millicent Corsiglia, 13

Karen Culp, 10

Maria DeGiulio, 11

Nancy DeSanto, 9

Lawrence Dunn, Jr., 10

Patricia Drzymala, 12

William Eddington, Jr., 13

Mary Fanale, 12

Lucille Fillipponio, 8

Nancy Finnigan, 13

Ronald Fox, 13

Janet Gasteier, 9

Carol Gazzola, 13

Lawrence Grasso, Jr., 13

Frances Guzaldo, 12

Kathleen Hagerty, 13

Richard Hardy, 9

Karen Hobik, 13

Barbara Hosking, 10

Victor Jacobellis, 9

John Jajkowski, Jr., 10

Angeline Kalinowski, 14

Diane Karwacki, 9

Sister Mary Seraphica Kelley, 43

Joseph King, 10

Kenneth Kompanowski, 14

Richard Kompanowski, 10

Margaret Kucan, 10

Patricia Kuzma, 10

Annette LaMantia, 11

Rose LaPlacea, 13

Sister Mary St. Canice Lyng, 44

Joseph Maffiola, 10

Raymond Makowski, 12

Linda Malinski, 10

John Manganello, 10

John Mele, 10

Joseph Modica, Jr., 9

James Moravec, 13

Mary Ellen Moretti, 12

Charles Neubert, 9

Lorraine Nieri ,12

Janet Olechowski, 12

Yvonne Pacini, 9

Antoinette Patrasso, 11

Eileen Pawlik, 13

Carolyn Perry, 10

Elaine Pesoli, 10

Mary Pettenon, 9

Edward Pikinski, 11

Nancy Pilas, 12

Frank Piscopo, 10

James Profita, 9

James Ragona, 9

Roger Ramlow, 13

Marilyn Reeb, 10

Nancy Riche, 12

Margaret Sansonetti, 10

Diane Santangelo, 9

Joanne Sarno, 9

William Sarno, 13

Kurt Schutt, 8

Antoinette Secco, 10

James Sickel, 10

Paul Silvio, 9

Susan Smaldone, 9

Nancy Smid, 10

Linda Stabile, 9

Mark Stachura, 9

Mary Tamburrino, 13

Philip Tampone, 11

Valerie Thoma, 14

John Trotta, 13

Wayne Wisz, 10

Mary Virgilio, 15

Christina Vitacco, 12

Source: Our Lady of the Angels School Fire website (www.olafire.com)

Poe Elementary School, Houston, Texas

Tuesday, September 15, 1959

About 8:30 this morning, 49-year-old tile contractor Paul Harold Orgeron went to his mother's house to pick up his son, Dusty so that he could enroll him at Poe Elementary School.  Paul helped wash and dress his son before telling Dusty to get some toys to entertain himself as he would be out of the house most of the day.  Paul took Dusty to the school's principal's office, Mrs. R. E. Doty, while carrying a briefcase.  Paul said he would like to enroll his son in the second grade, and she said he would need to register him first.  Paul and Dusty, who had just turned seven on Saturday, left the office then and went out to the playground.  Paul handed two notes to second-grade teacher Miss Johnston. The notes were written illegibly and incoherently. One note read: "Please do not get excited over this order I'm giving you.  In this suitcase you see in my hand is fill to the top with high explosives. I mean high high. And all I want is my wife Betty Orgeron who is the mother of son Dusty Paul Orgeron.  I want to return my son to her.  Their answer to this is she is over 16 so that (is) that.  Please believe me when I say I gave 2 more cases, that are set to go off at two times.  I do not believe I can be kill (sic) and not kill what is around me, and I mean my son will go to.  Do as I say and no one will get hurt.  Please. P. H. Orgeron.  Do not get the police department yet.  I'll tell you when."  Paul then triggered the gelex in the briefcase by firing a single shot from a .32 pistol with a string attached to the trigger.  Gelex is more powerful than dynamite and is used in commercial work on oil well perforations.  The explosion killed Paul, Dusty, William Hawes Jr., John Cecil Fitch Jr., teacher Jennie Kolter and the school custodian James Arlie Montgomery.  Mrs. Doty had her clothes torn off from the blast and the grisly scene even affected the news reporters as they came to the site.  Seventeen other children were wounded.  Earl and Robert Taylor needed their legs amputated to survive.  Paul had a been convicted twice in Louisiana and once in Texas and for burglary and theft.

THOSE WHO DIED:

John Cecil Fitch Jr., 8

William S. Hawes Jr., 7

Jennie Kolter, 54

James Arlie Montgomery, 56

Dusty Orgeron, 7

instigator Paul Harold Orgeron, 49

THE INJURED:

Debbie Brown, 6

Dorothy Cornelius, 6

Earl Fogler, 7

Robert Stewart Kelley, 7

Kathy McAfee, 6 (twin of Keith)

Kay McAfee, 7 (sister to Kathy and Keith)

Keith McAfee, 6 (twin of Kathy)

Mary Ann Milsap, 6

Martha Jo Mullen, 10

Nancy Nance, 6

Sharon Ann Oliver, 6

David Parrish, 6

Carol Roberts, 6

David Sugarek, 7

Dennis Swanson, 6

Robert Taylor, 7

Leah Tomlinson, 10

Source: Austin American-Statesman: Tots, Adults Killed in School Bombing

William Reed Elementary School, Hanford City, Indiana

Tuesday, February 2, 1960

For an disclosed reason, 41-year-old school Principal Leonard Redden used a shotgun to kill two of his teachers today.  He wounded three others.  He fled into the nearby woods and committed suicide.

Source: Visitor to this web site

Dubose Intermediate School, Alice, Texas

Wednesday, March 30, 1960

Katie McCoy and her 15-year-old boyfriend Bobby Whitford broke up as the school year began.  Bobby threatened Katie and she told her best friend, Donna Dvorak, about it.  Donna, 14, believed the threat to be real and she wasn't going to let her friend get hurt.  Donna took her father's .22-caliber target pistol to school today and shot Bobby from across the classroom.  The bullet struck him in the back of his neck.  She had been practicing quite a bit with the target pistol, or a lucky shot, as Bobby collapsed to the floor.  He was taken to the hospital where he died from the gunshot wound.  Katie, Bobby and Donna are all in the ninth grade.

Source: Two visitors to this website

Blaine Elementary School, Blaine Minnesota

Tuesday, June 7, 1960

For unknown reasons, 40-year-old mail carrier Lester Betts walked into Principal Carson Hasmmond's office today and shot him to death with a 12-gauge shotgun.  Carson was 33-years-old.

Source: Visitor to this web site

Delmont High School, Delmont, South Dakota

Wednesday, January 4, 1961

This evening at Delmont High School, the students were going to perform a play.  The play involved firing a rifle for a sound effect.  Minutes before the play was to begin, 17-year-old Donald Kurtz was shot by the .22-caliber rifle.  The bullet hit the high school senior in the chest.  He died from this wound.  It is unclear who fired the rifle.

Source: Visitor to this web site

Kungälv High School, Kungälvs Iäroverk, Kungälv, Västra, Götaland, Sweden

Saturday, March 4, 1961

Ove Conry Andersson, 17, attended a party this evening and drank two mixed drinks. He then watched a hockey game with a friend while drinking cognac. At 10:30 he arrived at the high school and struck up a fight a guest who was an amateur boxer. At the end of the fight, Ove left and returned at 11:30 as the final dance was in full swing. He carried a pistol with him. He pulled it out and began shooting. The students scattered, hiding under chairs and behind the piano. Ove's bullets struck seven of the dancing teens, including Per Håkan Altvall, who was struck in his stomach. The wounded teens were taken to a classroom and then transported to Kungälv Hospital. Per died at the hospital. The police chased Ove on the road to Ytterby before losing track of him. The next day, Ove arrived at the police station and told authorities how he arrived at the school the previous night. Ove married four years later and began a family. He committed suicide on August 12, 2008. The school is now know as Thorildskolan.

Source: Wikipedia - Kungälv School Shooting

A Catholic Elementary School in Cologne, Germany

Thursday, June 11, 1964

Walter Seifert's wife died in childbirth a few years ago and because he had tuberculosis, he had been out of work for years.  Walter wrote several letters about his unfair treatment by medical officers to the head of the health department, the director of the upper city and the head of the provincial government trying in vain to make a war pension valid.  All of these failed.  Several medical officers certified Walter with schizophrenia symptoms, but they did not think he was violent.  Today, just after 9 a.m., he proved them wrong.  Walter converted a garden sprayer into a flamethrower and filled it with an easily inflammable mixture that could deliver a six-meter flame.  He took his new flamethrower, a lance that was 1.5 meters long and a homemade iron centrifuge to the Catholic elementary school at Cologne Volkhoven.  The school consisted of three wood pavilions, containing six classrooms, near the main administration building.  He entered the school yard and blocked a small school gate with a wooden wedge.  In the schoolyard, teacher Anna Langohr was teaching a group of girls about sports.  Walter went to the first pavilion, which held four classrooms, threw some disks in with the centrifuge, put the flamethrower into an opened window and pulled the trigger.  The wooden classrooms and the clothes of the children immediately caught on fire and panic ensued.  Gertrud Bollenrath, a teacher, began to smoother the flames from the children's clothes before going out into the yard and putting herself in harm's way.  Walter stabbed her with the lance.  By now, the student's were running all over the schoolyard and Walter let loose another deadly flame.  Anna, 67, tried to stay between the students and Walter, but the flames over took her and she collapsed to the ground.  Walter then began to approach another wooden pavilion.  The teacher's inside, Mrs. Ursula Kouhr and a teacher identified only as Kunz, saw him coming and tried to shut the wing doors, but Walter tore one of them off it's hinges.  Ursula, 24, lost her balance and fell down.  Walter stabbed the fallen teacher several times while she was on the floor, killing her.  By now, the neighbors were responding to the fire and commotion in the school yard so Walter fled the scene into a field.  He didn't get to far as the police apprehended him in the field. He didn't get much further than that either as, during the chase, he swallowed a cap of plant poison E605.  By the time the sunset on this horrific day, Walter had died in Lindenburg.  Meanwhile, men who drove the garbage trucks were able to break down the gate Walter had wedged closed and extinguished the fire with blankets and clothes.  They stopped cars in the street and had them transport the wounded students to area hospitals.  The students had burns over 90% of their bodies.  Eight students died from their injuries. Gertrud, 62, died just after 1:00 at Holy Spirit Hospital.  Anna was in critical status for week and wasn't until October that she was able to leave the hospital . The 28 students who were wounded underwent months of long and painful treatment, which could not heal the scars completely, both physical and psychological.   The Volkhoven council decided a few days later to tear down the school, to remove the reminder of this gruesome event. In 1965, the Catholic elementary school in Cologne Heimersdorf was named for Ursula Kuhr.   In 1986, the Sonderschule (special school) at Fuehlinger Weg was named for Gertrud Bollenrath. For her acts of bravery and heroism, Anna Langohr received the Medal Cross from Pope Paul VI, the Service Medal and the Service Award of the FRG from Mayor John van Nes Ziegler and the Rescue Medal of North Rhine-Westphalia. Anna died on January 27, 1990 at the age of 93. 

THOSE WHO DIED:

Dorothea Binner

teacher Gertrud Bollenrath, 62

Renate Fühlen

Ingeborg Hahn

Ruth Hoffmann

Klara Kröger

teacher Ursula Kuhr, 24

Stephan Lischka

Karin Reinhold

Rosel Röhrig

instigator Walter Seifert, 42

Source: www.ursula-kuhr-schule.de/Chronik/Attentat/Attentat.html

University of Texas, Austin, Texas

Monday, August 1, 1966

University of Texas junior Charles Joseph Whitman was an architectural engineer student with a B average.  Charles's spring and summer semesters were overfilled with credit hours.  Sometime between 9:30 p.m. July 31, and 3 a.m. August 1, Charles drove to his mother's, Margaret, downtown apartment on West 13th and Guadalupe and stabbed her in the chest with a bayonet, then he shot and killed her.  He then drove back to his home on Jewel and stabbed his sleeping wife, Kathy Whitman, with the same bayonet.  He killed his mother and wife so that they wouldn't be embarrassed by what he was about to do.  In the morning, before 10:30 a.m., Charles bought a .30-calibur rifle, clips and ammunition from a nearby hardware store.  Then he continued his shopping at Sears in the Hancock shopping center where he bought a 12-guage shotgun on credit.  During the next 45 minutes, Charles packed up an alarm clock, Spam, cans of peaches and sausage, deodorant, a Bowie knife, a canteen of water, a machete, 700 rounds of ammunition, a 6 mm Remington Rifle with a four-power scope, .357 Magnum pistol, a 9 mm Luger pistol and his two new guns into his Marine issued footlocker.  At 11:25 a.m. he arrived at the ground floor of the Tower at the University of Texas and told the guard that he needed to unload equipment at the Experimental Science Building.  He was issued a parking permit.  Charles carried his trunk to the elevator, road it up to the 27th floor, then carried the trunk up a flight of stairs to the 28th floor, where he began the nation's worst school shooting ever by killing Edna Townsley.  Edna worked at the Tower by greeting guests and asking them to sign into the register.  Charles hid Edna's body.  Unaware of the danger they were walking into, the Gabour and Lamport families arrived to see the campus from atop the Tower.  He killed Marguerite Lampert and her nephew Mark Gabour, and wounded Mike and Mary Gabour inside the Tower's tight confines.  At 11:45 a.m., Charles began shooting from atop the Tower to the people below.  (The observation deck is not that wide. Stand straight and put your hands on hips.  The distance from elbow to elbow is about as wide as the deck.)  He shot from all directions while atop the Tower, focusing mainly on the wide open South Mall.  Claire Wilson and her boyfriend Thomas Eckman were headed toward their parked vehicle to feed the meter when Claire felt a sensation akin to an electric shock.  Thomas asked her was wrong and before she could respond, Tom was shot and killed from one of Charles's guns.  The bullet that struck Claire killed her unborn son, a month away from being born.  Charles continued his shooting spree and killed a youth on a bicycle.  He shot police officer Billy Speed in the shoulder, however, Billy's wound proved to be fatal.  Patrolmen Ramiro Martinez, 26, and Houston McCoy entered the Tower from an underground tunnel and made their way to the top.  The two patrolmen moved their way from the southeast to the northeast corner.  Ramiro looked around the corner and saw Charles sitting there in the northwest corner anticipating an assault from the southwest.  Ramiro jumped into the walkway and unloaded his revolver towards Charles.  Houston, who was behind Ramiro, also moved into the walkway and noticed Charles coming around with his rifle.  Houston could only see the headband Charles was wearing and fired at that point.  The bullet imploded into Charles head right between his eyes.  Charles's head popped back and Houston fired again.  Ramiro then took the shotgun from Houston, approached Charles, who was now slumped over in the northwest corner, and shot Charles in his left arm.  The 90-minute bloodbath was over.  Charles killed a total of 15 people and wounded 31 others.  During the autopsy, doctors found a pecan size tumor in his brain, which caused Charles to have headaches, but was ruled not the overriding factor that led him to the massacre.  On Monday, November 12, 2001, survivor David Gunby, 58, died in Fort Worth, Texas.  He was shot in the back by Charles on August 1, 1966.  The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide in conjunction with the shootings on the UT campus.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Thomas Ashton, 22

Dr. Robert H. Boyer, 33

Thomas Eckman, 18

Mark Gabour, 16

David Gunby, 581

Thomas Karr, 24

Marguerite Lampert, 45

Claudia Rutt, 18, fiancé of Paul

Roy Dell Schmidt, 29

Paul Sonntag, 18 fiancé of Claudia

Billy Speed, 22

Edna Townsley, 51

Harry Walchuck

killer Charles Whitman, 25

Kathy Whitman, 24, Charles's wife

Margaret Whitman, Charles's mother

Unborn male child of Claire Wilson

THE INJURED:

John Scott Allen

Roland C. Ehlke, 21

Alvelina Esparza, 28

 

Ellen Evganides, 26

F. L. Foster

Robert Frede

 

Mary Frances Gabour, 41

Mike Gabour, 19

Irma Garcia, 21

 

Karen Griffith, 17

David Gunby, 231

Nancy Harvey, 21

 

Robert Heard, 35

Alex Hernandez, 17

Morris Holman, 39

 

Devereau Huffman

Homer J. Kelly

Abouht Khashab, 23 

 

Adrian Littlefield, 19

Brenda Wilkinson Littlefield

David A. Mattson, 24

 

Dolores Ortega

Janet Paulas, 24

Lana Phillips, 21

 

Oscar Rayvela, 21

Billy Snowden, 35

Miguel Solish, 25

 

C. A. Stewart

Carla Sue Wheeler, 18

Claire Wilson, 18

 

Sandra Wilson, 21

UT Link    The Whitman Shootings

1 David Gunby died 35 years after he was injured by Charles Whitman on the UT campus.  His death was ruled a homicide.

Source: Austin American-Statesman - Student Slays Wife and Mother, Kills 13, Wounds 31 on Campus; Austin American-Statesman - Dead and Wounded; The Whitman Shootings website; attorney for one of the officers who engaged Charles Whitman; (Alamosa) Valley Courier - Texas Tower Shooting Victim Recalls Aug. 1, 1966 (published Aug. 1, 2008)

Grand Rapids High School, Grand Rapids, Minnesota

Wednesday, October 5, 1966

David Black was a victim of family abuse, teasing, and an over active story book mind.  One of his friends was Mark Lebeck and David always tried to impress Mark with stories.  One day, David tried to impress Mark with a gun to prove he was a tough guy with mafia connections.  David got his father to teach him how to load a .22-caliber pistol on Tuesday.  David even told his classmates he was going to kill them the next day.  (Of course, during that time, that meant a fist fight, not a school shooting.)  This morning, his friends were waiting for David to arrive.  As he approached them, he pulled out the gun from his jacket and pointed it at the group.  The group ran, except Kevin Roth, who stood there like a stone statue.  David fired the pistol and hit Kevin a half-inch from his heart.  The bullet collapsed his lung, went through his liver and stopped just before exiting his back.  At this time, Kevin ran from the scene.  Mark told school administrator Forest Wiley that David had a gun and had shot somebody.  Forest came out to talk to David.  He asked David to give him the gun, and David fired six shots into him.  Forest died from his injuries while Kevin survived, even though doctors said Kevin's wounds were more fatal.

For an in-depth news story with Survivor Kevin Roth, please click here.

Source: Survivor of Grand Rapids High School

Rose-Mar College of Beauty, Mesa, Arizona

Saturday, November 12, 1966

When his hero, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas three years ago, Robert Benjamin (Benny) Smith slowly turned from learning about the good guys and delved head first into the macabre glory of the bad guys, (i.e. John Wilkes Booth, Brutus, Jesse James, Lee Harvey Oswald and Hitler).  He dreamed of making his mark on the world. But as it was, the 18-year-old high school senior was weak, slow and clumsy; he was by no means an athlete. He was average academically and lacked a winning personality, a great sense of humor or even a way with the ladies.  This past summer, he found two new heroes to follow.  The first was Richard Speck, who killed eight student nurses in July in Chicago, and the second was Charles Whitman, the shooter at UT just three months ago. Shortly after the shootings at the University of Texas, Robert began planning his own mass murder so that he, too, get his 15 minutes of fame. That was all he really wanted, fame of being a mass murderer.  He set out this morning with a brown paper bag containing 200 ft. of nylon cord, a package of big plastic sandwich bags, two hunting knives and, for good measure, a .22-caliber, single-action six-shooter that his parents had given him.  When he arrived at the school, no one paid any attention to him.  He pulled out the six-shooter, shattered a mirror with one shot and ordered the five women, a 3-year-old girl and a 3-month-old baby into the back room.   One of the women, who may have thought about safety in numbers said to Robert, "There will be 40 people here in a few minutes."  Robert replied, "I'm sorry, but I didn't bring enough ammunition for them."  Once they were all in the room, he found out the big plastic sandwich bags were too small to fit over a person's head.  However, he still had his knives and the six-shooter.  He ordered them to lie down on the floor like spokes on a wheel, their heads together at the center and their feet out at the perimeter.  Police later called this formation the "Wheel of Death."  Mary Olsen began to pray and he asked his captives what she was doing.  One of the women said, "She's praying, if you don't mind." He replied, "I do," and then aimed for the back of Mary's head and shot her to death.  Along with his other aforementioned failings, he wasn't an accurate shot. Robert had to use three bullets to kill Mary.  He then casually shot the remaining women in the back of the head.  Joyce Sellers and her two children were in the circle.  When he fired at her head, she lurched about briefly, so he stabbed her in the back, to make sure she was dead.  While Robert was executing the women and children in the back room, the operator of the school, Mrs. Eveline Cummings, walked in the front door, heard him talking and the gun going off, making "popping noises."  She called the police and they arrived to find Robert standing in the back room, not far from the women he had just killed. He said to the police, "I wanted to get known, just wanted to get myself a name," then reconstructed his crime before horrified policemen. Only one woman and the 3-month-old daughter of Joyce Sellers survived Robert's infamous shooting spree.  The toddler was shot in the arm and Joyce covered up the rest of her daughter's body with her own.  As police led Robert out of the beauty school, he was smiling. On October 24, 1967, his trial of 32 days wrapped up.  The jury took less than two hours to find him guilty of five counts of first-degree murder.  He was sentenced to death.  However, four years later he was granted a new trial because the testimony of one witness in his first trial was ruled unreliable.  Robert eventually pleaded guilty and his sentenced was reduced to life in prison, where he still is today.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Glenda Carter, 18

Carol Farmer, 19

Mary Olsen, 18

Debra Sellers, 3

Joyce Sellers, 27

THE INJURED:

Bonita Sue Harris, 18

Tamara Lynn Sellers, 3 months

Source: Time Magazine - Slaughter in the College of Beauty (published 11-18-66); New York Daily News - Beauty Salon Massacre (published 3-25-08); Visitor to this web site

South Carolina State College, Orangeburg, South Carolina

Thursday, February 8, 1968

The city of Orangeburg is home to two colleges, Claflin and South Carolina State, both with the majority of their students being black.  For several years, the entire population of Orangeburg begged and pleaded with Harry Floyd, owner of the town's only bowling alley, the All Star Bowling Lanes, to desegregate his business.  They had on their side the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  Harry refused saying he had the right to operate his business as he saw fit as long as it was within the dictates of the law.  If the blacks wanted into his business, they would have to go through the courts, Harry vowed.  He even had a sign up saying, "For Whites Only." The nearest bowling alley that admitted blacks was over 40 miles away in Columbia and it had an early curfew for females. Monday evening, February 5, 1968, John Stroman, a strong-willed, league-bowler from Savannah now attending the college, and several of his classmates went to the bowling alley, just five blocks from the campus, and saw that Harry had changed his sign to: "Privately Owned."  To John and the students, the sign meant the same thing.  They entered the bowling alley from a back door and about 40 of them got in before Harry was able to lock the door.  He tried to keep John in the rear of the building, but John walked past Harry to the snack bar, where he was refused service.  Harry called the police to have the students arrested for trespassing.  When Orangeburg Police Chief Roger Poston arrived, he saw how volatile the situation could become and ordered the bowling alley closed for the night.  It was closed and the students returned to their dorm rooms, vowing to continue their desegregation efforts.  On Tuesday the Orangeburg City Council sided with Harry, saying he had more right to choose his customers than the students claim of the right to be served.  That night, John led another group of students to the All Star Bowling Lanes where they met up with 20 law enforcement officers, some carrying riot batons, and the doors to the bowling alley locked.  Chief Poston and the chief of the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED, which reports directly to Governor Robert E. McNair) J. P. "Pete" Strom explained to John that Harry had the right to file trespass charges against the students if they refused his request to leave.  John told the 30-plus students of their rights and they were then allowed into the bowling alley.  The students lounged about for 25 minutes before Harry asked them to leave.  John told the co-eds and anybody who didn't want to get arrested to leave the bowling alley.  Half of the students left, the others were arrested.  As the arrested students were being led outside to the patrol cars, one of the students in the crowd cursed an officer.  He was arrested as well.  Other students began to protest this latest arrest and one of them ran back to the campus to recruit more students to come to the bowling alley.  A throng of students left the campus and headed to the bowling alley. The dean of the college, Oscar Butler, also went to the bowling alley and talked to Chiefs Strom and Poston.  The chiefs agreed to release the arrested students into Oscar's care so that they could then persuade the throng of students to return to the campus.  Oscar went to the jail and John agreed to the deal.  Unfortunately, tensions had risen and 50 more law enforcement officers had arrived at the bowling alley by the time they returned.  A fire truck had arrived and the students believed they would be doused with water.  Chief Strom, John, Oscar and others were only able to convince some of the throng to return to the college.  The fire truck was told to leave and as the police provided cover for the truck, the throng of students surged forward toward the doors of the bowling alley.  The students tried to remove the door by it's hinges and even kicked out a small window by the door.  Chief Strom had arrested Arthur Dodson Jr. for vandalism, even though he didn't kick the window in.  By now the remaining students were protesting anew at the arrest of Arthur.  One of the students squirted liquefied tear gas into the eyes of Patrol Sgt. John S. Timmerman, 38. The night climaxed when the police pulled out their riot batons and began to club the out of control throng of students.  The police officers didn't discriminate as they clubbed males and females alike.  The students retreated down the streets and the chiefs had to reign in their officers to keep them on the scene and not chase the students.  As the students walked the five blocks back to their college, they threw rocks, bricks and anything else they could find at the white-owned businesses along the street.  The injured students made their way to the college's infirmary where the on duty nurse called the doctor to have him meet her at Orangeburg Regional Hospital.  Eight students were admitted at the hospital and another eight students spent the night at the infirmary.  The white patrons of Harry's All Star Bowling Lanes bowled all night long without interruption.  Cleveland Sellers (national program secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)), John, Oscar, the student body presidents of both colleges and a few more students met at Professor Roland Haynes's home (faculty advisor to the student NAACP chapter) and planned a peaceful march to the mayor's office the next day.  Later that evening, Governor McNair ordered 250 National Guardsmen to report for standby duty.  On Wednesday, several meetings were held at city hall and at the college.  The only thing that was definitively accomplished in all of these meetings was that Harry agreed to close the bowling alley for the night.  Hundreds of National Guardsmen and highway patrolmen were sent to Orangeburg to maintain order.  That night students threw rocks, bricks, coke bottles and more at white motorists as they drove past the college.  Police eventually setup road blocks and for two more hours the students tried to vent their frustration.  By 2 a.m. the students were back in their dorms and the police began to clean up the debris in the streets.  Today, Thursday, February 8, 1968, more meetings were held but the only real action that was taken was that Harry agreed to close the bowling alley at 5 p.m.  Word spread through the two colleges that the state NAACP field secretary, Reverend I. DeQuincy Newman, would talk to the students at 6 p.m. at Claflin College.  Students gathered there but Reverend Newman never showed up at the meeting, not out of spite, but because he was never informed of the meeting taking place nor his requested presence at the meeting.  The students began to jeer the organizers of the meeting and eventually the dean of Claflin told them they had to leave.  With temperatures dropping fast since the sun went down, Harry Smith and a group of students tried to build a small bonfire at the intersection of College Avenue, Watson Avenue and State Street.  Other students threw bricks and rocks at passing motorists.  Law enforcement officials setup their command post, "Checkpoint Charlie," at the intersection of Russell Street and College Avenue, a block south of the where the bonfire was being built.  They blocked off the road and stayed beyond the barrier.  One police car with two officers did pass the blockade and stopped at bonfire.  While one of the policemen raised a shotgun in the air, the other policeman began to disassemble the bonfire.  He placed the wood on the east sidewalk of Watson Avenue.  Just to the east of Watson is a small embankment and then the college campus.  Just after 8 p.m., Patrol Lieutenant Jesse Alfred Spell (45-years-old, 22 years experience) was called to "Checkpoint Charlie."  From there, he and his 17-man squad positioned themselves at Watson Avenue and Russell Street to prevent the students from marching down Watson toward downtown Orangeburg.  The students never planned to march downtown, but the police believed those gathered for the bonfire would be marching soon.  Just before 9 p.m., the students moved north, to the edge of Claflin College and hurled rocks at the policemen across College Avenue at Livingston's Warehouse.  A few minutes later, gunfire rang out from Claflin College, as a student with a .22-caliber gun shot over the heads of the policemen.  The policemen retreated behind the warehouse and a student threw a Molotov cocktail bomb at the building.  A small fire started, but quickly burned itself out without damaging the building.  At 9:30, a student with a bugle came out of Lowman Hall and played the "Charge!" theme.  The students close to the tri-intersection retreated back to Lowman Hall to see what was going on.  One of the students cried out, "Let's build a bonfire!" So the students went back to the tri-intersection and built a new bonfire, this time the police did not tear it down.  Henry Smith threw a gas-filled bottle onto the wood, but the bottle didn't break.  Another attempt by another student did break, followed quickly by a match and the students now had a bonfire going in the middle of Watson Avenue.  Almost 200 students gathered on the embankment of Watson Avenue and enjoyed the bonfire.  They sang songs, told jokes and watched the fire closely so that it wouldn't burn the overhead electrical wires.  Henry began to tear down street signs and added them to the fire.  Several students tore the shutters and other pieces of wood off of a nearby vacant house for fuel for the bonfire.  National Guardsmen had closed off all roads leading out from the two colleges after the 9:00 shootings.  A crowd of white people, entire families and boys with their dates, pulled up to the west side of the railroad tracks to watch the events unfold.  Law enforcement officials setup at "Checkpoint Charlie" could see the bonfire, and the students attempt to burn the vacant house.  They called for a fire truck to extinguish the bonfire.   The fire truck arrived at "Checkpoint Charlie" at 10:30 p.m.  Patrolmen surrounded the truck and walked up with it to the site of the bonfire.  National Guardsmen were ordered to the strip of land between College Avenue and railroad tracks.  Patrol Lieutenant Spell was told to move his men to the tri-intersection; once there, they placed themselves on the embankment between State Street and the vacant house.  Chief Strom, FBI agent-in-charge Charles H. DeFord and SLED Lieutenant Carl B. Stokes drove their car up to the bonfire.  Cleveland Sellers came out from one of the dormitories and headed toward the bonfire when he heard the fire truck's siren.  Seeing the police and fire truck advance on their position, the students began to retreat back toward Lowman Hall, throwing rocks and bottles at Lieutenant Spell and his men.  Patrolmen David Shealy and Donald Wayne Crosby were in Lieutenant Spell's squad.  They moved toward the vacant house.  David was in front when Donald noticed two large white banister posts flying toward them.  He ducked out of the way, but David was laid flat when one of the posts struck him in the mouth and nose.  Confusion amongst the law enforcement officers ensued when Patrolman Shealy went down.  Many of them of them shouted out that he had been shot as blood poured from his head wound.  Patrolman Shealy was taken from the scene to the hospital.  As more and more law enforcement officials arrived to see what had happened to Patrolman Shealy, the students retreated further from the scene, toward Lowman Hall.  The students didn't know that Patrolman Shealy had been injured.  However, they did see him being removed from the scene and thought it was a student being arrested.  Some of the students began to head back to tri-intersection and the police force along the embankment.  Five minutes have now passed since Patrolman Shealy was injured, the bonfire was out and its smoke now drifted across the campus toward the students.  As the students approached the embankment, they shouted slurs and epitaphs, and a few threw bottles at the police.  The law enforcement officers then opened fire on the students with their shotguns, carbines and pistols.  Lt. Spell, Sgt. Henry Morrell Addy (37-years-old, 20 years experience) and Sgt. Sidney C. Taylor (43-years-old, 20 years experience) fired their shotguns from the students left; Corporal Joseph Howard Lanier (32-years-old, 10 years experience) fired on the students from their right with his shotgun; Corporal Norwood F. Bellamy (50-years-old, 12 years experience), Patrolman First Class John William Brown (31-years-old, 8 years experience), Patrolman First Class Colie Merle Metts (36-years-old, 10 years experience) and Patrolman Allen Jerome Russell (24-years-old, one and a half years experience) fired their shotguns from the embankment along with Patrolman Edward H. Moore (30-years-old, 4 years experience) and his .38-caliber Colt special. The students quickly turned and began running back toward Lowman Hall.  Several of them fell to the ground.  Minutes before the shooting started, Johnny Bookhart had stepped out onto a porch Lowman Hall to see what the commotion was about.  He was shot in the knee.  Henry Smith was very close to the embankment when the shooting started.  He was shot in both sides of his body, his back and his right shoulder.  Just 20 feet away, Savannah Williams was struck in the left shoulder. Charles Hildebrand fell to the ground when he heard another student shout out that he had been hit.  While on the ground, Charles was shot in the back of his leg. He got up, was shot in the hip, fell to the ground, got up again, was shot in the armpit and finally took refuge behind a trashcan.  Samuel Hammond was felled by a shot to his upper back.  Delano Middleton was shot three times in the forearm, his hip, thigh, right side of chest and his heart. Robert Davis had crawled away from the embankment, stood up underneath a street lamp and was shot in the back after taking two steps.  Thompson Braddy was shot in the right elbow and left leg. Cleveland Sellers tried to help Thompson flee the massacre scene before being shot in the arm and then hiding behind a trashcan.  Bobby Burton, roommate to Henry Smith, fell to the ground after he had been shot in the right hand.  While on the ground, two more bullets tore through his body, one in his left arm and the other in his right leg.  Richard McPherson was struck in the back of the head by one bullet.  He hit the ground unconscious, but woke up a few seconds later.  He got up to flee the scene and was shot in the back. Joseph Hampton was just a few feet from Richard when he was shot in both legs.  Just a few feet behind Richard were students Samuel Grate and Harold Riley.  Samuel was injured with bullet wounds to his buttocks and pelvis.  Harold was injured in the right knee and pelvis.  To the right of Samuel was Bobby Eaddy, who was on the ground when he was shot in the back of his right shoulder. Ronald Smith was a few feet away from Bobby when he laid low by gunshot wounds in his right arm and right thigh.  Joseph Lambright was crawling on the ground trying to get away when he was shot in the right shoulder.  Nathaniel Jenkins dropped to the ground when the police opened fire on the students.  As he crawled away, he was shot in the left heel.  However, he didn't know this at the time.  Thomas Kennerly hit the ground when the shooting started.  He was struck in the upper right arm, left hip and left big toe.  Just behind Thomas, Robert Watson was wounded in the foot, thigh and buttocks.  Frankie Thomas, who was behind Robert, had over a dozen of his teeth fall out when buckshot tore through his left cheek.  He was also wounded in the arm and leg.   Behind Frankie was Herman Boller.  He had turned to run from the scene when the shooting started.  He had taken five steps before being shot in the thigh twice.  Herman fell to the ground and about 15 seconds later was struck in his left foot.  Robert Williams and Jordan Simmons were about midway between the embankment and Lowman Hall when they were struck down by the police gunfire.  Robert was crawling away from the massacre when he was shot in the arm.  Jordan was also crawling toward Lowman Hall when a he was injured by buckshot with a neck wound.  Albert Dawson was one of the few students heading toward the embankment.  He was shot in the chest, fell to the ground and began crawling away.  To his right, was Samuel Grant with a left shoulder wound.  Herbert Gadson hit the ground when the shooting began.  He was shot in the left hip as he laid on the ground.  Ernest Carson was near the embankment when he was shot in the side.  He fell to the ground and was shot in the heel, sole, thigh and the back of his right leg.  Harvey Miller was taken down by buckshot to his right leg, chest and abdomen.  Ernest Shuler was wounded in the sole of his right foot and the back of his right arm.  By now, just twenty seconds after the first shot was fired,  the law enforcement officers who weren't shooting were calling for a cease fire.  The shooting stopped and the injured students began to make their way to the college's infirmary a block beyond Lowman Hall.  Samuel Hammond was picked up by the police and driven to the infirmary.  Delano and Henry were dragged from where they fell down on the embankment to the rescue truck that had been called in for Patrolman Shealy.  The two teens were loaded on the truck and taken a mile away to Orangeburg Regional Hospital.  The nurse at the infirmary inspected Samuel Hammond and ordered him taken to the hospital.  Several students who weren't injured loaded up their classmates and took them to the hospital.  On his second trip to the hospital, Nathaniel Jenkins felt pain in his left foot.  He took off his shoe and saw the bullet wound he had gotten earlier in the night.  The doctors went to work on the injured students, although some hospital staff members showed little compassion for them.  John and Willie Carson, older brothers of Ernest Carson, came to the hospital to check on their little brother.  Ernest nodded to the highway patrol at the hospital, indicating they were the ones who shot him and John began to question them.  He was told to quiet down, but he kept repeating, "Why did it have to happen?"  He was arrested minutes later and continued to protest as he was being forced outside the hospital to a patrol car.  Once outside, one of the officers hit him on the head with the butt of his rifle and blood began to flow.   Willie Carson, who was following, took a step toward his brother but he stopped short when the officers drew their guns on him.  Both of the Carson boys were arrested and put into the car.  As they were driven away, John said he wanted to return to the hospital to get his head looked at.  The officers eventually agreed, but first they put Willie into another car that took him to the police station.  Once Willie was out of the first car, it returned to the hospital where John was treated for his head wound.  He was then taken to the police station and locked up.  The Carson brothers were released the next day on $500 bond.  Dr. Roy Campbell finished stitching up Patrolman Shealy before checking on Samuel Hammond and Henry Smith.  Henry's fatal wounds were at his neck, right shoulder and one bullet that entered near his rib cage, put a 4-inch tear in his liver and pierced his vena cava (main vein leading to both legs).  Samuel's fatal wound was 2-inches left of his spine and Dr. Campbell was unable to keep him alive.  He died at 11:30 p.m., not even an hour away from being shot.  Delano was in another emergency room.  He was calling for his mother and she was called in.  She came to the hospital with her other son and they stood by Delano until he died at 1:10 Friday morning.  Sudden hemorrhaging in his neck and shoulder wounds ended Henry's life at 1:45 a.m.  Louise Kelly Cawley was outside Lowman Hall when the police opened fire on the students of South Carolina State College.  She wasn't injured and when the shooting stopped she helped the injured students get to the infirmary.  She made three trips to the hospital and on her way back to the college, she was stopped by Orangeburg policemen.  The officers tried to force her into their car but she resisted, fearing for her life over what had already happened.  The officers pummeled her and sprayed a chemical in her face.  Another female student told the officers they could be in trouble for attacking a pregnant woman.  The officers then took Louise to the hospital where she came in crying and screaming, "I've been beaten." over and over again.  A week later Louise had a miscarriage.  After being treated for his wound, Cleveland Sellers, police called him the chief agitator, was taken from the hospital by Orangeburg County Sheriff Robert Dukes.  He was taken to the courthouse where Sheriff Dukes and Chiefs Strom and Poston agreed on these charges: arson, inciting to riot, assault and battery with intent to kill, destruction of personal property, damaging real property, housebreaking and grand larceny.  Bond was set at $50,000 before he was taken to the state penitentiary in Columbia.  In the morning, National Guardsmen patrolled the city in wide-tracked armored personnel carriers and Harry Floyd still kept the blacks out of his bowling alley.  On Thursday, February 22, 1968, United States Judge J. Robert Martin Jr. ordered Harry to stop his ban against blacks.  The following Monday classes resumed at State College and John Stroman and James P. Davis became the first blacks to bowl a game at the All Star Bowling Lanes.  Charges were filed by the FBI against the nine law enforcement officials who fired on the students, but a federal grand jury declined to indict them.  The troopers claim the students fired first, but no spent shell casings were ever found near the bonfire.  Federal prosecutors attempted a trial and just over a year later, but a jury of 10 whites and two blacks acquitted all nine of the law enforcement officials, saying they acted in self defense.  The trial of Cleveland Sellers began on September 24, 1970 in Orangeburg.  The previous charges had been reduced to three counts of rioting.  His jury, nine whites and three blacks, found him guilty of inciting a riot.  He was sentenced to one year in prison and to pay a $250 fine. South Carolina State College erected three statues to honor those who died and who were injured in this school shooting. A quarter of a century later Cleveland Sellers was pardoned by the governor.  For more information, check out The Orangeburg Massacre by Jack Bass and Jack Nelson.  It provides more details of this school shooting.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Samuel Hammond Jr., 18

Delano Herman Middleton, 17

Henry Ezekial Smith, 19

THE INJURED:

Herman Boller Jr., 19

Johnny Bookhart, 19

Thompson Braddy, 20

Bobby K. Burton, 22

Ernest Raymond Carson, 17

Louise Kelly Cawley, 27

Robert Lee Davis Jr., 19

Albert Dawson, 18

Bobby Eaddy, 17

Herbert Gadson, 19

Samuel Grant, 19

Samuel Grate, 19

Joseph Hampton, 21

Charles W. Hildebrand, 19

Nathaniel Jenkins, 21

Thomas Kennerly, 21

Joseph Lambright, 21

Richard McPherson, 19

Harvey Lee Miller, 15

Harold Riley, 20

Cleveland Sellers, 23

Patrolman David Shealy

Ernest Shuler, 16

Jordan Simmons III, 21

Ronald Smith, 19

Frankie Thomas, 18

Robert Watson, 19

Robert Lee Williams, 19

Savannah Williams, 19

Source: The Orangeburg Massacre by Jack Bass and Jack Nelson

Tomah Junior High School, Tomah, Wisconsin

Wednesday, November 19, 1969

Principal Martin Mogensen was in his office talking on the telephone early this afternoon (12:30) when a 14-year-old boy walked in with a 20-gauge shotgun and fired upon him.  The bullet struck Martin, 46, in the elbow.  He retreated to his adjacent private office, but the boy followed and fired again.  This time the bullet tore through Martin's back and he collapsed to the floor.  A secretary and a female student witnessed the execution of their principal.  The boy waited in the hallway until the police arrived.  When they showed up, he tossed the shotgun to the floor and kicked it.  Police then arrested our young instigator.  The boy remained in juvenile custody for over three years and was released.  Years later, he died in a traffic accident.

Source: The Capital Times - School Violence a Tie That Binds (published October 4, 2006); Visitor to this web site

Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania

Friday, November 28, 1969

After meeting with Chief Bibliographer Professor Harrison T. Meserole, English graduate student Betsy Ruth Aardsma, 22, arrived at the Patee Library to research an 18th-century project around 4:30 this afternoon.  Betsy was attacked in the basement 2-core room amongst the stacks by unknown assailants.  They approached her from behind, covered her mouth and then stabbed her to death.  A muffled scream and the clash of falling books brought an unidentified woman to the core room where she discovered Betsy's motionlessly on the floor.  Betsy was lying partially on her side, with her leg propped up on an adjacent bookshelf, amidst a stack of upturned books.  Blood was coursing from the center of her chest, and a red stain covered her shirt.  Betsy was rushed to the hospital where doctors discovered the fatal stab wound went through her sternum and puncturing her pulmonary artery into the right ventricle of the heart.  This type of thrust took a great amount of strength to perform.  Today, students recant the grim tale of Betsy Ruth Aardsma as they travel through the stack corridors attempting to make contact to a spirit, they swear, exists.  As of today (December 9, 2008) the case is still open.  Penn Live published an extensive story of Betsy's murder on December 7, 2008, 39 years after her death.  The story provides great detail of how Betsy ended up at Penn State and how her unsolved murder still affects the police officers who initially worked the case.  Go to www.pennlive.com and search for A 39-Year Mystery: The Murder of Betsy Aadsma, published on December 7, 2008.  If you have any information pertaining to the murder of Betsy Ruth Aardsma, please visit a new site (launched March 18, 2008) and help track down her murderer.

Webmaster's Note: The original date I had for this attack was December 2, 1969, but after a visitor to this page did some research for me and viewed the original newspaper articles pertaining to this attack, we have found that Friday, November 28 is the correct date for this attack.  Also, I have double-checked the date with the New York Times news story Police Seek Clues in Death of Student at Penn State, and Betsy Ruth Aardsma was killed on Friday, November 28, 1969.  Also, the Penn Live story from December 7, 2008, confirms the November 28 date.

Coleman Elementary School, Pine Bluff, Arkansas

Wednesday, April 15, 1970

In an argument over a girl, three black men from Southeast High School on Ohio Street enter the cafeteria at Coleman Elementary School and began shooting.  The cafeteria is shared with Coleman High School, which is across the street.  At the time, the high school students were in the cafeteria.  When the shooting started, James McBride rushed across the street to the a third-grade classroom to grab his niece and they rushed out the back door of the school and went to their grandmother's house.  Quite a few students were injured, and E. T. Tucker (or just E. Tucker) was killed.  He attended Southeast High School.  Southeast High School is now Southeast Middle School.

Source: Tina (Nash) Terry, Survivor of this school shooting, her uncle and the daughter of another Survivor

Lemon G. Hine Junior High School, Washington, D.C.

Monday, January 5, 1970

A 15-year-old student died when a revolver a friend was holding discharged.

Source: Washington Post - Spingarn High Student Fatally Shot at School Assembly (published 9-11-80)

Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

Monday, May 4, 1970

On Friday, May 1, an announcement to send US troops into Cambodia marked the start of a weekend of anti-war protests that began on campus, then moved to the downtown area.  After substantial damage to a number of downtown business, the governor called for assistance.  The Ohio National Guard arrived Saturday night.  Some of the students helped with the cleanup, while others set fire to the campus headquarters of the Army Reserve Officer's Training Corps.  An anti-war rally at noon on Monday brought 2,000 - 3,000 people to the university commons area.  When the Guard gave the order to disperse, some in the crowd responded with verbal epithets and stone throwing.  The Guard answered with tear gas, but after winds altered the gas' directions, they attempted to enforce the Ohio Riot Act with raised bayonets, forcing demonstrators to retreat.  The 28 National Guardsmen regrouped and approached the crest of Blanket Hill, some turned toward the Taylor Hall parking lot and shot 61-67 rounds in 13 seconds into the crowd, killing four students and wounding nine others, permanently paralyzing one. Eight Ohio National Guardsmen were arraigned on charges of firing their weapons, but were acquitted by Judge Frank Battisti when it was discovered their statements had not sufficiently shown the willful intent on the part of any of the eight to specifically deprive any of the victims of any civil rights as was charged in the indictment.  The eight guardsmen are James McGee, Mathew McManus, Barry Morris, William Perkins, James Pierce, Lawrence Shafer, Leon Smith and Ralph Zoller.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Allison B. Krause, 19

Jeffery Glenn Miller, 20

Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20

William Knox Schroeder, 19

THE INJURED:

Alan Michael Canfora

John R. Cleary

Thomas Mark Grace

Dean R. Kahler

Joseph Lewis Jr.

Donald Scott MacKenzie

James Dennis Russell

Robert Follis Stamps

Douglas Alan Wrentmore

KSU Links   General Information    May 4, 1970        Wikipedia - Kent State Shootings

Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi

Thursday, May 14, 1970

Colleges across the nation were thrown into turmoil after the Kent State shootings.  The students tried to initiate a National Student Strike, they protested the expanding Vietnam war into Cambodia and the expanding draft to support such a move.  On Wednesday night, around 300 students gathered around Alexander Hall and assaulted every white driver with bottles, bricks, rocks and concrete as they drove past the college along Lynch Street from downtown Jackson to the suburbs.  The Jackson city police and the Mississippi Highway Patrol closed off Lynch Street through the campus and the students finally dispersed around midnight.  Tonight, the students, the police and the patrol returned and the outcome was different.  As the patrol lined up along the left side of an armored police vehicle and the police lined up along the right, Jackson Police Lt. Magee tried to quell the rioting students with a bullhorn.  From the crowd came a glass bottle and just after it shattered on the pavement, the patrol and policemen opened fire.  In the 29-second fusillade, 275 bullets riddled Alexander Hall, killing two and wounding twelve others.  The city police testified that they fired after the patrol started firing.  The highway patrol testified to seeing sniper fire coming from the female dormitory before discharging their weapons.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Phillip L. Gibbs, 21

James Earl Green, 17

THE INJURED:

Fonzie Coleman, leg

Climmie Johnson, above right eye

Leroy Kenter, Jr., left leg

Gloria Mayhorn, right shoulder & head

Andrea Reese, right arm

Pat Sanders, right shoulder

Stella Spinks, arm and back

Lonzie Thompson, right thigh

Vernon Weakley, right leg

Tuwaine Whitehead, arm, leg & back

Redd Wilson, left upper leg

Willie Lee Woodard, left chest

For more information on this school shooting, check out Lynch Street: The May 1970 Slayings at Jackson State College by Tim Spofford.  The book is published by Kent State University Press.

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin

Monday, August 24, 1970

Using the same lethal mixture of farm fertilizer and fuel oil that would destroy the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 25 years, Karleton Armstrong, Dwight Armstrong, David Fine and 22-year-old Leo Burt, collectively known as the New Year's Gang, blew apart most of Sterling Hall at 3:42 a.m. this morning.  Sterling Hall contained most of the university's physics department and the controversial Army Mathematics Research Center, which was a long time target of Vietnam War protesters.  The explosion wrecked most of the physics department, damaged buildings in the surrounding area, even some to the Army research center.  The blast also killed 33-year-old post-doctoral researcher Robert Fassnacht.  The top of the van that transported the 1,700 pounds of fertilizer and large quantity of fuel oil was found atop an 8-story building.  Karleton was arrested on February 17, 1972 in Toronto, Canada, and was convicted of second-degree murder.  He was sentenced to 23 years in prison, but was paroled in 1980 after his sentence was reduced.  David was arrested in San Rafael, California in 1976 and Dwight was arrested in Toronto in 1977.  Both severed 3 year prison terms.  Leo has yet to be found.  On the fortieth anniversary of this blast, Karleton operates a juice stand near the bombing site; Dwight died in June 2010 of lung cancer and David worked as a paralegal in Portland, Oregon.  Leo's whereabouts are still unknown.  The FBI is offering $150,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Source: Yahoo! News - 40 Years Later, Wis. Bomber is a 'Ghost' (published August 23, 2010)

Leeds Junior High School, Mount Airy, Pennsylvania

Monday, February 1, 1971

Samson L. Frredman was a 56-year-old beloved art teacher at Leeds.  He had been with the district for 25 years.  This afternoon as he left the school, 14-year-old Kevin Simmons ambushed him from behind.  Kevin put a .45-caliber pistol to the back of Samson's head and fired one shot.  Samson collapsed to the ground and died, never knowing what hit him.  Kevin was charged as an adult, but plea bargained his way to a lesser charge.  He served nine years of a 20 year sentence.

Source: Philadelphia Daily News - Teacher Safety: It's Déjá Vu (published March 13, 2007); The Sixth Square Almanac - Archive for February 1, 2007

Grove Elementary School, Grove, Oklahoma

Monday, November 8, 1971

Custodian Jim "James" R. Underwood, 63, arrived at Grove Elementary School this morning, something that was totally out of character for him.  He usually works at the school in the late afternoon.  A few minutes later Principal T.J. Melton, 48, entered the building escorting several practice teachers.  James and T.J. never got along very well and they had a minor disagreement on the previous Friday.  After T.J. had placed the practice teachers in classrooms with the regular teachers, he was about to return to his office when James asked him to come into the supply room.  T.J. entered the room and James pulled out a small caliber handgun and shot him in the chest.  As the principal fell to the floor, James shot him again in the head behind the ear.  He then fired a third shot into the top of T.J.'s head.  Nobody in the school heard the shoots when they were fired.  James exited the supply room and told one of the teachers in a nearby classroom that there was "boiler trouble" and the students from 3 classrooms need to be moved to the cafeteria, about 40 yards away.  He then told another teacher that and ambulance was needed at the school.  He wouldn't tell her why the ambulance was needed, just to call one.  With the children a safe distance away, they did not see the following scene of the police and paramedics arriving and the removal of T.J.'s body.  When the ambulance and police arrived, James told them where T.J. was and handed Policeman Jarvis Littlefield a paper sack containing the murder weapon.  He then turned himself over to them.  T.J. was pronounced dead on arrival at Grove General Hospital.  The next day, James was charged with murder.  Later in the year, James was admitted to Eastern State Hospital in Vinita for an indefinite period so that physicians can determine if he is able to assist in his own defense.  James died on January 5, 1974 and his obituary in the Delaware County Journal was treated just like any other obit, with no mention of his involvement in the death of T.J. Melton.

In late August 2008, I received an email from a Survivor of Grove Elementary School.  She provided me with the following information, from her point of view.

I was one of those elementary students who went to lunch early that day because the janitor (Mr. Underwood) told us there was something wrong with the radiators in our classroom.  This is what I recollect from that time.  I'm sure I heard what I can recall from my mother and other adults having conversations about the shooting.  I was in 3rd grade in that elementary building in the fall of 1971. Mr. Underwood, the janitor, came to our classroom and told our teacher (Mrs. Nadine Landon) that there was something wrong with the radiators in our rooms, and he was going to work on them or the boiler, so he wanted us to go on to the cafeteria (located in another nearby building) for lunch a little early.  I don't remember how many classrooms he told, but I was thinking that it was just the classrooms in that wing of the building, where the janitor's closet was located.  Mr. Underwood got Mr. Melton, the principal, to step into the janitor's closet, presumably to ask him something or discuss something, and the janitor shot Mr. Melton in the head with a pistol.  (I didn't know he was shot 3 times.) Supposedly, Mr. Underwood believed or was under the delusion that Mr. Melton was going to fire him.  Possibly that was true, if there was a history of them not getting along.  After the shooting, Mrs. Elfreda Sanicke, who was the elementary aide and spoke with an accent, came looking for Mr. Melton.  I don't know if she heard the shots or if she just needed him.  But, she came to the janitor's closet, and Mr. Underwood supposedly told her, "Don't go in there.  I just shot Mr. Melton."  I've always thought that Mrs. Sanicke was the person who happened upon Mr. Underwood and the closet looking for Mr. Melton and called the police.  Of course, all the parents were called, and the students were picked up ASAP from school.  My mother told me not to talk about it with anyone, but she did tell me basically what had happened at the time.  I know she talked about it with other people, and one of my friends talked about it with me, so her mother had told her about it.  At the time, I understood what had happened, but I'm sure I didn't understand the full gravity and tragedy of it.  I think on some level maybe I did, but I wasn't too emotional about it.  I  just wanted to know why it happened.  Now it just seems surreal.  Over the years, (in my mid 40s now) I would forget that it happened, then remember again.  I work as a teacher, and about five years ago, I started a new job and walked into an old school building in a small town in Missouri.  I suddenly started thinking about the shooting incident and recalling details that I was told in 1971.  Then, I realized that the floor plan of the building was similar to that of my elementary building in Grove in 1971, but, more than that, it smelled the same!  The smell had triggered my memory of that event.  Grove Schools named the new elementary building after T.J. Melton.  It must have been completed soon after his death, because I'm pretty sure that I attended 4th grade in the new building.  I think the old elementary building became the middle school.  It wasn't closed or razed or even heavily renovated after the shooting.  Later, it was added onto and renovated and was the Grove middle school for several years.  My mother was a teacher at Grove Schools for many years, and she mostly taught in the middle school building.  Grove is a fast growing school district nowadays.  I can't remember what the enrollment would have been in 1971.  My 3 sisters and I attended school there from kindergarten on and graduated from Grove High School.  I graduated in 1981, and my class was one of the biggest to ever graduate, with 162 students

Source: Visitor to this web site; The Grove Sun - Murder Charged in Melton Killings; Delaware County Journal - School Principal Dies of Gun Shots; Delaware County Journal - Psychiatric Examination Granted Jim Underwood; Delaware County Journal - Obituary for James Russell Underwood; Survivor of this school shooting

Stow High School, Stow, Ohio

Monday, January 24, 1972

During an argument over an undisclosed topic, an unnamed 16-year-old male student shot and wounded his chemistry teacher.

Source: Visitor to this web site

Decatur Central High School, Indianapolis, Indiana

Friday, May 5, 1972

A beautiful day in Indianapolis turned into a horrific scene for all those involved. The teacher of George Jenkins's biology class led his students outside to collect specimens and study them under a microscope while on the school's lawn today. George is a sophomore at the school. During class, his sister, Mickey, a senior, approached the class and handed George a note. He began reading it and about half way through, he suddenly got up and ran away from the class. Mickey pulled out a handgun and shot her brother. George died from the gunshot wound. Mickey ended up in a state mental facility and has since been released. Before killing her brother, Mickey was a very good, yet quite student. No one expected her to kill her brother in front of his biology class.

Source: Three visitors to this web site

Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Thursday, November 16, 1972

Today, during a peaceful protest, two African American students were killed by white sheriff's deputies.  The protesters had gathered at the university's administration building to protest against administration officials and their policies.  The protests were ongoing as students fought for a greater voice in school affairs and the resignation of certain administrators.  Last night, several student protesters had been arrested and today's protesters sought their release.  State police and sheriff's deputies entered the building with firearms and tear gas.  When they left, students Denver Smith and Leonard Brown, were dead.  The deputies who fired the shots were never identified.  The school named union, Smith-Brown Memorial Union, was named in their honor.

Source: Visitor to this web site; Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement website

Oakland Technical High School, Oakland, California

1972

Sometime in 1972, an Asian boy cut in front of a black girl in the cafeteria line.  She was very upset about this and followed him to his table.  She swiped his chair out from under him as he sat down and he fell to the floor. In a rage, the boy spun around and stabbed her in the heart with a butter knife he had in his hand.  He killed her instantly.

Source: SF Weekly - Gang Today, Hair Tomorrow (published 4-27-05)

Brownstown Central High School, Brownstown, Indiana

Friday, February 22, 1974

For an undisclosed reason, David L. Fleetwood, a 17-year-old student, parked right behind Assistant Principal James T. Blevins this morning and waited for him to exit his vehicle.  When James, 48, got out of his car, David did too, along with a .22-caliber rifle that he used to shoot James three times in back.  James collapsed to the ground and died.  David laid the gun down on the ground, walked into the school's office and told the secretary what he had done.  He then sat on the couch by himself and waited for the police to arrive and arrest him for murder.

Source: Two visitors to this web site

A High School in Ma'alot, Israel

Wednesday and Thursday, May 15 and 16, 1974

Today marked the 26th anniversary of Israeli independence.  Three Arab males from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which is affiliated with the PLO, broke into the school by killing the security guard.  A hundred teens, from 14- to 16-years-old were sleeping on the floor after a day of hiking.  The trio of Arabs kill one student and another individual before taking around 90 students and their teachers hostage.  On Thursday, the trio of Arabs announced their demands, which was to have Israel release 23 Arab militants from prison or they would kill the students. They wanted this done by 6 p.m. The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, met and by 3:00 agreed to negotiate with the trio of Arabs.  They asked for more time but were refused. Fifteen minutes before the deadline was reached, an elite unit of the Golani Brigade stormed the school.  The trio of Arabs were killed in the assault, as were 20 students and an Israeli soldier. The number of wounded reached 71. For statistical purposes, I am putting this on Thursday, May 16 as that was when the bulk of violence happened.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Malka Amrosy

Rachel Aputa

Sarah Ben-Shim'on

Rina Cohen

Shoshana Cohen

Yafa Cohen

Tamar Dahan

Yocheved Diyi

Yaakov Kabla

Yaakov Levi

David Madar

Sarah Madar

Yehudit Madar

Yocheved Mazoz

Lili Morad

Ilana Ne'eman

Aviva Saada

Yona Sobag

Michal Sitrok

Sarah Soper

Ilana Turgeman

The security guard

Israeli solider

All 3 Arab instigators

Source: Wikipedia - Ma'alot Massacre

Wagner College, New York City, New York

Thursday, November 7, 1974

Helen Surgan, 19, and Gerald Melton, 27, worked in the library at Wagner College.  Helen was taking nursing courses at the college while Gerald was a full time employee.  They went on two dates before she told him she didn't want to see him again.  The end of the relationship may have led Gerald to attack her this evening at 5 p.m.  He accosted her on a walkway behind North Hall, a music building between the student union and Guild Hall, Helen's dormitory.  The walkway is a well-lit, heavily traveled area of the Staten Island campus during the dinner hour.  A school official estimated almost 900 people us the walkway during that time.  Gerald stabbed Helen several times and then fled the scene.  Other students chased him, but lost his trail in the vicinity of Targee Street.  Helen was transported to Staten Island Hospital where doctors confirmed her death.  Police spotted Gerald 90 minutes later, chased him down and arrested him.  Wagner College is affiliated with the Lutheran church.

Source: New York Times - Nursing Student Slain on Campus at Wagner, Visitor to this web site

Olean High School, Olean, New York

Monday, December 30, 1974

Most students stay away from their alma mater over the Christmas holiday break.  Senior honor student (ranked 8th in his class of 292) Anthony Barbaro, 18, is an exception to the rule.  Olean High School was not in session today, however, some doors were unlocked because administration, clerical and maintenance personnel were working in the building.  Anthony, carrying a 12-gauge shotgun and a .30-06 rifle with a telescopic site, entered through one of the unlocked doors this afternoon.  He made his way up to the third floor where he encountered janitor Earl Metcalf.  Anthony, the best shot on his ten man rifle team, wasted no time in killing Earl with a shot to the left side of his chest.  Anthony then started a small fire in the hallway. George Pancio, the director of special projects for the district, smelled the smoke and went upstairs to investigate.  He found Earl's body and quickly returned downstairs to call the authorities.  Meanwhile, Anthony continued moving around the third and fourth floors, firing his guns out the windows into the people below.  He killed Neal Pilon as he walked along the street and Carmen Wright with a bullet to her head as she drove past the school in her car.  The fire and police departments responded to George's call and Anthony continued sporadically to fire his guns for 90 minutes. He was able to wound eight of the responding firemen, even though they were using their pumper trucks for cover, as they struggled to prepare to fight the fire. Anthony's shooting spree started at 3:05 p.m.  State troopers and city police officers stormed the school under a heavy barrage of tear gas and gunfire to capture the teen sniper at 5:30 p.m.  Anthony, wearing a white sweatshirt, threw his guns out one of the shattered windows and surrendered without a struggle.  He hanged himself while awaiting trial.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Earl Metcalf, 63

Neal Pilon, 58

Carmen Wright, 25

THE INJURED:

Albert Abdo, 37

Wayne Dutton

Wayne Dutton's son

Herbert Elmore, 43

William Fromme, 35

David Grosse, 28

Raymond Limerick, 40

Joseph Snopkowski, 55

Earl Weidt, 23

George Williams, 36

Julius Wright, 12

 

Source: New York Times - 3 Killed and 9 wounded by an upstate sniper, 18; Visitor to this site

Parkway South Junior High School, St. Louis, Missouri

Tuesday, March 18, 1975

A student quarrel in the hallway of the school led to the fatal shooting of Stephen Goods, 16.  Stephen was not involved in the quarrel, just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Three youths were convicted for the homicide.

Centennial Secondary School, Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Wednesday, May 28, 1975

On a spring day in May of 1975, 16-year-old Michael Slobodian opens fire on his classmates.  Michael kills fellow classmate John Slinger and his English teacher, Margaret Wright.  He wounds 13 other students in his rampage.  Michael ended the horrible day by taking his own life in one of the school's washrooms.  At the time of this shooting, Ontario Premier William Davis' 15-year-old daughter Cathy was attending Centennial Secondary School.  From what I know, she was not injured.

Source: Two visitors to this web site; The Ottawa Citizen - Meet the Jefferson's (published 8-23-06)

St. Pius X Catholic High School, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Monday, October 27, 1975

Earlier this month Robert Poulin raped and stabbed a 17-year-old female friend to death.  Today, he continued his violence ways by opening a classroom door at St. Pius X and opening fire on the students with a sawed-off shotgun.  One of the students (with the first name of Mark) was killed while five others were injured.  Mark was a 90% plus average student and died on Wednesday.  Robert, 18, then committed suicide.  The clean up process at the school involved the Survivors selling Pius X beanies for $1.50 (Canadian) to replace textbooks that were destroyed because they were covered in blood.  

Source: Two visitors to this website

California State University - Fullerton, Fullerton, California

Monday, July 12, 1976

Custodian Edward Charles Allaway called his estranged wife today telling her this was his "last day to live."  After hanging up with her, he drove to the university where he worked, parked near the campus library, entered the seldom used west doors and walked downstairs to the basement.  It was about 8:30 in the morning and students were arriving for summer classes.  The LA Rams were practicing on one of the football fields, a typical summer day in southern California.  In the 37-year-old's hands was a .22-caliber semi-automatic rifle that he had purchased on Saturday.  In a small anteroom of the secretary's office in the media center, Edward started the deadliest massacre in Orange County history.  He first aimed his rifle at the secretary, but shifted his aim and shot and killed Paul Hertzberg, an IMC photographer.  Edward then engaged Bruce Jacobson, an IMC equipment technician, before killing him as well.  The rampage quickly continued in the maze of offices in the basement as Edward entered a large production room decorated with Frank Teplansky's caricatures of media personal.  Inside the room were Professor Emeritus Seth Fessenden and Frank.  The professor was sitting closer to the door, and Edward killed him before shooting Frank three times in the back of his head and neck.  It took two hours for Frank to die.  By now, several other employees had heard the shots and stepped into the hallway.  Edward paid them no heed and headed toward Deborah Paulsen and Donald Karges.  Donald noticed Edward heading his way and began fleeing toward the front lobby.  Edward fired a shot and missed.  He pursued his two targets, passing a clerical assistant at her desk and finally caught up to Deborah and Donald.  Several shots later, Deborah and Donald were dead.  With his clip empty, Edward stepped into a stairway to reload.  Upon reloading, he moved into a large work area, confronted and shot Maynard Hoffman, his boss, in an elevator and Donald Keran as he sat his desk, wounding both.  Edward fired again, striking down Steve Becker, who had managed to push open a side door to the outside, but Edward shot him in the back eliminating all hope of escape.  Although wounded in the shoulder, Donald Keran began wrestling with Edward.  Donald managed to dislodge the ammunition clip during the struggle and Edward was subdued shortly after that.  Steve Becker was the assistant librarian whose father was the director of the university placement center at the time.  Professor Fessenden retired in 1973 and was doing research at Cal State Fullerton today.  Donald Karges and Deborah Paulsen were custodians, like Edward.  Donald Keran was a library assistant.  When Edward could find no one else to shoot, he got into his car and drove to the Hilton Inn in Anaheim where his wife worked.  He told her he had done "something terrible."  He borrowed a dime from her, called the Fullerton police, then handed her six $20 bills before being surrounded by law enforcement officers.  Over a year later, in August of 1977, Edward was found guilty of seven counts of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.  The jury then deliberated for another four days but could not reach a verdict on the issue of his sanity at the time of the shootings.  Judge Robert P. Kneeland ruled in November of 1977 that Edward Charles Allaway was insane and removed the criminal penalties, finding him "not guilty by reason of insanity."  Since 1987, Edward Allaway has been trying to be released from Atascadero State Hospital, and allowed back into society, saying he is no longer an insane man.  However, the review boards continue to reject his claim.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Steve Becker, 32

Professor Emeritus Seth Fessenden, 72

Paul F. Herzberg, 30

Bruce Jacobson, 32

Donald Karges, 41

Deborah Paulsen, 25

Frank Teplansky, 51

THE INJURED:

Maynard Hoffman, 64

Donald W. Keran, 55

Source: Crime Victims Bureau of Carlsbad, California - California Mass Murderer Has Good Chance For Release Soon; Los Angeles Times - 10 Years After Murderous Rampage, Campus Killer Says He is Now Sane (7-6-86); American Libraries Online - CSU/Fullerton Library Killer May Be Release Soon (2-19-01)

Chowchilla, California

Thursday, July 15, 1976

A field trip for a group of students to the fairgrounds for a swim outing ended in one of the most bizarre kidnappings that I know about. Frederick Newhall Woods IV, 24, James and his brother Richard Schoenfeld, commandeered a school bus on a county road in Madera County about 4 p.m. as the students were returning from the fairgrounds. This road is in the San Joaquin Valley and the bus was carrying 26 children, 19 of them were girls and seven of them were boys. The children were between six and 14-years-old.  They transferred their charges to two vans and drove them 100 miles north to a quarry.  The quarry was on land owned by the Woods family in Livermore.  At the quarry, the children and bus driver were once again transferred to a different vehicle, this time it was into a moving van that had been buried at the quarry since November 1975.  The trio of hijackers, all scions of wealthy San Francisco Peninsula families, began working on a $5 million ransom.  After 16 hours in the 8 x 16 foot van, 55-year-old bus driver Ed Ray and a couple of the older boys began to dig their way out of the van and go for help.  They were found in a remote area near the Shadow Cliffs East Bay Regional Park.  They were taken to the Santa Rita Rehabilitation Center for brief treatment and then safely returned to Chowchilla under police escort on Friday morning.  Richard, 22, turned himself into the police on July 23 and was held in lieu of $1 million bail.  His 24-year-old brother James was captured by the police on July 29 in Menlo Park while he was preparing to surrender.  Frederick was also captured on July 29, even though he was in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at the time.  On November 10, the trial of the trio was moved from Madera County to Alameda County.  Just over a year later, on July 25, 1977, the trio pled guilty to 27 counts of kidnapping for ransom.  The prosecution dropped 18 counts of robbery.  On December 15, 1977, the trio was found guilty on three counts of kidnapping with bodily harm and sentenced to life in prison.  In 1993, a TV movie aired called They've Taken Our Children: The Chowchilla Kidnapping starring Tim Ransom as Frederick, Travis Fine as Rick, Tom Hodges as James and Karl Malden as the bus driver.  For a 20-year perspective of the Chowchilla kidnapping, check out the San Francisco Chronicle's story "Buried Memories" from July 14, 1996.  Ed Ray died on May 17, 2012 at the age of 91, from complications of cirrhosis of the liver.  At the time of his death, Frederick, James and Richard were still behind bars.  On Wednesday, June 20, 2012, Richard was released from prison on parole.  He is now living with his mother and is being aggressively monitored 24 hours a day.

Source: Visitor to this site; Camworld Message Board - The Sweet Here After; City of Chowchilla History web page; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Heroic Driver in School-Bus Hijacking; Los Angeles Times - Chowchilla Kidnapper, Now Living with Mother, is Being Monitored

Jacox Junior High School, Norfolk, Virginia

September 1976

In shop class today, 14-year-old James Cox ended the argument he was having with 15-year-old James Turner by plunging a pocket knife into his neck.  James Turner died from the stab wound.  James Cox was tried as a juvenile, convicted of simple assault and committed to state custody.

Source: The Virginian-Pilot - Norfolk Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Stabbing His Guest to Death (published April 30, 2005)

Burt Elementary School, Detroit, Michigan

Wednesday, November 10, 1976

A.J. Lewis, the 46-year-old estranged husband of 45-year-old second-grade English teacher Bettye McCaster, entered her classroom today and shot her to death.  Her 29 students watched the horror unfold in front of them.

Source: Visitor to this web site

Consolidated (High) School of Whitharral, Whitharral, Texas

Thursday, April 7, 1977

As school began today, 17-year-old student Ricardo "Ricky" Lopez went to his morning classes and while there, showed a classmate a gun and told him he was going to shoot the principal, coach and agri teacher.  The classmate just laughed at him and didn't believe him.  Later that morning, Ricky went to the principal, Mr. Omar Tripp, and told him he was sick and needed to go home.  Mr. Tripp, 31, said that he would take him home in his car, at which point Ricky walked out the door towards the car.  When Mr. Tripp came out the door with his keys, Ricky shot him.  The bullet went through Mr. Tripp and hit the door behind him. Ricky ran down the street and across the highway to a small convenience store where he laid the gun on the counter and told the clerk what he had done. Ricky pleaded insanity at his trial.  He was placed in a state institute and released after his 18th birthday. He said he killed Mr. Tripp because "the devil told him to."  The bullet hole and door are still there today. Whitharral is a very small town near Lubbock, with all the students taught in one building.   Mr. Tripp's wife continued to teach at the school until retirement, and both of their daughters graduated from Whitharral.

Source: Two visitors to this website

An Elementary School in Bovensmilde, Midden-Drenthe, The Netherlands

Monday, May 23, 1977

In an effort to obtain freedom for 20 of their friends imprisoned for a 1975 train hijacking, South Moluccan dissidents took an elementary school and another train hostage today.  Four South Moluccan gunmen carrying submachine guns and hand grenades entered the school around 9 a.m. with over 105 children and four teachers inside. The gunmen released 15 South Moluccan students, then gathered the remaining students in two rooms and had them cover the windows with newspapers. Police surrounded the building and began to work out a peaceful solution.  The gunmen did accept blankets and food in exchange for some of the hostages.  Later in the day a mentally handicapped woman broke through the police barricade and onto the grounds of the school.  To remove her from the scene, the gunmen ordered two police officers to strip to their underwear before they were allowed to enter the school and remove her.  During all this, the Rotterdam-Groningen express passenger train was brought to a halt when a South Moluccan girl pulled the emergency cord to stop the train just short of it's final destination.  Five heavily armed gunmen boarded the train, released the children and the elderly and then separated the women from the men.  The five men joined four of the friends already on the train and together the nine held the train in the open countryside near the city of Groningen.  There were 60 people on board the train.  To show their intent, the gunmen killed the train driver and dumped his body on the tracks. Police were able to provide the gunmen with a phone so that they could communicate with the government.  The dual siege was in it's fourth day when gastric flu broke out among the children at the school.  The gunmen released all of the children, but held onto the four teachers.  To keep their hostages fed, food trolleys were allowed to come to the train along with naked Red Cross personnel to distribute the food.  The gunmen wanted to ensure the Red Cross personnel were unarmed.  They were actually undercover Dutch policemen who gathered intelligence.  Hostages that were released from the train were also able to provide authorities with more intelligence.  Nearly three weeks after the siege began, negotiation talks had stalled on Friday, June 10 and the Dutch government decided to end the siege all together.  The authorities planted explosives in front of the train to use as a diversion. On the morning of Saturday, June 11, 1977, Dutch marines split up into three groups: group one to storm the train, group two to provide cover fire and group three to storm the school. The assault group placed explosive charges on the train doors and small scaling ladders against the carriages.  A Dutch Starfighter aircraft then flew over the train and kicked in their afterburners, shaking the whole train.  The hostages fell to the floor as the explosives in front of the train were detonated.  Cover fire began pouring into the train as the doors were blasted open and the marines stormed inside.  During the gun battle on the train, six of the nine gunmen were shot and killed.  Two of  the hostages were also killed during the rescue operation. There were no injuries at the school.  The seven surviving gunmen (three from the train and four from the school) were taken into custody and sentenced to prison for six to nine years.  The South Molucca islands were formally part of the Dutch East Indies and the second generation Moluccans are campaigning the Dutch government for an independent state in Indonesia, even though most of them have never set foot in their homeland.  In the months that followed, the Dutch government improved social and economic conditions for the Moluccans.  The handling of the dual siege by the Royal Dutch Marines is a textbook example of how to resolve a hostage crisis.  It is still studied by counter-terrorism units today.

Source: BBC News - On This Day 1977: Dutch Children Held Hostage; The Learning Channel - Untold Stories: Royal Dutch Marines; MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base; Ministry of Interior of the Netherlands - Disaster Control and Crisis Management in the Netherlands

Alisal High School, Salinas, California

September 1977

On the first day of school for the 1977 - 1978 school year, a fight broke out between students.  One of the students pulled out a knife and stabbed the other student.  The injured student died from the stab wound.

Source: Guestbook entry from J. O.

Fullerton Junior College, Fullerton, California

Friday, September 30, 1977

College students take all sorts of jobs to help pay for their education and recreational activities.  Several students at FJC worked for Bonafide Security in Anaheim guarding numerous facilities in the area during the afternoon, evening and late-night hours.  One night in the fall, when the third shift was beginning, Gerald Uejima, a 22-year-old male Japanese student, went to relieve his fellow male American student at a construction site in Placentia.  Gerald was wearing a green baseball cap backward and was emotionally distraught.  His Japanese parents were expecting a great deal from him. However he was failing in school, and the pressure was unbearable.  Distraught as he was and desperate as he was, his co-worker said he'd be fine and left him alone for his watch.  The next morning, Gerald had a psychotic breakdown.  He owned several guns and grabbed a .22-calier rifle and a .38-caliber handgun.  He was living in an apartment complex, right next to the manager's apartment.  He rang the manager's doorbell and when Stephen White answered, Gerald fired one of his guns and wounded him.  Gerald, who others thought of as quiet, drove to FJC and entered the self-paced typing lab carrying the guns.  He fired off a few shots, one of which struck Terry Harris, a 36-year-old female student aide, in the hip.  The same male American student from last night was walking along the long typing building at FJC for his first class when he heard the gunshots.  A few seconds later a handful of people ran from the entrance.  A woman inside the typing building ran away from the shooter and hid under a desk.  He found her, put the rifle to her head and pulled the trigger.  Fortunately for the woman, the rifle jammed.  Gerald threw the gun down and then left the room.  He entered another classroom and looked out to the campus from the massive windows.  On the other side of those windows was the American male student.  Gerald, still with his green baseball cap on backward, put the handgun to his head and committed suicide.  The American student saw his head jerk violently and watched him fall to the floor in a pool of blood.

Source: Three visitors to this website

John Adams High School Annex, New York City, New York

Wednesday, January 4, 1978

Two ninth-grade boys began fighting around 11:35 this morning outside the fifth-floor gymnasium of John Adams High.  Michael Kittrell, 15, a black student, and Everton Lazarus, a 16-year-old West Indian student, were the participants.  During the fight, Everton stabbed Michael in the lower abdomen and forehead.  Michael was discovered by a police officer at the school and taken to Jamaica Hospital where he died.  Everton fled the school when the fight ended.  John Adams High School is located in South Ozone Park. 

Source: The New York Times - Student Stabbed to Death by Second Youth in Fight at a Queens Junior High; The New York Times - Bronx School Guard is Accused of Raping Student, 15

Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida

Monday, January 16, 1978

The Chi Omega sorority house has a door that doesn't latch correctly in cold weather. This broken door allowed Ted Bundy, who was running from the long arm of the law in Colorado, to slip into the house with a blunt object (probably a big tree branch).  He sneaked into Margareet Bowman and Lisa Levy's room and pummeled the co-eds to death.  He then moved on to Kathy Kleiner and Karen Chandler, severely wounding each girl.  He then left the house and almost killed another female, Cheryl Thomas, in her off-campus apartment.

Source: Visitor to this web site

Hayes Junior High School, St. Albans, West Virginia

Thursday, February 9, 1978

Arthur Smith and Stuart Wayne Perrock, both 14, were exchanging words this morning just after 8:00 a.m. when Stuart fired three rounds from a .22-caliber pistol into Arthur's chest.  Arthur died within four minutes of being shot.  Stuart fled the scene after killing Arthur, he crossed Strawberry Road and ran into the woods.  Deputies following his footsteps found a message scrawled in the snow: "tell Smith I'm sorry."  Three hours later, state police Trooper Don Cook spotted Stuart on the opposite bank of the Coal River.  A helicopter was dispatched to bring the young murderer in.  During this time, Don was able to convince Stuart to give himself up.  Stuart was charged with an "act of juvenile delinquency by virtue of committing a murder."  Because of the laws at the time, Stuart was released from juvenile custody on his 18th birthday and changed his name to Stuart McCallister.

Source: Visitor to this site and the Charleston Daily Mail - CBs and Cycles; Slain Boy Had a Typical Teen's Interest

Everett High School, Lansing, Michigan

Wednesday, February 22, 1978

At 2:00 p.m. this afternoon, the bell rang to end sixth (and final) period of the day for the students at Everett High School.  Kevin Jones, Bill Draher, and Roger Needham, 15, left their American literature class and headed for their lockers, with Roger wearing his customary Nazi pin that he was seldom seen without. Bill razzed Roger as they stood near Bill's locker saying that only punks wore Nazi pins.  Roger asked Bill what he was going to do about it and reached into his pocket.  Bill, hoping for a fight and anticipating a knife, said he wasn't scared by Roger's action and said, "You can bring it out any time."  Roger pulled out his hand holding a .38 special and fired quickly.  The first bullet grazed the top of Kevin's scalp so close that the 16-year-old could feel the gun powder sting his face.  Kevin ducked down while Roger fired again.  This shot hit Bill in the jaw and he slumped to the floor.  Kevin ran away screaming "He's got a gun! He'll kill you!"  Roger inched closer to Bill, aimed down at the 15-year-old's head and fired a third time. The students in the hall laughed at Kevin's absurd shouts, but social studies teacher Sam David noticed Bill laying motionless on the floor as Roger walked toward him.  Roger said, "I'm tired of being pushed around.  Now I'm even." Roger walked past Sam and approached Aldo Martinez, a bilingual specialist.  Roger handed Aldo the gun, a knife and a box of ammunition, saying, "Here, I give up."  Pandemonium broke out at this point as fleeing students nearly knocked down Aldo, members of the football team closed off the second floor and Tom Wilson, a Lansing police officer who had been speaking in an American history class ran upstairs to radio for assistance.  Kevin, meanwhile, made it downstairs to the school's office, jumped over the counter and yelled for help.  School nurse Carolyn Cheadle ran upstairs where she and paramedics spent 30 minutes trying to revive Bill while small feathers from his down jacket billowed in the air at any movement made around him.  They were not successful in their efforts. Within an hour, Lansing Police Detective Paul Wiegman and Roger's father arrived at the school. After four hours of debating, Roger's father signs a "consent to search" form for Roger's room.  They find Nazi literature, Nazi armbands, other Nazi paraphernalia, a huge Nazi flag, swastikas and excerpts from Mein Kampf and other Hitler writings.  They also found and elaborate diagram of a Nazi extermination camp, complete with gas chambers.  The findings stunned Roger's father.  Classes resumed the next day, however, Kevin didn't return until the following week.  When he did go back to Everett, the school administrators told his mother that maybe it would be better if he looked into some kind of alternate education.  Kevin and his mother left the school, and Kevin never stepped foot in a classroom again.  On May 8, 1978, prosecutors finally agreed to charge Roger Needham as a juvenile.  The state could hold him, if convicted, for four years and try to get him treatment.  Roger pleaded no contest to the first degree murder charge of killing Bill Draher.  Prosecutors then dropped the second charge, assault with a deadly weapon.  The judge ordered Roger to undergo psychiatric treatment in a secure facility.  The problem was finding one for juveniles; 33 juvenile homes across the nation did not want Roger in their system.  Finally, the Green Oaks maximum security wing of the W. J. Maxey Boys Training School near Ann Arbor agreed to take in Roger.  This was in October, 1978.  On December 16, 1980, Roger Needham received his high school equivalency diploma and began taking classes at the University of Michigan under close supervision.   He majored in math.  In 1981, after representatives from the state, the training center and the court system agreed it was time to let Roger go and the evidence against him in a first degree murder case was filed away in confidential juvenile records.  In August, 1984, Roger received a bachelor of science degree "with highest distinction." By the end of that same year, he had received his masters in mathematics. On May 2, 1992, Roger received his Ph.D. and could now be called Dr. Roger E. Needham.  Roger was hired by the City College of New York in 1993, the "Harvard of the Proletariat."  Kevin often talked about getting revenge with his friends and his younger brother, however, juvenile diabetes took a great toll on Kevin.  He lost a leg and nearly went blind before dying on May 25, 1999, at the age of 37, a month and five days after the Columbine massacre. The bullet hole is still visible above locker 02-069 at Everett High. Prior to this shooting, Everett High School's claim to fame was from their 1977 boys state basketball championship team that included Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

Source: St. Petersburg Times - Murder at Locker 02-069 (published 2-11-01)

Lanier Junior High School, Houston, Texas

Sometime Between February and April, 1978

One afternoon in the late winter/early spring of 1978, a science teacher noticed another science teacher berating a female Hispanic student, identified only as R.  She was very angry and the first science teacher asked the second science teacher why.  The second science teacher responded that R was talking back to him.  The first science teacher offered to let R attend his class for a week.  The second science teacher agreed.  During this week, R worked on her class work and was polite.  She did tell the first science teacher that the second science teacher had called her names, including racial slurs and made derogatory comments about her future.  Around 10 a.m. on Monday morning of the following week, the first science teacher and his class heard a loud pop in the front hallway.  Several teachers, including the first science teacher, investigated the sound, but found only the scent of gunpowder in the air.  The teachers went back to their classrooms and shortly thereafter, saw police rushing into the building and up to the second floor main office.  It turns out R had brought a gun to school this morning, fired a shot and went to the principal's office, carrying the smoking gun.  The principal and a counselor managed to wrestle the gun away from R before anybody could be hurt.  R was taken away from the school in a squad car.

Source: Visitor to this website

Ridgewood High School, Norridge, Illinois

Friday, April 28, 1978

About 9:45 this evening, 14-year-old Steve Macawain (sic), a male friend and two female friends left a residence for some nearby woods.  Steve told his friends he had seen a raccoon. The foursome walked the girls to the school where they could call for a ride.  A school dance was wrapping up when they arrived.  A station wagon carrying Michael Truppa, Robert Paulish, Michael Gael and Russell Peterson drove by and turned around.  Steve yelled an expletive at the car.  The car stopped, and Steve apologized to the occupants.  One of the occupants got out of the car and walked up to Steve.  A fight broke out, and Steve was backed up against a fence.  He pulled out a pistol and opened fire on the four from the station wagon.  He killed Michael Truppa and Robert while Michael Gael and Russell were wounded.

Source: A Survivor of Ridgewood High School and a visitor to this website

Murchison Junior High School, Austin, Texas

Thursday, May 18, 1978

George Christian, former press secretary to President Lyndon B. Johnson, had an honor student in his son John, 13, at the elite Austin junior high school.  This morning, John arrived late to school, around 8:45 a.m. and walked into his eighth grade English teacher's classroom on the first floor with a .22-caliber rifle.  He had gotten the rifle from his home. Wilbur (Rod) Grayson, Jr. was a first-year teacher and only 29-years-old. Wilbur was sitting on a stool conducting class when John pointed the rifle at him.  The students in the room, there were 30 of them, distinctly heard this phrase, "The joke is over." before John pulled the trigger three times.  However, they were unsure if John or Wilbur spoke those words.  Wilbur was struck in the right side of his head, chest and right arm.  John fled the room and dropped the rifle at a bike rack.  He was caught by athletic coach Larry Schirpiek, who held the boy against a fence until the police arrived. Wilbur was rushed to Brackenridge Hospital where he died.  John was taken to the Gardner House, a juvenile home until everything could be sorted out. John spent 17 months in a psychiatric hospital. He went to the University of Texas and graduated with a Juris Doctoral degree.

Source: Austin American-Statesman - Teacher Shot Fatally in Classroom; http://www.michaelcorcoran.net/archives/1469  

Stanford University, Stanford, California

Friday, August 18, 1978

Theodore Streleski felt that mathematics professor Karel de Leeuw, his thesis supervisor, mistreated him and withheld departmental awards from him.  Today, Theodore, who had been working on his Ph.D. for the past 19 years, found Karel in his office and bludgeoned him to death from behind with a ball-peen hammer.  He fled the murder scene but turned himself in 12 hours later.  Theodore, 40, was convicted of second-degree murder and served over seven years in prison for this crime.  He was released from prison in 1985.  Upon his release, he said, "As I stand here now, I have no intention of killing again.  On the other hand, I cannot predict the future."

Source: Rensselaer Graduate Council September 2000 Newsletter - Deadly Scholarship; Time Magazine (September 23, 1985) - Unrepentant About Murder; The Daily News (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia) - A Publisher by Principle; Philip Greenspun's Guide to Grad School; Reference.com - List of School-Related Acts

Lanett Junior High School, Lanett, Alabama

Tuesday, October 17, 1978

13-year-old Robin Robinson had a disagreement with another student, and he was paddled by Principal Lewis Hoggs.  He left and returned to his school with a .22-caliber handgun.  When told he was going to be paddled again, he fired a shot at Lewis, grazing the top of his head.   Lewis was taken to G. H. Lanier Hospital for treatment.  Two hours later, police arrested Robin about two blocks from LJHS.  Lewis recovered and went on to become the principal of Lanett High School.  When Hurricane Opal tore through Alabama in October 1995, Lewis's yard was covered in debris.  As he was cleaning up the mess, he suffered a heart attack.  Paramedics in ambulances had a hard time getting to him as trees and trash were all over the road.  By the time they reached Lewis, he had already died.  Most other lists on the Internet will say this act of school violence took place on October 15, 1978, but that day was a Sunday.  I wrote a letter to The Valley-Times News in Lanett and my date is correct.

Source: Response from The Valley-Times News Archive Department for information into this act of school violence

Sturgeon Creek Regional Secondary School, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

October 1978

Vaughan Pollen was losing control of his world.  His parents had separated, there were constant fights in his house, his brother was a straight A student, and he felt the pressure to live up to his brother's marks.  Last year, he told a school counselor that he was going to kill somebody.  Unfortunately, the counselor didn't see the clear signs of paranoid schizophrenia that Vaughan was exhibiting.  Nobody else saw these signs either as Vaughan had no friends and didn't talk to his family.  One of Vaughan's classmates is Ken Maitland.  Both of the boys are 17-years-old.  Ken often ridiculed and bullied Vaughan for being a fan of the heavy metal band KISS.  On a crisp autumn day on the prairies, Ken tampered with Vaughan's commercial art project.  This set the delusional boy over the edge.  The next day Vaughan went to school with a shotgun.  He entered his commercial art class, went up to Ken, pointed the shotgun at him and fired a shot.  Ken died from the gunshot wound.  Vaughan was arrested and tried in a Canadian court of law.  He was found not guilty of first-degree murder by reason of insanity.  Vaughan spent seven years in a mental hospital and has to see a psychiatrist for the rest of his life.  He hasn't had any contact with Ken's family since he killed their son.  The news story wraps up with Vaughan saying, "I don't expect them to forgive me because I haven't forgiven myself."

Source: Calgary Sun - Living with Hate (published 5-9-99) and a visitor to this website

 Alief Elsik High School, Houston, Texas

1978

One of the Special Education students, last name of Martinez, brought a snub nosed 44 Bulldog to school sometime in 1978. He sat at a cafeteria table with a male student, last name of Perry, and a female student. During their conversation, he fired up through the table, killing the boy whom he considered a rival for the girl sitting at the table with them. A senior, working as a teacher’s aide, was two doors down from the cafeteria. He heard the shots and the screaming in the crowded cafeteria, then saw the kids running out. Several of his friends witnessed the shooting first-hand.

Source: Isiah Fator website – Just How Bad is the Alief Area?( http://www.isiahfactor.com/2012/07/04/just-how-bad-is-the-alief-area/); Visitor to this website

Grover Cleveland Elementary School, San Diego, California

Monday, January 29, 1979

Using a new .22-caliber sniper rifle her dad gave her for Christmas, 5-foot-1 Brenda Spencer, 16, opens fire on the campus across the street from her home as students arrived for class this morning at 8:30.  One of the first of the injured children was being helped by the school principal, Burton Wragg, who was killed by Brenda.  Janitor Mike Suchar then went to aid the principal, but he too was shot down by the petite blonde girl.  More than 100 officers and 20 patrol units reached Grover Cleveland Elementary within minutes of the first shots being fired. Eight students and Robert Robb, a police officer, were also wounded by Brenda.  Police were able to call Brenda on her phone, and she told them she had been drinking and taking barbiturates. When asked by police why she started firing on the children, she replied "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day."  Brenda's primary interests were photography, animals, knives, and guns.  She even boasted to her friends that she had incredible shoplifting skills.  Brenda had attended Grover Cleveland growing up and had been arrested last summer after a costly window-breaking spree at the school. Even with the arrest, she was still able to win first prize, a color TV, in a Humane Society photo contest in October 1978.  On Tuesday, April 17, 2001, Brenda was denied parole and continued serving her 25-years-to-life sentence for this school attack.  On Tuesday, September 27,  Brenda was once again denied parole.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Mike Suchar, 56

Burton Wragg, 53

THE INJURED:

Christy Buell, 9

Mary Clark, 8

Crystal Hardy, 10

Cam Miller, 9

Robert Robb, 30 (28 in some reports)

Julie Robles, 10

Monica Selvig, 9

Andy Stiles, 7

Greg Vernor, 8

University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina

Friday, October 5, 1979

This is homecoming weekend at the University of South Carolina.  Senior Terrell Johnson decided to stay on campus and not go home.  His mother sent him $30.00 to enjoy the weekend.  A disco party was being held at the Bates West, home of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity when school violence struck.  Mark Houston, 18, arrived at the party with a .32-caliber pistol.  He opened fire on the party-goers and killed Terrell with a shot to the head.  Four other students were injured.  Mark left the party and shot two more students on the elevated walkway over Blossom Street. One of those students was Patrick McGinty, who was shot in the chest.  He died on Saturday.  Mark then made his way to Allen University where one of his cousins attended class.  He surrendered to the police three hours later after talking with his parents.  Police speculated that Mark was still upset from a party two weeks ago at Kappa Alpha Psi when the police sent everybody home, and he didn't get his $2 cover back.  However, his defense lawyer said the cause was because Mark has a "second personality" and brain damage from a car wreck when he was a little boy.  Mark ended up pleading guilty to two counts of murder.  He was sentenced to two life terms in prison and is not eligible for parole. 

THOSE WHO DIED:

Terrell G. Johnson, 21

Patrick W. McGinty, 19

THE INJURED:

John L. Aiken, 20

William Terry Langston, 20

Michael Lawyer, 18

Randy McCray, 18

David L. Simmons, 17

Source: The State - Massacre Revives 27-Year-Old Nightmare (published 4-22-07); Visitor to this web site

University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

Friday, December 14, 1979

Larry Duerkson, 29, an employee at the university's library, was walking between Parrington Hall and the Henry Art Gallery when he was shot and killed by his roommate and lover, 21-year-old Roger Cutsinger.  Roger was named as Larry's beneficiary in a $500,000 life insurance policy.  Apparently, Roger was more interested in the money than the relationship.  Roger was later convicted of first-degree murder and never collected a dime of the $500,000.

Source: Reference.com - List of School-Related Acts; Visitor to this website

Milliken Middle School, Lewisville, Texas

Sometime During the 1979 - 1980 School Year

Webmaster's note: Originally, I had very little information on this school shooting.  A brief e-mail from a Milliken alumni informed of this shooting and after perusing the 1978 and 1979 Milliken yearbooks at the Lewisville public library, and sending an e-mail to the chief of police of the city of Lewisville, I still had very little information.  Another Milliken alumni contacted me and provided me with the information below, and we are still working to obtain even more information.  For statistical records, I am putting this shooting into the 1979-1980, as that is the year I received from the Lewisville chief of police.  Another alumni of Milliken contacted with information on the shooter. However, the alumni could not verify the date.  A third alumni of Milliken has provided with more to this act of school violence.  With this new information, I've been able to narrow down the time from to the late fall / early winter months of 1979.  However, until I can do some further research, I'm keeping the date the same.

During the first gym class of the day, Brenna Belicki, and several other girls were walking down the rear staircase when gunfire erupted.  Brenna was wearing a rabbit fur coat.  An unidentified male student was intent on gunning down the school's principal.  Brenna was struck in the back and stumbled down the rest of the stairs.  It is unclear if the bullet ricocheted into Brenna, or if she was just in the right place at the wrong time. The girl's coach thought Brenna, who was in drama class, was only acting hurt.  The coach told her to quit fooling around.  Then the coach saw the blood.  The coach called for help and Brenna was rushed to the hospital where she recovered from her wounds.  The shooter ran off, fleeing across the school's football field.  He was chased down by one of the male coaches and held until the police arrived.  During all this, the boys were held in their bathroom.  It is speculated that this was a plot to shoot the principal, Mr. Polzer, who was having an affair with the school's secretary.  

Source: Two Survivors of Milliken Middle School

Stamps High School, Stamps, Arkansas

Monday, January 7, 1980

Several weeks ago, 16-year-old Evan Hampton was given a handgun by his older brother.  The two went out regularly for target practice.  Sunday night, at a local hamburger joint, Evan bragged that he was going to shoot Mike Sanders the next day.  Evan and Mike, 19, had "bad blood" between them. Monday morning, Evan walked into science teacher Steven Flint's class as the students were taking their seats.  He stood in the doorway and called out Mike Sanders name, took out the handgun and shot Mike three times.  The bullets struck Mike's chest, heart and head, killing him instantly.  The other students were in total shock as Evan then handed the handgun to Steven and waited for the principle to arrive.  Evan never showed remorse and the school was not dismissed.  Mike's parents came and took their two daughters home with them.  They had heard the shots that killed their brother but were unaware it was him who was shot.  The students who ignored Evan's warning had an extremely difficult time coming to terms with the fact that they did nothing to stop him. Evan was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison.  However, for currently unknown reasons, he was back home in less than two years.  He served some time as a trustee in Little Rock instead of the state pen.

Source: Visitor to this web site

Springbrook High School, Silver Spring, Maryland

Monday, January 21, 1980

Jennifer Czeh, 17, and her boyfriend, Larry Wayne Crumb, began fighting shortly before ten this morning in the school's parking lot.  During the fight, Larry stabbed her in the stomach.  She was able to make it inside the school where a custodian helped her to the front office.  Police and paramedics were called.  Jennifer was taken to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda and Larry, 25 (yes, he is 25-years-old) was arrested and charged with assault with intent to murder.

Source: Washington Post - Student is Stabbed Near High School

Cedar Shoals High School, Athens, Georgia

January 1980

In January of 1980, I was a 16-year-old senior in high school and was also a victim of school violence.  We were at a cross-town rival basketball game (Clarke Central vs. Cedar Shoals) in Athens, Georgia.  Some of their guys had a beef with our guys about things ranging from girls, to turf, and of course the game.  We had had an incident the week before at a dance, but we took care of it with our hands.  They vowed they would get us at the game the following week and made sure that everyone knew it.  The day of the game, the principal made an announcement that anyone starting trouble would be arrested and that everyone would be searched at the door.  The night of the game no one was searched.  It seemed as if all of their guys brought guns into the game.  They stood along the walls a with smirks on their faces and "something" covered up with towels and shirts.  Immediately following the game, the fights broke out.  I witnessed some girls pushing on each other, then one of my friends in a tussle.  It was one on one so I watched.  All of a sudden I saw the guy reach into his pocket.  I ran at him from the back to keep his hands from coming out.  I realized that it was a gun and yelled to my friends who then joined the struggle to keep the gun down (some were punching him).  As my friends continued to subdue him I backed off, only to be confronted by one of the guys who I'd had problems with previously.  As he pointed the gun and fired, I begged him not to shoot.  He fired and continued to fire as I tried to duck and wrestle with him.  In the end I suffered a gun shot to the face.  It was my senior year of high school, and could have been the last day of my life.  In all this I have to say we can't take teenagers threat lightly.

Webmaster's note: After re-reading this Survivor's email several times and trying to find a way to write the story in my own compelling words, I realized I could not do it.  So, for the first time, I am using a Survivor's own words to create an entry for my list.  I hope this personal account will help another student warn the authorities when he/she knows an attack is imminent.

Source: Survivor of this school shooting

Langdon Elementary School, Washington, D.C.

Friday, February 1, 1980

Four young boys were eating pancakes and sausages for breakfast and talking about Curtis Chase having a gun at school.  It was nine in the morning.  His classmates said it wasn't real, so he led them into a restroom.  Once inside, the bright-eyed 9-year-old pulled out a .22-caliber pistol.  He pointed it into the air and pulled the trigger.  The hammer clicked.  Curtis then pointed the gun at one of the other boys and pulled the trigger.  Once again, the hammer clicked.  Then he pointed the gun at his chest and fired the gun again.  This time, a bullet exploded into his chest, just below his heart.  He clutched his chest, stumbled back into the cafeteria and fell to the floor.  The other students in the cafeteria eating breakfast saw him, and the blood, and screamed.  An ambulance was called and Curtis was taken to Children's Hospital where doctors operated on him for three hours.  They were able to stabilize him.  The next day, he was listed in fair condition.

Source: Washington Post - Proving Gun is Real, 2nd  Grader at Langdon School is Shot

Eastern High School, Washington, D.C.

Thursday, March 13, 1980

Anthony Armstrong, 20, graduated from Eastern High a couple of years ago.  Today, he returned to his alma mater to talk to 18-year-old Samuel Daring.  Samuel is also an alumni of Eastern.  The topic they discussed was a current female student at Eastern, presumably one they were both trying to date.  The talk turned into an argument and the two boys ran inside the school.  As they did, Samuel pulled out a shotgun and fired it at Anthony.  He was shot in the chest and taken to Georgetown University Hospital for treatment.  Police arrested Samuel on assault with intent to kill charges.

Source: Washington Post - School Officials Ponder Security in the Wake of Shooting, Knifing

Cardozo High School, Washington, D.C.

Thursday, March 13, 1980

Also today in our nation's capital, another fight led to another student being injured in an act of school violence.  Calvin Johnson, 17, Norman Bethea, 23, and his brother Lucius, 21, were arguing over an unknown topic. The fight climaxed with Calvin being stabbed in the back by one of the Bethea brothers in a hallway outside the cafeteria.  Calvin was taken to Children's Hospital and listed in fair condition.  Police arrested the brothers on St. Patrick's Day, as well as their sister, 19-year-old Janet.  All three were charged with assault with intent to kill.

Source: Washington Post - School Officials Ponder Security in the Wake of Shooting, Knifing; Washington Post - Sister, Two Brothers Charged in Stabbing of Cardozo Student

Lincoln Junior High School, Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, April 29, 1980

It is not unusual for high school students and young adults to use Lincoln's basketball court, as it is accessible from 16th Street.  During lunch today, several students and few non-students were on the court playing basketball.  This was at 1:15 in the afternoon.  A 17-year-old male who didn't attend Lincoln wanted to join the game, but 16-year-old Kenneth Givens, a student at Lincoln, wouldn't let him.  The two boys argued over the matter for a few minutes when the older boy pulled out a small caliber handgun and shot Kenneth in the neck.  He was taken to Children's Hospital and treated for the gunshot wound.  On Wednesday, June 18, 1980, police arrested the shooter and charged him with assault.

Source: Washington Post - NW Student, 16, Shot in Dispute Over Basketball; Washington Post - Teenager Charged in Shooting of Youth

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