Attack capacity and planning

The student later confessed to an extensive plot that involved murdering his parents and sister, setting a diversionary fire, planting explosive devices at his high school, targeting students and the school resource officer for harm, and engaging in gunfire with responding police officers before committing suicide.

Determine whether the student’s thinking and behavior | Targeted attacks at school are rarely sudden or is organized enough to plan and execute an attack and whether the student has the resources to carry it out.

Planning does not need to be elaborate and could be as simple as taking a weapon from home and inflicting harm on classmates at school.

Other student attackers may develop more complex and lengthier plans.

At the very least, carrying out an attack requires that the student has access to a weapon and the ability to get that weapon to school undetected.

The morning of the attack, the student was driven to school by a family member so he hid his shotgun in a duffel bag, claiming it contained items for his gym class. impulsive

The Team should assess whether the student has made specific plans to harm the school.

The student might create lists of individuals or groups targeted for violence, or research tactics and materials needed to carry out the attack. The student may conduct surveillance, draw maps of the planned location, and test security responses at school. He/she may write out detailed steps and rehearse some aspects of a plan, such as getting to the school, the timing of the attack, or whether to attempt escape, be captured, or commit suicide. The student may also acquire, manufacture, or practice with a weapon.

The student spent three months planning his attack, starting a diary on his computer in September 2013 to detail his plans. There he wrote that he wanted to choose a day during final exams so that the largest number of students would be present.

Over the next few months, he planned how and where he would enter the school, including where he would initiate the attack, and purchased the firearm and ammunition he would use. On the morning of the incident, the student purchased a four-pack of glass soda bottles and used these to create the Molotov cocktails he deployed during the attack.

The Team should corroborate the student’s statements to determine that they are consistent with the student’s actions and behaviors and with what other people say about the student.

When inconsistencies are identified, the Team should then try to determine why that is the case.

For example, the student might say that he/she is handling a romantic break-up well, but posts on social media indicate the student is struggling to move on, and friends report that the student is more upset or angry about the break-up than reported.

Determine whether the inconsistency is because the student is deliberately hiding something or if the inconsistency stems from another underlying issue. For example, a depressed student may claim that they are isolated, even if they regularly go out with a large group of students.

If the inconsistency is deliberate, it is important to determine why the student feels the need to conceal his/her actions. The concealment may be as simple as a fear of facing punishment for some other inappropriate behavior, or it may be related to hidden plans for a violent act.