Report page 19

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.

On January 14, 2014, a 12-year-old male student used a shotgun with a sawed-off stock to fire three rounds of birdshot at fellow students gathered in their middle school gymnasium prior to the start of the school day. He injured two students and a security guard before surrendering to a teacher.

The student began talking about his attack plans as early as November 2013, saying that he wanted to fire a weapon in the air to make people take him seriously.

According to reports, his father owned a pistol and a shotgun. In January 2014, the student wrote in his diary that he wanted to use his father’s pistol for his attack, but was unable to locate it so he used the shotgun instead.

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.

On December 13, 2013, an 18-year-old male student entered his high school with a shotgun, a large knife, bandoliers with ammunition, and a number of homemade Molotov cocktails. He opened fire on two female students, fatally shooting one. He then entered the school library and opened fire on a faculty member there, who was able to escape through a back door. The student then set fire to a shelf of books in the library with one of his Molotov cocktails before fatally shooting himself.

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.