School Shootings

Education news, analysis, and opinion about gun violence at schools and during school events

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Sign indicating school zone.
School Shootings This Year: How Many and Where
Education Week is tracking K-12 school shootings in 2026 with injuries or deaths. See the number of incidents and where they occurred.
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School boy (11-13) sitting on chair in corridor outside principal's office, side view
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School Climate & Safety From Our Research Center Threats of Student Violence and Misbehavior Are Rising, Many School Leaders Report
A new EdWeek Research Center survey suggests a link between the return to in-person learning and behavior problems.
Holly Kurtz, January 12, 2022
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3 min read
Sign indicating school zone.
iStock/Getty
School Climate & Safety Interactive School Shootings in 2022: How Many and Where
Education Week tracked K-12 school shootings in 2022 with injuries or deaths. See the number of incidents and where they occurred.
January 5, 2022
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3 min read
Illustration of a gun and a school in the background.
iStock/Getty collage
School Climate & Safety Infographic School Shootings in 2021: 4 Takeaways, in Charts
In 2021, there were 35 school shootings that hurt or killed people, the most since 2018. Here's what we know about school shootings this year.
Stacey Decker, Hyon-Young Kim & Holly Peele, December 20, 2021
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3 min read
Conceptual illustration of young person in crisis
iStock/Getty
School Climate & Safety Opinion Assessing Shooting Threats Is a Matter of Life or Death. Why Aren't Experts Better at It?
To take the right actions before the next tragedy occurs, schools need all the help they can get, write three experts.
David Riedman, Jillian Peterson & James Densley, December 16, 2021
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5 min read
After a rally in front of the White House, students march up Pennsylvania Avenue toward Capitol Hill in Washington on March 14, 2018. Students walked out of school to protest gun violence in the biggest demonstration yet of the student activism that has emerged in response to last month's massacre of 17 people at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
After a rally in front of the White House, students march in Washington on March 14, 2018, to protest gun violence.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
School Climate & Safety Opinion How Can We Honor the Victims of School Shootings? Listen to Students
A mother who lost her child at Sandy Hook nine years ago writes that we must prioritize student voice to make schools safer.
Nicole Hockley, December 13, 2021
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3 min read
Free gun locks at the Meriden Police Department, Fri., June 21, 2019. Police are providing free cable style gun locks to residents through a partnership witih Project Child Safe. The locks are available upon request at the front entry desk at the police station.
Free gun locks are available at the Meriden Police Department in Connecticut. Police there are providing free cable-style gun locks to residents through a partnership with Project Child Safe.
Dave Zajac/Record-Journal via AP
School Climate & Safety More Schools Are Reminding Parents to Secure Their Guns
Some districts now send parents notices about their states' gun-storage laws, and the Oxford, Mich., shooting could prompt more to follow suit.
Stephen Sawchuk, December 8, 2021
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9 min read
A well wisher kneels to pray at a memorial on the sign of Oxford High School in Oxford, Mich., Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021. A 15-year-old sophomore opened fire at the school, killing several students and wounding multiple other people, including a teacher.
A mourner kneels at a memorial in Oxford, Mich., site of the deadliest school shooting since 2018.
Paul Sancya/AP
School Climate & Safety What This Week's Mass Shooting Can Teach Us About School Safety
The incident in Michigan, the deadliest school shooting in three years, will add to a wrenching school safety debate.
Stephen Sawchuk, December 1, 2021
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7 min read
In this Feb. 15, 2018, file photo, law enforcement officers block off the entrance to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., following a deadly shooting at the school.
In this Feb. 15, 2018, file photo, law enforcement officers block off the entrance to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., following a deadly shooting at the school.
Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo
Law & Courts Justice Dept. to Pay $127.5M to Parkland Massacre Victims' Families
Attorneys for 16 of the 17 killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland said they had reached a confidential monetary settlement.
Terry Spencer, Miami Herald, November 23, 2021
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2 min read
Alex Jones speaks outside of the Dirksen Senate office building in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 5, 2018. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, April 5, 2021, declined to hear an appeal by the Infowars host and conspiracy theorist, who was fighting a Connecticut court sanction in a defamation lawsuit brought by relatives of some of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Alex Jones speaks outside of the Dirksen Senate office building in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 5, 2018.
Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo
Law & Courts Infowars' Alex Jones Ordered to Pay Damages to Sandy Hook Families in Defamation Lawsuits
The Sandy Hook families will have an opportunity to present to a jury the extent to which Alex Jones' hoax claims harmed them.
Zach Murdock, Hartford Courant, November 15, 2021
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5 min read
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Parkland survivor and activist David Hogg speaks during a rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a gun rights case that centers on New York's restrictive gun permit law and whether limits the state has placed on carrying a gun in public violate the Second Amendment.
David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., speaks during a rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. The court heard arguments on a New York law that limits the concealed carry of guns for self-defense.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Law & Courts Why Schools Have a Stake in U.S. Supreme Court Case That May Expand Gun Rights
In a case from New York state, the justices may further define the "sensitive places" such as schools where all firearms may be prohibited.
Mark Walsh, November 3, 2021
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7 min read
Police respond to the scene of a shooting on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021 in Memphis, Tenn. Authorities say a boy was shot and wounded at a school. Memphis Police said in a statement that the shooting was reported Thursday morning at Cummings School, which includes grades kindergarten through eighth.
Police respond to a shooting at a K-8 public school on Sept. 30 in Memphis, Tenn. Authorities say a boy was shot and wounded at a school.
Adrian Sainz/AP
School Climate & Safety Violence in Schools Seems to Be Increasing. Why?
Experts point to a confluence of reasons, including social isolation and access to guns. But there's no swift, obvious solution.
Stephen Sawchuk, November 1, 2021
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11 min read
In this Feb. 15, 2018, file photo, law enforcement officers block off the entrance to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., following a deadly shooting at the school.
In this Feb. 15, 2018, file photo, law enforcement officers block off the entrance to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., following a deadly shooting at the school.
Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo
Law & Courts Parkland Victims' Families Reach $25M Settlement With Broward School District
The largest payments will go to the 17 families whose children or spouses were killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High.
Scott Travis, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, October 19, 2021
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3 min read
Police respond to the scene of a shooting at Heritage High School in Newport News, Va., on Saturday Sept. 20, 2021. Newport News police Chief Steve Drew said two students were shot and taken to the hospital and neither injury was thought to be life-threatening. The chief said authorities believe the suspect and victims knew one another but did not provide details.
Police respond to the scene of a shooting at Heritage High School in Newport News, Va., on Saturday Sept. 20, 2021.
John C. Clark/AP Photo
Federal What Is a School Shooting? Members of Congress Seek a Federal Definition, Reliable Data
A new bill would direct federal departments to track data related to school shootings, a term for which there is no federal definition.
Daniela Altimari, Hartford Courant, October 11, 2021
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4 min read
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