Today there was an anonymous shooting threat at my daughter's university. I am angry. Angry that someone would think it was funny, angry that students, parents and faculty have to worry about things like this, and angry that it has come to this in my children's lifetimes.
While rationally I felt my daughter was safe in her dorm room, I could not stop thinking about all the times the real thing has occurred - not only in the U.S., but around the world. And I could not help but acknowledge the reality - that the last 2 school shootings were prefaced by false alarm threats in the month(s) before.
I am angry that I am afraid but worse than that - I am angry that my daughter has to be.
Feb. 2, 1996 | Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class. |
March 13, 1996 | 16 children and one teacher killed at |
Feb. 19, 1997 | Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16. |
March 1997 | Eight people (six students and two others) at two schools killed by Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri. |
Oct. 1, 1997 | Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan. |
Dec. 1, 1997 | Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at |
Dec. 15, 1997 | Two students wounded. Colt Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot. |
March 24, 1998 | Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as |
April 24, 1998 | One teacher, John Gillette, killed, two students wounded at a dance at |
May 19, 1998 | One student killed in the parking lot at |
May 21, 1998 | Two students killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at |
June 15, 1998 | One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway. |
April 20, 1999 | 14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at |
April 28, 1999 | One student killed, one wounded at |
May 20, 1999 | Six students injured at |
Nov. 19, 1999 | Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of |
Dec. 6, 1999 | Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at |
Dec. 7, 1999 | One teacher and three students wounded by a 17-year-old student. |
Feb. 29, 2000 | Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at |
March 2000 | One teacher killed by a 15-year-old student, who then shot himself. The shooter has been in a coma ever since. |
March 10, 2000 | Two students killed by Darrell Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by |
May 26, 2000 | One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at |
Sept. 26, 2000 | Two students wounded with the same gun during a fight at |
Jan. 17, 2001 | One student shot and killed in front of |
Jan. 18, 2001 | One student killed by two boys, ages 17 and 19. |
March 5, 2001 | Two killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at |
March 7, 2001 | Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of |
March 22, 2001 | One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at |
March 30, 2001 | One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from |
Nov. 12, 2001 | Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two hostages at the |
Jan. 15, 2002 | A teenager wounded two students at |
Feb. 19, 2002 | Two killed in Eching by a man at the factory from which he had been fired; he then traveled to Freising and killed the headmaster of the technical school from which he had been expelled. He also wounded another teacher before killing himself. |
April 26, 2002 | 13 teachers, two students, and one policeman killed, ten wounded by Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, at the Johann Gutenberg secondary school. Steinhaeuser then killed himself. |
April 29, 2002 | One teacher killed, one wounded by Dragoslav Petkovic, 17, who then killed himself. |
October 28, 2002 | Robert S. Flores Jr., 41, a student at the nursing school at the |
April 14, 2003 | One 15-year-old killed, and three students wounded at |
April 24, 2003 | James Sheets, 14, killed principal Eugene Segro of |
Sept. 24, 2003 | Two students are killed at |
Sept. 28, 2004 | Three students killed and 6 wounded by a 15-year-old Argentininan student in a town 620 miles south of |
March 21, 2005 | Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather and companion, then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead. |
Nov. 8, 2005 | One 15-year-old shot and killed an assistant principal at |
Aug. 24, 2006 | Christopher Williams, 27, looking for his ex-girlfriend at |
Sept. 13, 2006 | Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon at |
Sept. 26, 2006 | Adult male held six students hostage at |
Sept. 29, 2006 | A 15-year-old student shot and killed |
Oct. 3, 2006 | 32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts IV entered the one-room |
Jan. 3, 2007 | Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot fellow student Samnang Kok, 17, in the hallway of |
April 16, 2007 | A 23-year-old Virginia Tech student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed two in a dorm, then killed 30 more 2 hours later in a classroom building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting rampage the most deadly in |
Sept. 21, 2007 | A Delaware State Univesity Freshman, Loyer D. Brandon, shot and wounded two other Freshman students on the University campus. |
Oct. 10, 2007 | A 14-year-old student at a |
Nov. 7, 2007 | An 18-year-old student in southern |
Feb. 8, 2008 | A nursing student shot and killed two women and then herself in a classroom at |
Feb. 11, 2008 | A 17-year-old student at |
Feb. 12, 2008 | A 14-year-old boy shot a student at |
Feb. 14, 2008 | Gunman kills seven students and then himself, and wounds 15 more when he opens fire on a classroom at |