Title: school shooting | Definition, Examples, Causal Factors, & Facts | Britannica
Headings: School shooting
School shooting
crime
School shootings
Risk factors for school shooters
Race, gender, class, and school shootings
Media portrayals of school shootings
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School shooting

Content: school shooting | Definition, Examples, Causal Factors, & Facts | Britannica
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WRITTEN BY
Joanne Belknap See All Contributors
Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of Colorado Boulder. Her contributions to SAGE Publication's Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (2009) formed the basis of her contributions to Britannica. See Article History
School shooting, in the typical case, an event in which a student at an educational institution—an elementary, middle, or high school or a college or university—shoots and injures or kills at least one other student or faculty member on the grounds of that institution. Such incidents usually involve multiple deaths. Rampage school shootings are a type of school shooting where no single or specific individual is targeted by the shooter. Although school shootings occur worldwide, the United States has been the scene of the vast majority of the attacks, especially since the late 20th century. Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
A Connecticut State Police officer leading children out of the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, after a mass shooting at the school on December 14, 2012. Shannon Hicks—Newtown Bee/AP
School shootings
Although school shootings have a long history in the United States, the 1990s were a pivotal point, with high-profile occurrences in such cities as Pearl, Mississippi (1997); West Paducah, Kentucky (1997); Springfield, Oregon (1998);