This is a list of unsuccessful or foiled attacks related to schools.
| Date | Location | Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln, Nebraska, United States | Arthur McElroy | A 43-year-old graduate student, Arthur McElroy, walked into an actuarial science class at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and attempted to open fire on about 20 students with a .30-caliber M1 carbine. As students reacted by hitting the floor and pulling desks over their heads in anticipation, the gun jammed, and McElroy was apprehended. A court later found McElroy insane. He was taken to the Lincoln Regional Center's Forensic Mental Services unit in December 1992. In May 2015, a Lancaster County district judge announced plans for McElroy's release to a local nursing home after declaring McElroy to no longer be a threat to himself or others.[1] | ||
| May 14, 1996 | Utah, United States | Justin Allgood | Justin Allgood, 15, boarded the Bingham Middle School Bus with a .357 Magnum and demanded the bus driver get off the bus. When she refused, he shot her in the leg and then she got off. He went on a high speed chase throughout the neighborhood with police before dying by a self inflicted gunshot. The motivation was speculated to be over the loss of his close friends in a car accident prior to his attack.[2] | |
| Burlington, Wisconsin, United States | Five students were arrested the morning they were planning to attempt a mass school shooting at Burlington High School. Police were notified the previous week of the impending plot and met the Sunday before to plan the arrests. None of the guns were confiscated from the student's parents. Two of the students were held on prior convictions.[3] | |||
| April 16, 1999 | Notus, Idaho United States | Shawn Cooper | Shawn Cooper, 15, entered Notus Junior-Senior High School with a shotgun he wrapped in a blanket and carried from home on the school bus during a manic episode. He fired 2 shots that narrowly missed people before being detained.[4] | |
| Port Huron, Michigan, United States | A 12-year-old, 13-year-old and two 14-year-olds, all boys, planned to hold up a gun store and then attack Holland Woods Middle School. Once there, they planned to rape some of the girls and shoot as many as 154 targets which they had drawn up on a list. They had stolen a building plan from the custodian's office but they were all caught within a day of a classmate's report to an assistant principal.[5] | |||
| Cupertino, California, United States | Al DeGuzman | De Anza College student Al DeGuzman planned a Columbine-style school shooting at the school. An employee at a Longs Drugs store developed pictures of DeGuzman posing with his guns and homemade bombs. She and a coworker called the police. DeGuzman was arrested when he returned for his photos. Police searched DeGuzman's bedroom and found several shotguns and rifles, nearly 1000 rounds of ammunition,[6] homemade bombs and a map of De Anza College, marked with locations where bombs would be placed.[7] In October 2002, DeGuzman was sentenced to seven years in state prison.[8] He later committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell on August 4, 2004. | ||
| Elmira, New York, United States | Jeremy Getman | Jeremy Getman, 18, planned a school attack at Southside High School, but it was foiled after students told a teacher that he was carrying weapons. He carried 14 pipe bombs, three smaller bombs, a propane tank, a sawed-off shotgun, and a .22 caliber pistol into the school by a duffel bag and also a book bag full of ammunition. On December 17, 2001, he was sentenced to 8½ years.[9] | ||
| Malcolm, Nebraska, United States | Joshua Magee | 17-year-old Joshua Magee was arrested in the parking lot of Malcolm High School after a school staff member, who saw the youth drinking liquor and putting on a black overcoat, called the police. A search of Magee's car produced a bolt-action rifle, 20 bombs and a note stating that he wanted to injure everyone at the school except for three friends. Magee, to whom the school paid close attention after it was reported to faculty that he was experimenting with explosives at home, was charged with attempted murder.[10] | ||
| Grand Marais, Minnesota, United States | Davis Riehm | 17-year-old David Riehm was arrested at his home on January 25, 2005, after authorities at Cook County High School turned over a collection of writings and essays to police in which Riehm described in great detail shooting and killing his English teacher. After spending 72 hours at Miller Dwan Hospital, Riehm was released. He was later acquitted of all charges.[11] | ||
| March 14, 2006 | Reno, Nevada | James Newman | 2006 Pine Middle School shooting occurred when 14-year-old James Newman entered Pine Middle School with a 38-caliber revolver and shot two students but there were no fatalities. In an interview, Newman reported extensively researching Columbine High School massacre prior to his attack. | |
| Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States | Shawn Ryan Sturtz and William Charles Cornell | Two 17-year-old boys were arrested the morning of Sept. 14 at Green Bay East High School for allegedly planning an armed attack on their school. Authorities said they found suicide notes at the homes of both Shawn Ryan Sturtz and William Charles Cornell. The following items were also found at Cornell's home: handmade explosives; bbs; gunpowder; toilet paper tubes and firecrackers; six one-quart jars of napalm; nine long guns, including rifles and shotguns; one handgun; walkie-talkies; numerous pellet guns; hundreds of rounds of ammunition; and mannequin heads that may have been used for target practice. In total, 110 items were seized.[12] | ||
| Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, United States | Dillon Cossey | 14-year-old Dillon Cossey was arrested at his home in Plymouth Meeting after a friend told police about his plan to carry out a Columbine-style attack on Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. After a police-conducted search of the Cossey residence, officers found a 9 mm Hi-Point carbine, which he named "Reb" in honor of Eric Harris, over 30 airsoft guns, a dozen knives and swords, seven homemade explosives, four which were live, a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook, and several movies about the Columbine High School Massacre, all which were in the boy's bedroom. A .22 rifle and a .22 pistol, which were lent to another acquaintance for safe-keeping, were also recovered by authorities. However, no ammunition turned up in the search, so investigators have concluded that the threat of an attack was not imminent. Even on Cossey's MySpace page, he discussed his admiration for the bank robbers of the North Hollywood shootout as well as for Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the Columbine gunmen. In his trial, Cossey confessed that he was going to carry out his shooting to kill the people who had relentlessly bullied him in elementary and middle school. Bullying led his parents to pull him out of public school at the end of his 7th grade year and home-school him. It was later found that he also had contact with Pekka-Eric Auvinen, the perpetrator of the Jokela school shooting, though Cossey apparently had no knowledge of Auvinen's plans. Cossey is currently serving time in juvenile detention and could possibly stay until the age of 21. His mother, Michelle Cossey, faced charges for purchasing the weapons and other charges regarding the welfare of her son.[13] [14] [15] [16] | ||
| Mishawaka, Indiana, United States | Russell Frantom | 16-year-old Russell Frantom was arrested after notebook retrieved from his locker at Penn High School stated, "I wanna break the current shooting record. I wanna get instant recognition." He and a 33-year-old possible accomplice, Lee Billi, were charged with conspiracy. Lee Billi was sentenced to 10 years in prison on March 26, 2009.[17] [18] | ||
| Pottstown, Pennsylvania, United States | Richard Yanis | 15-year-old Richard Yanis was arrested for plotting a school shooting at Pottstown High School after his father reported to police three missing handguns. An investigation revealed that Yanis had stolen the guns from his father and put them into a duffel bag, which he handed to a friend with the words to "hold onto it". After checking the bag, Yanis' friend told his mother of the weapons, who then forced him to get rid of them by throwing them into a river. After his arrest, Yanis admitted that he had planned to shoot people at his school he didn't like, before committing suicide.[19] [20] | ||
| Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, United States | An eighth-grade student who attended St. Andrew School in Drexel Hill was arrested after a fellow pupil he attempted to recruit for an attack tipped off authorities. The suspect was then pulled from class and later arrested. Shortly after, two Airsoft pistols were found in his backpack, one of them looking very much like a real gun. The plan of the 13-year-old student was to force the school in lockdown and shoot anybody who tried to escape. He is charged with terroristic threats and reckless endangerment and is currently held in juvenile detention. He is also charged with burglary for stealing $370 from another school in Drexel Hill on the previous weekend. It is noted that the suspect has a history of mental illness.[21] | |||
| Attleborough, Norfolk, England | A 16-year-old student posted a threat on the website Newgrounds stating that he would go to Attleborough High School (currently named Attleborough Academy) with a gas canister, set fire to the building and commit other acts of violence. A Newgrounds user from Montreal, Quebec, Canada notified English authorities via Skype after seeing the threat. The student was found carrying a knife, matches and a plastic gas canister containing flammable liquid, and was arrested for threats to commit criminal damage and possession of an offensive weapon, to which he admitted. He was then held under the Mental Health Act.[22] [23] [24] | |||
| Kanebogen, Norway | Kanebogen school A 9-year-old student tried to shoot his teacher with a 12-gauge-shotgun. he missed 2 shots at her before a teacher stopped him. | |||
| Monroe, New York, United States | A 15-year-old boy from Monroe was already on juvenile probation when he broke down crying as he admitted he stockpiled bottles of gasoline, makeshift fuses, a torch, a 2feet machete and three tanks of propane in a plot to attack former fellow students at Monroe-Woodbury High School.[25] | |||
| Beauvais, France | A 13-year-old boy, who was said to have had difficulties at his school, was arrested in Beauvais, accused of having planned to shoot his teachers. His parents had called police after they found their son acting strangely and a gun missing. When the boy, armed with a hunting rifle and 25 cartridges, arrived at the school, it was already surrounded by police, so he dropped his plans, left the rifle in a field and went to an Internet café in the city. That day, a parent-teacher meeting was scheduled to discuss his future at the school, and it was suspected that he wanted to prevent this meeting from taking place. He apparently also wrote in a blog the evening before that this was the last day in his life.[26] [27] | |||
| Littleton, Colorado, United States | Bruco Eastwood | Bruco Eastwood entered Deer Creek Middle School and shot two children before being disarmed by a teacher.[28] | ||
| Carlsbad, California, United States | Brendan O'Rourke | Brendan O'Rourke wandered into Kelly Elementary School and shot at two children before being apprehended by nearby construction workers.[29] | ||
| Muar, Johor, Malaysia | Lau Hui Chung | 40-year-old Lau Hui Chung, who had a history of drug addiction and mental illness, held hostages of 30 preschool children aged between 2 and 6 years old and four teachers of a kindergarten before being shot to death by police in the July 2011 Muar kindergarten hostage crisis.[30] | ||
| Tampa Bay, Florida, United States | Jared Cano | 17-year-old former student of Freedom High School Jared Cano was arrested for a bomb plot and shooting against his school in an attempt to outdo the Columbine massacre. He left behind bomb materials, video, and a manifesto. He had been expelled from the school in March 2010. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.[31] | ||
| Orivesi, Finland | Unidentified 23-year-old | A 23-year-old man fired two shots with a flare gun, hitting his ex-girlfriend's father in the arm in an office building. After the incident, he left and drove to Orivesi High School, took his rifle and went to the third floor, apparently after his ex-girlfriend. He then knocked on the door to the classroom and tried to shoot the teacher who opened the door, but the gunman's rifle didn't fire and the teacher was able to shut the door. The gunman then fired four rounds through the door but did not hit anyone. He was apprehended by police outside the school and the gunman dropped his rifle.[32] | ||
| Adelaide, Australia | Unidentified student | A year 8 student at Modbury High School brought a revolver onto school grounds and began firing. No one was killed and injured. Him and his father were charged with possessing an unregistered, loaded firearm, possessing an unlicensed firearm and unsecured ammunition. The student was banned from school for 10 weeks due to the incident.[33] | ||
| Palma de Mallorca, Spain | Juan Manuel Morales | A youth decided to place a bomb of 140 kilograms of explosive material in the University of the Balearic Islands. The attack was foiled, and police arrested the boy. The attempt, according to forensics, was made in imitation of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the Columbine High School massacre. | ||
| Sojwe, Botswana | Unknown Student | After he was expelled for jumping a fence, a student took a shotgun to Matsheng Community Junior School and opened fire. He allegedly intended to hit the school administration. He misfired, and when confronted by police, was arrested. There were no casualties.[34] | ||
| Albany, Oregon, United States | Grant Acord | Grant Acord, a 17-year-old junior who was attending West Albany High School was found with an arsenal of explosives under the floorboards of his bedrooms. The explosives included a Molotov cocktail, a napalm bomb, and Drano bombs. He supposedly wanted to make a more "successful version" of the Columbine High School massacre. He was charged with attempted aggravated murder and six counts each of unlawful possession and manufacture of a destructive device. He is held on $2 million bail.[35] | ||
| Seattle, Washington, United States | Justin M. Jasper | Justin M. Jasper was arrested by University of Washington police after being found in a stolen truck on campus. Inside the truck police found a stolen rifle fitted with a scope, a stolen shotgun, body armor, knives, a machete, and six incendiary devices. Jasper also had maps to three local campuses, the University of Washington, South Seattle Community College and Seattle University, in addition to anti-government literature and documents about the Syrian and Brazilian revolutions. Jasper had posted a podcast a few days prior to his arrest that indicated Jasper had anti-government views and was planning something in the western United States in support of the Brazilian revolution. He was charged in federal court with several felonies, had his bail set at US$2 million and in March 2014 was sentenced to three years in federal prison.[36] | ||
| Trinidad, Colorado, United States | 15-year-old and 16-year-old | Two boys, 15 and 16, were arrested for planning an attack on Trinidad High School at the start of the new year. They had been planning the attack for up to six weeks. The 15-year-old reportedly idolized the Columbine High School and Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooters.[37] | ||
| January 14, 2014 | Roswell, New Mexico, United States | Mason Campbell | 12- year-old Mason Campbell entered Berrendo Middle School with a sawed off shotgun and wounded 2 but no fatalities. After his arrest, a journal was found that reads "Hi everyone. If you're reading this, I'm probably in jail," it read. "Don't worry. I did what I wanted to do ... I grabbed a 20 gauge shot gun and heavy-duty saw. I chopped the stock off. Tomorrow will be fun."[38] | |
| Helsinki, Finland | 2014 Helsinki University massacre plan. Two people plotted to kill up to 50 victims at the University of Helsinki with firearms and poison gas. A third person who was invited to take part revealed the attack plan to a friend, who subsequently alerted the police. Both perpetrators were arrested and imprisoned for three years.[39] [40] | |||
| Leicestershire, England | Michael Piggin | 17-year-old Michael Piggin was arrested after planning to attack his former school and other areas, including a cinema and a mosque. He detailed his plans in a notebook and stockpiled homemade bombs, bomb-making materials, and various weapons.[41] He also filmed a video of him throwing a Molotov cocktail.[42] | ||
| Danbury, Connecticut, United States | Natalie Carpenter and Peter Thulin | 18-year-old Natalie Carpenter and 19-year-old Peter Thulin were arrested on March 4[43] and accused of planning a shooting at Danbury High School. Carpenter was reportedly obsessed with the Columbine High School massacre.[44] | ||
| Waseca, Minnesota, United States | John Davis LaDue | 17-year-old John David LaDue[45] was charged on May 1 with ten attempted murder and explosives counts in a plot to shoot his family to death and then kill himself and "as many students as he could" by blowing up Waseca Junior/Senior High School, according to authorities. Explosives and materials used to create explosives were found in his possession. LaDue reportedly idolized the Columbine High School massacre shooters.[46] | ||
| Kaohsiung, Taiwan | Hong Juncheng | 38 year-old Hong Juncheng (洪俊誠) demanded his sixth-grade teacher Zheng Shuhui (鄭淑惠) at her home a reparation of 30 million new Taiwan dollars (about US$1 million) for having beat and scolded him at school from March to May 1988, or her family would be killed, but neither the reparation nor the vowed murder happened.[47] The Taiwan Kaohsiung District Court on sentenced him to three months in prison for attempted extortion.[48] The Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court on finally rejected his appeal for probation.[49] | ||
| Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom | Liam Lyburd | 18-year-old Liam Lyburd was arrested at his home after posting online about a plot to commit mass murder at Newcastle College.[50] Police found a Glock 19 handgun, 94 hollow point bullets, pipe bombs, a machete and a balaclava and boiler suit in a bag in his room.[51] [52] Police searched his computer and found out he had bought the weapons via the deep web[53] and had written a manifesto, which he tried to delete, where he claimed the attack was revenge for getting expelled in 2012,[54] had expressed admiration for Anders Behring Breivik and Jaylen Fryberg[55] and had taken pictures of himself posing with weapons. He was later sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 8 years, however in 2017 his garden was searched after he wrote a letter from prison to the new owner of the house claiming that weapons could still be buried there.[56] [57] | ||
| Plain City, Utah, United States | A 16-year-old at Fremont High School was arrested after a student informed a school resources officer they saw the student had a gun in his waistband. The student was arrested without incident and confessed his intentions to kill a girl with whom he had a prior relationship, and then "open fire" on fellow students at the school.[58] | |||
| December 9, 2015 | Highlands Ranch, CO, United States | Brooke Higgins and Sienna Johnson | Two 16-year-old females at Mountain Vista High School were arrested and charged with plotting to carry out a school shooting on the last day of classes. The two were arrested after an anonymous tip was submitted to the school. Upon a search of their homes, Higgins was charged after her journal detailing her desire and plot to kill was discovered.[59] | |
| Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States | Carter Boyles | A fifteen-year-old boy named Carter Boyles entered Cedar Rapids High School, where shots were heard and Carter was found dead outside the auditorium with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. No one else was injured. He was associated with a YouTube channel called Bob8466 where he uploaded content about school shootings.[60] | ||
| November 2016 | Helsinki, Finland | Unidentified female | A 21-year-old female, name was not released to the public, was charged for attempting to carry out a shooting at her former school. She admitted to planning the attack for the last 2 years and hoped to kill at least 40 random people. She was in the process of acquiring more weapons, they recovered pistols, assault rifles, sawed-off shotguns, hand grenades and pepper spray in her home.[61] | |
| June 13, 2017 | Nuneaton, England | 15-year-old student | A 15-year-old armed with a shotgun and 200 rounds of ammunition entered Higham Lane School. The student changed his mind before opening fire and called emergency services, surrendering to police at the scene.[62] | |
| February 2018 | Fair Haven, VT | Jack Sawyer | The 18-year-old, Jack Sawyer, was arrested after making threats to shoot up Fair Haven Union High School. Police searched his car and found a journal titled "Diary of an Active Shooter" and a shotgun with ammunition. During his interrogation, Sawyer shared his desire to reach the highest death count for a school shooter.[63] Due to a flaw in Vermont's laws, planning a shooting is not the same as committing one, meaning his felony charges were dropped even after his full confession.[64] | |
| Everett, Washington, United States | Joshua O'Connor | An 18-year-old, Joshua O'Connor, was arrested after his grandmother discovered a journal that contained plans to commit a school shooting at ACES Alternative High School, and reported the plan to police. The journal outlined the plans down to the minute. His plan involved planting pressure-cooker bombs under the bleachers and using zip-ties on door handles. His grandmother also discovered a Hi-Point carbine rifle hidden in his room. A judge sentenced O'Connor to a minimum of 22½ years in prison.[65] | ||
| Massillon, Ohio, United States | Keith Simons | 13-year-old Keith Simons armed himself with a semi-automatic rifle inside a Jackson Middle School bathroom before walking outside. He then turned around and killed himself inside the bathroom. Notes found on his phone expressed admiration for the Columbine shooters. He also possessed ammunition, bottle rockets, and batteries.[66] | ||
| October 23, 2018 | Bartow, Florida, United States | Two Polk County middle school students, aged 11 and 12, were detained at Bartow Middle School after being found with knives. They had planned to lure smaller students into a bathroom during class, intending to fatally attack them. Inspired by horror movies they watched over the weekend, they aimed to commit suicide afterward. The plot was discovered when school officials acted upon hearing a threat. The 2 kids were expelled from school and are facing charges of felony and misdemeanor. | ||
| Khabarovsk, Russia | Alexander Onufrienko | 18-year-old Alexander Onufrienko was planning an attack on the high school he used to attend. He was a nationalist and an admirer of Anders Breivik and wanted to "surpass" him.[67] [68] | ||
| Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico | Diego Alberto | A 14-year-old, Diego Alberto, was arrested after entering his high school with a .22 revolver with the intent of shooting his classmates. A teacher managed to observe the gun in the teenager's backpack and call the police. | ||
| Velika Plana, Serbia | An anonymous man started cursing over a philosophy class. The man was saying things like "They're going to kill my family." The man pointed his automatic rifle at a teacher and ended up being stopped by another teacher. At the police station it was determined that the man suffered from schizophrenia. | |||
| January 8, 2020 | Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, United States | Allen Martin Kenna | 20-year-old Allen Martin Kenna was arrested after he was caught by a custodian lurking around a school after hours, taking photographs of the building. When his home was searched police found multiple electronic devices, knives, firearm magazines, ammunition, and various items intended to be used in the creation of an improvised explosive device. Kenna had been documenting his plans and desires in a journal. His search history showed he researched how to carry out an attack at the Cuyahoga Falls High School using explosives and firearms and searched for other mass shooters. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison.[69] | |
| Warsaw, Poland | Two students planned to attack their technical college with detonating bombs. The attack was inspired by the Columbine High School massacre. Their activity was noticed by police officers fighting cybercrime, and a few days later they were arrested by the police.[70] [71] | |||
| Kerch, Crimea | Two teenagers planned to attack School Number 15 with explosives and nail bombs made using instructions obtained online. They were apparently inspired by the Kerch Polytechnic College massacre and were arrested by the Federal Security Service (FSB).[72] | |||
| July 2021 | Hillsboro, Ohio, United States | Tres Genco | After threatening his roommate with a gun, police detained 22-year-old, Tres Genco. In the trunk of his car they found firearms without serial numbers, loaded magazines, and body armor. Upon further investigation, they found a manifesto written by the self proclaimed incel praising Elliot Rodger. Genco had been conducting surveillance on an Ohio University, detailing his plot to specifically kill women at the university, and ordering additional gear online.[73] | |
| October 2023 | Wick St Lawrence, Somerset England | Reed Wischhusen | A 32-year-old man was arrested and received at 12-year-sentence for plotting a shooting at the school he previously attended. During the search, Wischhusen went to the bathroom in an attempt to shoot himself but instead began firing at police. He was shot but not killed. Upon a police search of his home, they found an armory of homemade weapons and explosives, an abundance of ammunition, and a 1,700 word manifesto.[74] [75] [2] | |
| Machinga, Malawi | A group of Muslim individuals set fire to several locations within Mpiri Catholic Primary School, including the head teacher's office and a building on campus, in response to a teacher's refusal to admit a student wearing the hijab.[76] | |||
| Dunmore, Pennsylvania, United States | Four students attending Dunmore High School were charged for plotting a Columbine-style attack that was set to take place on April 20, 2024, the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre.[77] | |||
| Leioa, Basque Country, Spain | An unknown student entered the University Of Leioa with a hunting rifle and started shooting at doors and windows, but did not injure anyone. He was arrested by police. Upon his arrest, he told police, "I didn't mean to hurt anyone". | |||
| Daytona Beach, Florida, United States | John Hagins | 19-year-old John Hagins was arrested outside of his apartment with a collapsible semi-automatic rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. He posted messages to his classmates suggesting a plot to attack Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University on the last day of classes. Students informed campus officials who contacted the police. Hagins reportedly wished to replicate the Columbine High School massacre.[78] | ||
| Lisbon, Portugal | João Real Carreira | 18-year-old João Real Carreira [79] was arrested for planning an attack at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. The alert for Carreira's intentions came from the FBI, which detected him on the dark web. The attack was planned to be carried out on February 11, one day after he was apprehended. Several weapons and items which were going to be used during the attack were seized, he also had extensive documentation, and a detailed plan of the actions to be carried out during the attack.[80] He was taken to the Polícia Judiciária premises.[81] On February 11, the investigative judge decreed preventive detention.[82] He was then taken to the Lisbon Prison, where he stayed for only a few hours until he was transferred to the São João de Deus Prison Hospital in Caxias.[83] On May 13, the Lisbon Criminal Investigation Court decided that Carreira would move to preventive internment.[84] | ||
| May 2022 | Florida, United States | Daniel Issac Marquez | The mugshot of a 10-year-old boy was released to the public by the sheriff's office after he made a threat to shoot up his school. He was sending photos of guns (google stock images) to a friend and the friend's parents reported him to police. After his arrest, he was detained for 21 days.[85] | |
| May 2022 | Great Falls, Montana, United States | Logan Sea Pallister | A 23-year-old man, Logan Sea Pallister, was arrested after telling a witness he was going to make bombs to use in a school and showing the witness explosive devices. They caught him at 4 am wearing a black trench coat and carrying a bag full of explosives on the day of his arrest. In his car they found eight firearms, including three semi-automatic rifles and five handguns. improvised explosive devices and materials used to make these devices, a silencer, and 4 pipe bombs.[86] [87] | |
| May 2022 | Texas, United States | Nathaniel Montelongo and Barbarito Pantoja | Two 17-year-old boys were arrested after an anonymous tip was sent in about their plans. When arrested the two confessed to their plans to carry out an attack on the school on the last day of classes. Upon a search, police recovered body armor and a rifle.[88] | |
| June 5, 2022 | Casa Grande, Arizona, United States | Joshua Adam Bowen | 19-year-old Joshua Bowen was arrested after a fellow Call of Duty gamer contacted the police upon sharing his plans to shoot up a school nearby.[89] | |
| August 19, 2022 | Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil | Henrique Lira Trad | Henrique Lira Trad, an 18-year-old ex-student of the Escola Municipal de Ensino Fundamental Eber Louzada Zippinotti, entered the school by climbing the outside wall, when he got into the school he went to the teachers lounge first, aimed the crossbow at one of the coordinator's heads and fired, but missed. Next, he went upstairs and found another coordinator and fired the crossbow, this time hitting the woman's leg. He also aimed at a child but missed, then walked into a classroom and threatened the students and a teacher. Students from another classroom barricaded themselves with desks to prevent Trad from entering. Trad ended up injuring a student in the nose and scratching another student in the cheek in a physical altercation, and a few minutes later he was arrested. A bag with knives, Molotov cocktails, homemade bombs, 2 crossbows, arrows and ammunition was found near the school. He said he wanted to kill at least 6 or 7 people and die in a shootout with police.[90] | |
| October 2022 | Texas, United States | Noah Robert Calderon | The 22-year-old, Noah Robert Calderon was arrested after sharing photos of homemade explosives on his Snapchat. Upon their search of his bedroom police recovered a manifesto praising the Columbine shooters and belief in white supremacy.[91] The search uncovered he stored 659.2 grams of explosive powder, along with a lighter, cannon fuse, cardboard tubing, a glass jar marked "frag" that contained metal ball bearings, lead, a funnel, and measuring spoons. His search history revealed he was googling "pipe bomb how to make," "how to make propane bombs," and "wear [sic] were the propane bombs in Columbine," as well as searches of the names of several local public schools.He was writing about how he idolized Columbine, posted photos of himself with guns in tactical gear.[92] | |
| November 2022 | Minnesota, United States | River William Smith | The 21-year-old was sentenced to 7 years in federal prison after a sting operation caught him buying parts to assemble a machine gun from federal agents. Prior to this, he had been stockpiling ammunition and firearms. He was first reported by an employee at the fire range he frequented for going through an excessive amount of ammunition, about 300 rounds in 20 minutes. On another occasion, he showed up to the firing range wearing full tactical gear and a punisher mask.[93] In his writings, he wrote about his admiration for Nicholas Cruz, hatred for Jewish people, and called black people "agents of satan". | |
| Pardubice, Czech Republic | 19-year-old student of Tech-Chemistry High School planted a homemade explosive device next to the school. It failed to detonate, and students alerted the police. One day later, the perpetrator attacked a random passerby with an axe in a nearby town of Vysoké Mýto before poisoning himself and dying a few hours later in the hospital.[94] | |||
| February 13, 2023 | Monte Mor, Brazil | On the morning of February 13, 2023, an unnamed 17-year-old launched a homemade bomb attack on the premise of the Professor Antonio Sproesser and Vista Alegre public schools in Monte Mor, Brazil. Two of the bombs, filled with petrol, nails, and ball bearings he threw exploded. On the outskirts of the school, five plastic bottles with flammable substances and nails that the attacker could not use were found. The attacker was armed with a hatchet and wore a swastika armband. He was arrested at the scene shortly after the incident. There were no casualties.[95] | ||
| March 31, 2023 | Colorado Springs, CO, United States | Lilly Whitworth | An 18-year-old trans woman, Lilly Whitworth, was arrested for her threats to shoot up a school. She was reported by her family and upon police's search of her home they found a 4-page manifesto, a hit list, directions on bomb-making and a list of firearms to buy. She admitted to police she had planned on attacking multiple locations including schools and churches in the Colorado Springs area. She was charged with second-degree assault for planning the attack and was sentenced to 6 years.[96] | |
| April 3, 2023 | Chesterland, Ohio, United States | An 18-year-old student entered West Geauga High School with a 9 mm gun and while loading the gun in his backpack in the bathroom, another student found a bullet on the floor and reported it to the school resource officer and administration. After investigation by the school, the student was found, his locker was searched and the 9 mm handgun was found along with three magazines full of bullets. He was arrested on site. The school went into lockdown and students were dismissed to their parents for the day.[97] | ||
| April 12, 2023 | Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States | Kyle Hendrickson | A 25-year-old man, Kyle Hendrickson, was arrested for threatening to shoot up the Portsmouth High School by posting Snapchats outside of the school holding a weapon. Law enforcement recovered an AR-15 rifle, a shotgun, camouflage body armor, a handgun holster, a red-dot sight, and numerous rounds of ammunition from Hendrickson’s vehicle. He could face up to 5 years.[98] | |
| May 26, 2023 | Perth, Australia | A 15-year-old former student at Atlantis Beach Baptist College in Perth began firing with his father's firearms, causing the school to go into lockdown. The teen has since been arrested and his name has not been released.[99] | ||
| May 2023 | Phoenix, Arizona, United States | A 15-year-old was detained at Bostrom High School in Phoenix with an AR-15. The police found additional rounds of ammunition in his book bag and in his lunchbox.[100] | ||
| September 27, 2023 | Okeechobee, Florida, United States | Henry J. Horton IV | A 19-year-old was pulled over and car was searched during a routine traffic stop. During the search police recovered a journal detailing a list to kill students at Okeechobee High School, followed by a stabbing spree at a church afterward, and killing his family.[101] | |
| February 10, 2024 | Ontario, California, United States | Sebastian Villasenor | An 18-year-old, Sebastian Villasenor, was arrested in connection with intending to commit a school shooting at Ontario Christian High School. He was reported by a fellow student after he posted photos of himself online with firearms, similar to other mass shooters before him. Upon investigation, the police found 7 rifles, 2 revolvers, a shotgun and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.[102] | |
| March 14, 2024 | Vaasa, Finland | Evita Enni Bettiina Kolmonen | A 23-year-old female uploaded a video of herself detailing her plan to carry out a school shooting the day prior to her arrest.[103] She uploaded a manifesto titled "The path to humanity’s doom" which detailed her disdain for the overconsumption, selfishness, and hatred for materialism. On the day of the shooting she arrived at the school dressed in all black clothing and wearing a shirt that read "In each of us, two natures are at war--the good and the evil." She was caught in the parking lot of the Isokyro School with a loaded and cocked pistol, 7 full magazines, 190 cartridges, a knife, and a Molotov cocktail. Upon investigation, police found a journal in her room detailing her meticulous detailing of the attack going back to 2021.[104] | |
| March 20, 2024 | Zagreb, Croatia | Unidentified male | An eighth-grade student was caught composing a hit list of classmates on paper, accompanied by a photo of him with a weapon he posted on social media. The Ministry of Science and Education has acknowledged receiving a report from the school principal concerning the threat, assuring additional steps will be taken pending a thorough investigation.[105] | |
| May 1, 2024 | Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, United States | Damian Haglund | Haglund, a 14-year-old old student armed with a pellet gun, was killed by police at Mount Horeb Middle School before he could breach the building. It was reported that Haglund had a "Columbine addiction".[106] [107] [108] |