This article lists school shootings in the United States by death toll (four or more deaths, including any perpetrators that died during the shooting).
This table is organized first by deaths, then injuries, and then dates.
| Date | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33[1] | 17 | Virginia Tech shooting 23-year-old student Seung-Hui Cho killed thirty-two students and faculty members in two separate attacks on the campus of Virginia Tech and then committed suicide. In a dorm room, he first shot one student, then another who came to help; two hours later, he went to a school building where he barricaded the main entrance and fired into several classrooms, killing twenty-five students and five faculty members and wounding seventeen others. The incident was formerly the deadliest American mass shooting and is currently the third-deadliest. | |||
| 28 | 2 | Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed twenty-six people and himself. He first killed his mother at their shared home before taking four of her guns and driving to his former elementary school. He killed twenty first-grade children aged six and seven, along with six adults, including four teachers, the principal, and the school psychologist. Two other people were injured. Lanza then killed himself as police arrived at the school.[2] | |||
| Uvalde, Texas | 22 | 18 | Uvalde school shooting 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered one of the classrooms, shooting the children and staff in the classroom, before trading fire with responding law enforcement officers that had arrived on the scene an hour prior, but never entered. Two officers were left with minor injuries and no deaths. Ramos was shot and killed by a tactical team of US Border Patrol agents and UCISD officers after they breached the classroom. Twenty-one people were killed by Ramos: 19 students between the ages of 9 and 11, and two teachers. The assailant also shot and wounded his grandmother, who was admitted to hospital in critical condition and has since been released.[3] [4] | ||
| 18 | 31 | University of Texas tower shooting 25-year-old engineering student and former U.S. Marine Charles Whitman got onto the clock tower at the University of Texas-Austin. After killing three people inside the tower, he began firing outside from the observation deck atop it, killing a further twelve people and wounding 31 others during a 96-minute shooting rampage which lasted until he was shot and killed by police. He had earlier murdered his wife and mother at their homes.[5] Apart from remaining the deadliest shooting at a college campus until 2007 (see above), this was also the deadliest American mass shooting altogether for nearly 18 years. | |||
| Parkland, Florida | 17 | 17 | Parkland high school shooting Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student whose behavior had led to his expulsion, began shooting students and staff members with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after activating a fire alarm. 17 people were killed, and 17 others were injured. The suspect blended in with the crowd of fleeing students and was arrested in a residential area neighboring Coral Springs after walking away from the school.[6] He later pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder.[7] | ||
| 15[8] | 21 | Columbine High School massacre 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold, students at Columbine High School, killed twelve students and one teacher; after killing two students in the schoolyard and fatally wounding a teacher in the hallway, they killed the rest of their victims in the school library. They also wounded 21 additional people (twelve in the library and nine elsewhere), started fires, and engaged in several gunfights with police, though no one was hit in these exchanges. Another three people injured themselves attempting to escape the school. The pair committed suicide at the end of the massacre. | |||
| 11 | 1 | Enoch Brown school massacre Perhaps the earliest shooting to happen in school or college property, in what would become the United States, was the notorious Enoch Brown school massacre during the Pontiac's War. Four Delaware (Lenape) American Indians entered the schoolhouse near present-day Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and shot and killed schoolmaster Enoch Brown and nine children (reports vary). Only two children survived. However, this incident may only incidentally be considered a school shooting because only the teacher was shot, while the other nine victims were killed with melee weapons. | |||
| Santa Fe, Texas | 10 | 14 | Santa Fe High School shooting 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis killed 10 people and injured 13 others at Santa Fe High School before being taken into custody by police. The shooter had a shotgun and .38 revolver which he had stolen from his father. Multiple IEDs and pipe bombs were also found around the school.[9] As of August 2023, Pagourtzis has yet to stand trial.[10] | ||
| 10 | 9 | Red Lake shootings 16-year-old student Jeff Weise killed his grandfather and grandfather's girlfriend at their home, where he had been living, at the Red Lake Indian Reservation. He then drove to Red Lake Senior High School. Armed with his grandfather's police weapons, Weise killed five students, one teacher, and one security guard, and wounded at least nine others, before committing suicide after being wounded in a shootout with police.[11] | |||
| 10 | 8 | 2015 Umpqua Community College shooting 26-year-old student Christopher Harper-Mercer opened fire in a hall on the Umpqua Community College campus, killing eight students and one teacher, and injuring eight others. Mercer then committed suicide after engaging responding police officers in a brief gunfight.[12] | |||
| 7 | 3 | 2012 Oikos University shooting 43-year-old One L. Goh was accused of shooting dead seven students with a handgun and wounding three others at Oikos University, a Christian college. He fled the scene, stealing a victim's car, and was apprehended hours later nearby. Goh was charged with seven counts of murder. In January 2013, Goh was determined to be mentally unfit for trial and committed for treatment.[13] On July 14, 2017, Goh was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences plus 271 years in prison, all without any possibility of parole.[14] In March 2019, Goh died in prison.[15] | |||
| 7 | 2 | 1976 California State University, Fullerton massacre The gunman, 37-year-old Edward Charles Allaway, was a custodian at the California State University, Fullerton library. Allaway killed seven people and wounded two others in the library's first-floor lobby and at the building's Instructional Media Center (IMC), located in the basement. | |||
| 7 | 1 | 2023 Nashville school shooting 28-year-old Aiden Hale (born Audrey Elizabeth Hale) entered the Covenant School in the Green Hills neighborhood and killed 3 students and 3 staff members before being killed by police.[16] | |||
| 6 | 32 | 1989 Cleveland Elementary School shooting 24-year-old Patrick Edward Purdy fatally shot five children and wounded 32 others at the Cleveland Elementary School before taking his own life. The victims were children of refugees from Southeast Asia. Purdy had a history of violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, and criminality.[17] | |||
| 6 | 17 | Northern Illinois University shooting 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak shot multiple people with a shotgun and a semi-automatic pistol in a lecture hall of Northern Illinois University, killing five and injuring 21 before taking his own life. Kazmierczak was not enrolled at the university, but had attended in the years prior to the attack.[18] | |||
| Rancho Tehama, California | 6 | 11 | Rancho Tehama shootings 43-year-old Kevin Neal injured one student at Rancho Tehama Elementary School and fatally shot five adults at several locations.[19] The secretary heard the gunfire near the school and ordered the school to go on lockdown. After a custodian and the teachers put it into action, Neal rammed a truck into the gate of the school and fired at the classrooms, hitting one student when a bullet pierced the wall. Neal fatally shot himself after sheriff's deputies rammed his vehicle during a pursuit.[20] | ||
| 6 | 5 | 2006 West Nickel Mines School shooting 32-year-old milk truck driver, Charles Carl Roberts IV, killed five Amish girls and wounded five others before killing himself in an Amish school in the hamlet of Nickel Mines, in Bart Township, Lancaster County.[21] | |||
| 6 | 2 | 2013 Santa Monica shootings 23-year-old John Zawahri began a killing spree at his home. After killing his 55-year-old father, Samir "Sam" Zawahri, and 25-year-old brother, Chris Zawahri, he set the house ablaze. Dressed all in black with body armor and wielding an AR-15-type semi-automatic rifle, Zawahri carjacked 41-year-old Laura Siska, shooting 50-year-old Debra Fine as she attempted to intervene, before forcing Siska to drive to Santa Monica College. Upon arriving on the college campus, Zawahri began shooting at passing vehicles, including a police car and a city bus, leaving three people with minor injuries. Zawahri next targeted a Ford Explorer, killing the driver, 68-year-old campus groundskeeper Carlos Navarro Franco, and fatally wounding the passenger, his 26-year-old daughter Marcela Diaz-Franco, a student at the college, who died two days later. 68-year-old Margarita Gomez, who was collecting cans outside the library, died after being shot in the abdomen and chest. Zawahri opened fire on students who were trying to run away. It ended at the college library where he opened fire on students studying for finals, before being fatally wounded in an exchange of gunfire with responding police officers.[22] | |||
| 6 | 1 " | 1+ | During the school exhibition, a group of young men tried to break up a student performance. When the teacher Fisher tried to throw them out, they turned on him. Audience members joined the fray. The fight resulted in deaths: Harry Flasher was shot in the heart and instantly killed, Henry Carney was fatally shot in the back, Ralph Jones and two others were also fatally shot, and George Gibson was shot in the hand; Haz Harding had his skull crushed and several others received minor wounds.[23] | ||
| 6 | 1 | 1991 University of Iowa shooting 28-year-old former graduate student Gang Lu killed four members of University of Iowa's faculty and a research student, and seriously wounded another student. 47-year-old professor of physics and astronomy Christoph K. Goertz, 45-year-old associate professor of physics and astronomy Robert Alan Smith, 44-year-old chairman of the physics and astronomy department Dwight R. Nicholson, and 56-year-old associate vice president for academic affairs Dr. Theresa Anne Cleary were shot in the head and died the following day, and 27-year-old research investigator in physics and astronomy Dr. Shan Linhua. 23-year-old Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, Dr. Cleary's temporary student receptionist in the grievance office, survived but was left paralyzed from the neck down. Lu then shot himself in the head and died shortly after police arrived.[24] [25] [26] [27] | |||
| 5 | 10 | 1998 Westside Middle School shooting 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year-old Andrew Golden killed a teacher and four students and wounded 10 others as Westside Middle School emptied during a fire alarm intentionally set off by Golden.[28] | |||
| 5 | 2 | 1966 Rose-Mar College of Beauty shooting 18-year-old Robert Benjamin Smith took seven people hostage at Rose-Mar College of Beauty and ordered them to lie down in a circle. He shot each in the head. Four women and a 3-year-old girl died; a woman and a baby were injured but survived. Police arrested Smith, who reportedly admired Richard Speck and Charles Whitman.[29] | |||
| South Pasadena, California | 5 | 2 | Outraged by his dismissal following conflicts with other staff, 38-year-old Verlin H. Spencer shot and killed 62-year-old superintendent of the South Pasadena city schools George C. Bush, 50-year-old principal of South Pasadena High School John E. Alman, and 52-year-old School District business manager Will R. Speer. He then attempted to kill Bush's secretary, 32-year-old Dorothea Talbert; she was struck near the shoulder. He later shot and killed 45-year-old art teacher Ruth Sturgeon, with whom he had been in conflict, fatally wounding her in the chest and, following an intense struggle, 35-year-old mechanical arts teacher Verner V. Vanderlip, another with whom he had a grievance. Spencer was cornered by police as he attempted to escape through the school cafeteria; as one officer aimed, Spencer pressed the .22 caliber automatic pistol against his right side and fired twice, critically wounding himself. Police later found a suicide note from Spencer to his wife, Polly. He survived his wounds and was tried for murder. Pleading guilty to all charges, he received 5 consecutive life terms. He was discharged from California's Department of Correction in 1977, aged 75. Verlin Spencer died January 11, 1991.[30] [31] [32] | ||
| 5 | 1 | 2014 Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting 15-year-old freshman Jaylen Fryberg shot five students in the school cafeteria of Marysville Pilchuck High School, fatally wounding four, before committing suicide.[33] | |||
| 4 | 25 | 1998 Thurston High School shooting After killing his parents at home, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel drove to Thurston High School, where he killed two students and wounded 25 others. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to 111 years of prison.[34] | |||
| 4 | 10 | 1992 Lindhurst High School shooting Former student 20-year-old Eric Houston killed three students and one teacher and wounded nine other students and a teacher before surrendering to police. | |||
| 4 | 9 | Kent State shootings During protests of the Vietnam War at Kent State University, armed National Guard Soldiers opened fire on unarmed students, killing four people.[35] | |||
| 4 | 7 | 2021 Oxford High School shooting A 15-year old student opened fire at Oxford High School, killing four students and wounding seven others and a teacher, before being arrested.[36] One of the wounded died a day later.[37] | |||
| 4 | 5 | 2023 Michigan State University shooting A man shot several people on the Michigan State University campus, killing three and wounding five before killing himself. The man was not associated with the university.[38] | |||
| December 6, 2023 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 4 | 3 | University of Nevada, Las Vegas shooting A shooter opened fire, inflicting multiple casualties before dying.[39] | |
| 4 | 1 | During an evening school dance at Plain Dealing High School, a fight broke out. When the smoke cleared, two students were dead, two more were fatally wounded, and the high school's Professor Johnson was wounded in the arm.[40] | |||
| 4 | 0 | Failing nursing college student and Gulf War veteran 40-year-old Robert Stewart Flores, Jr. killed three assistant professors of nursing at the University of Arizona, 50-year-old Robin Rogers, 44-year-old Cheryl McGaffic, and 45-year-old Barbara Monroe, before turning the gun on himself.[41] |