On May 7, 2019, two suspects entered STEM School in Highland Ranch, Colorado and opened fire in separate locations in the school. Eight students were injured, and one was killed.
The student killed was among three students who lunged at the suspects to prevent further carnage.
According to a Scripps National investigation, the shooting at STEM School was the 26th time a gun had been fired on a school campus or a bullet had been fired at a school while class was in session. Four days later, one person was injured in a shooting at Highland High School in Palmdale, Calif., bringing the total amount of school shootings to 27.
While there is no national database that tracks such statistics, the count is the result of tracking local news reports of shootings on campus.
During those 27 shootings, at least six people died, and 29 injuries have been reported.
The school shootings include the following:
- Eight instances in which a student brought a gun to school and fired it during school hours. Two of those shootings were apparent student deaths by suicide.
- Five instances in which a teacher, school resource officer or police officer fired a gun. Those incidents have resulted in two arrests, and one officer who faced internal discipline.
- Seven instances in which a shooting occurred in a school parking lot, or in which a bullet from a nearby shooting damaged a school. No injuries were reported in any of those instances.
- Four instances of a shooting on the campus of a trade school or a college when the school was not on break. The most deadly shooting on a college campus occurred at UNC-Charlotte on April 30 — two were killed and four were injured.
- Three in the state of Florida; the most of any state.
- The incident with the most amount of casualties, with 10. That occurred in April, when 10 children were injured at Wynbrooke Elementary School outside of Atlanta when an unidentified suspect shot them with a BB or pellett gun.
To learn more about school shootings in 2019, see the interactive map below.
Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Team. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.
