Here are the top ten school shooters in the world listed according to how many people they killed. Ties are settled by the number wounded. It does not count shooters who take part in a military, paramilitary or police action or those who do not mainly use a gun to kill. Flags are for where the shootings took place.
1. Seung-Hui Cho (1984-2007), age 23.
- Killed: 33
- Injured: 23 (6 from jumping out windows to escape)
- Date: April 16th 2007
- Place: USA: Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia
- Weapons: Glock 19, Walther P22.
- Psychology: selective mutism, major depressive disorder. Bullied (most shooters were bullied).
2. Adam Lanza (1992-2012), age 20.
- Killed: 28 (including his mother at home)
- Injured: 2
- Date: December 14th 2012
- Place: USA: Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut
- Weapons: Bushmaster XM-15 rifle, 10mm Glock 20 SF handgun, 9mm SIG Sauer handgun
- Psychology: Still unclear. He could not pass a background check to buy a gun but his mother had plenty – she was a gun nut.
3. Thomas Hamilton (1952-1996), age 43.
- Killed: 18
- Injured: 15
- Date: March 13th 1996
- Place: UK: Dunblane Primary School in Dunblane, Scotland
- Weapons: two 9mm Browning HP pistols, two S&W M19 .357 Magnum revolvers
- Psychology: a Scout leader accused of taking half-naked pictures of boys. Suspected child molester. His shop failed as rumours spread.
4. Robert Steinhäuser (1983-2002), age 19.
- Killed: 17
- Injured: 1
- Date: April 26th 2002
- Place: Germany: Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Thuringia
- Weapons: Mossberg 590 Mariner 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, 9mm Glock 17
- Psychology: Unknown. Had been kicked out of the school in 2001 without chance of graduation.
5. Charles Whitman (1941-1966), age 25.
- Killed: 16 (including an unborn child)
- Injured: 32
- Date: August 1st 1966
- Place: USA: University of Texas at Austin, Texas
- Weapons: Machete, Remington 700 ADL (6mm), Universal M1 Carbine, Remington M 141 (.35 calibre), Semi-automatic shotgun (12 gauge), S&W M19 (.357 Magnum), Luger P08 (9mm), Galesi-Brescia (.25 ACP)
- Psychology: Some months before the shooting he visited a psychiatrist, who noted that Whitman “seemed to be oozing with hostility [...] that something seemed to be happening to him and that he didn’t seem to be himself.” Had a brain tumour that may have affected his flight/fight response. His father was a gun nut.
6. Tim Kretschmer (1991-2009), age 17.
- Killed: 16
- Injured: 9
- Date: March 11th 2009
- Place: Germany: started at a high school in Winnenden
- Weapons: Beretta 92FS
- Psychology: clinical depression, growing anger and violent urges, unable to accept defeat
7. Eric Harris (1981-1999), age 18 and
8. Dylan Klebold (1981-1999), age 17.
- Killed: 15
- Injured: 21
- Date: April 20th 1999
- Place: USA: Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado
- Weapons: Intratec TEC-DC9, Hi-Point 995 Carbine, Savage 67H pump-action shotgun, Stevens 311D double-barrelled sawed-off shotgun, 99 explosives, 4 knives
- Psychology: Bullied. According to one study Harris was a clinical psychopath with messianic-level superiority complex. Klebold was depressive. Planned it for over a year. Most shootings are planned.
9. Marc Lépine (1964-1989), age 25.
- Killed: 15
- Injured: 14
- Date: December 6th 1989
- Place: Canada: École Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec
- Weapons: Ruger Mini-14 rifle, hunting knife
- Psychology: Violent misogynist. Abused as a child.
10. Wellington Menezes de Oliveira (1987-2011), age 23.
- Killed: 13 (mostly girls between the ages of 10 and 13)
- Injured: 12
- Date: April 7th 2011
- Place: Brazil: Tasso da Silveira Municipal School in the Realengo neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro
- Weapons: One .38-calibre revolver and one .32-calibre revolver
- Psychology: Bullied.
Source: Wikipedia
See also:
The eyes are the windows to the soul. They all look dead with vacant stares. Thoses photographs of those young men is what madness looks like.
Well for certain, this a very ‘male dominant’ use of criminality. Also remember Breivik, Anders Behring, murdered 75 young people in Europe in 2011.
Many school massacres are linked to bullying at school.
In addition to the proliferation of efficient killing machines, we have to address seriously the problem of bullying as well. It is not managed well at all in the USA.
Bulling is a excuse. Not saying it doesn’t happen but I think nowadays its the go to cause to explain away the destructive behavior of people who have bad coping mechanisms or are just fuccing crazy.
People who are bullied and commit this kind of mass killing dont specifically target those who have harmed them…they tend to kill indiscriminately.
I read they did a study and concluded white males are more likely to do mass shootings than other races.
Yes Nayomi, but Breivik’s crimes weren’t school related.
@ mary
yes i noticed that as well.
Indeed, this kind of violence, including the non-school mass shootings seems to involve males.
While I don’t want to make light of mental health issues, I’m not totally sure that I buy insanity as an excuse for these tragedies. I don’t doubt that these men are all psycho/sociopaths, but I do call into question that they weren’t in their “right minds” when they committed these atrocities. All these massacres were carefully, meticulously planned. These guys knew exactly what they wanted to achieve. They worked out every painstaking detail, right down to the stock piling of ammunition and the use of multiple weapons — just so they could ensure an uninterrupted hail of gunfire. One gun runs out of ammo, switch to the next one. Klebold and Harris even planted explosives in hopes of leaving greater carnage. That’s architecture, it’s engineering. Their intent was to destroy as much as they possibly could in the shortest amount of time. They wanted to kill, wanted to see people dead. That was their objective. To imply that they weren’t in control of their faculties is utter bull$#!+.
@ grin and bear it
Exactly…some people are just bad seeds. I can see someone going temporarily insane and committing murder upon seeing a loved one being sexually assaulted or even catching a cheat spouse. However, its less likely someone just loses it and stockpiles explosives/multiple assault rifles and plans for weeks/months how they are going to going hunting for humans in a public, highly populated place…
Also I never understood the mental illness explanation because it goes without saying that you have to be ill to carry out such acts…its the degree that matters. Someone with little or no history of mental/emotional/behavior problems shouldn’t have their actions explained away with “mental illness”. Its so tired and played out. Some people just have bad coping mechanism and a disregard for others lives.
Well I think people who do this have to be suicidal. They have to know there is no way out once they make their minds up to do this. Psychology is key here. But as brazen as this, knowing that this will be the last act of their life, it is still the act of a coward. Would they try to do it where people could stop them like at a police station? No they pick innocent children.
Instead of taking the guns what about having someone at each school whether it’s a cop or security person, and if that is not in the budget taking a teacher or school worker who would be qualified to carry a gun and be on some type of shift where they are responsible for security on and they have camera views at all times or something… what do you guys think of that idea?
@ grin and bear it
yeah well when a white person commits crimes they usually say mental illness because of white supremacy thinking. A white person who commits murder is considered defective and having mental illness because in their mind white people are pure and innocent.They label everyone else based on actions of a few. To them native americans were savages,blacks were niggers,and they are mentally insane when they act out.
@ dave
I think cameras are a great idea but teachers who are armed doesn’t sit right with me because i see videos of teachers joining in on the bullying of students.What if a teacher pulls out the gun on a student who is being mouthy.It is a sad world to live in where there will have to be security at schools what’s next are there going to be guards at church as well. nothing is safe anymore.
So the most common features of these guys is:
Male
Most are white
Abuse (whether by parents or others in their enviroment)
Bad Haircuts
Ready access to guns in their families?
Inregards to the columbine kids; didn’t it turn out they weren’t really bullied that much? Or I should say; bullied but no more so than most people are?
mstoogood4yall good point there. There would have to be some sort of personality test or training they would have to go through. I know there are people on every plane that are qualified to carry, and I know there are probably alot more schools then planes. But there has to be some sort of security to deter this. I have 2 kids one is in kindergarten and the other is in first grade so it really hit home to me. I’m glad the school has a buzz in system and we are lucky in that the school is right next to a police station, but I still feel we as parents should have some input here.
They are mentally ill in the same way Hitler was mentally ill.
@teddy1975:
I choose this incident because, while not at a school/educational fixture’ or structure, a large group of young people (teenagers, ages 14-19)was his preferred demographic
…”a Workers’ Youth League (AUF)-run summer camp in Norway.. where he killed 69 people, mostly teenagers.
In researching this post I noticed that with white North American shooters the issue of mental illness always seems to come up while in Europe it is rare. In Europe they seem less concerned with the mental state of the shooter and more concerned with better policing and gun laws.
In the case of Charles Whitman in America in the 1960s they did an autopsy of his brain to see if there was something wrong with it. They found a brain tumour, though it is possible it had nothing to do with it.
For American school shooters it is common for them to:
- be white
- be male
- be middle-class
- be bullied
- have a hard time fitting in (but not loners)
- be on antidepressants (!!!), which can make people violent
- have access to weapons
- plan out their attack
- gather weapons
Of course there are tons of people who fit all of the above, except for the last two, who are harmless.
Most people with mental health issues are NOT violent.
On the other hand, many of these shootings seem to be hidden suicides. The pattern seems to be: kill as many people as possible and then kill yourself before the police get you.
Right, Breivik does not make the list because it did not take place at a school.
“School shooting” seems to be a term cooked up by the press. But because they kill many young people at once they do have a certain horror to them – like how plane accidents do, even though way more people die in car accidents every day.
*if you’re a white shooter-you have the option of killing yourself before the police can.
*if you’re POC, shoot to kill, then ask questions later.
What i particularly do not understand about the Columbine shootings is that Klebold and Harris killed for almost four hours straight. Multiple 9-1-1 calls had been made but there was no direct force from the SWAT team or police–they seemed to just surrounded the building waiting for some to escape and then for Klebold and Harris to committ suicide…maybe i am missing something?
@ mary
With the exception of Adam Lanza, all of the photos show normal looking people. Compare these pics to the average male pic on Facebook…pretty typical looking guys.
I agree with abagond and others that most of these mass killings seem to be hidden suicides…They just want to go out in a noticeable way. For most of these guys it seems the problem wasn’t bullying so much, in fact its usually the opposite, they are being ignored/avoided.
At any rate the mental state of the perps is almost irrelevant given many people with mental illness are not dangerous, and when they are they are much more likely to take their own lives than the live of others.
I dont know, the mental illness angle a lot of people are playing really gets under my skin. Its used to absolve people of guilt, it wasn’t really the assailants carrying out the crime, something hijacked their mind. Yeah, these guys were so out of their minds that they planned and stockpiles weapons for weeks and months to unleash hell on unsuspecting, defenseless people. Please spare me. In addition to that the Mental Argument further marginalizes people who struggling Mental Illness and are seeking treatment. Now they are saying Lanza had Autism (Aspergers) as if that is responsible for his behavior when I have yet to see evidence linking Autism with increased violence.
Not to mention, it seems a lot off people, especially conservatives are now latching onto Mental Illness issues to deflect attention away from the real debate we should be having. Stricter regulations on assault rifles, if not a full blown ban on them.
“…The Ultimate Logic of a Society Built on Mass Murder – Mass murder is at the core of the American national religion…”
Glen Ford – The Black Agenda Report
http://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/blackagendareport/id/2162235
The title of this post sounds like some kind of accolade. The word “top” conveys a positive connotation, although I’m sure that’s not the way you mean it.
I was just reading something entitled “Why Most Mass Murderers are Privileged White Males”. The basic premise of the piece is that when people of color kill they are viewed as “sick”and”evil” AND the killing is uniquely attributable to their race in some way. (For example, Blacks are more violent, act out in anger without the ability to plan or control themselves,in other words, more primal more animal).
White people are just considered “sick” or “evil” and nothing is attributed to their race. These killers are individuals, abberations of White society. Basically, the writer says this is unfair, and if race is a factor for murder in POC it should also be an issue for White mass murderers as well.
The writer believes that White males from upper middle class America feel entitled to be welcomed and listened to in every space that they enter. No place worth being in should be off limits to them. WMs feel so privileged end entitled in fact,that they view public places as “belonging” to them in a sense, and mass murder is a way SOME WMs act out when they are made to feel unwelcomed and as if what they have to say is not being listened to.
The writer goes on to say that “the less privileged you are the less likely you are to take your violence outside of your family and your community.”( Think about riots in Black neighborhoods in the past or gang violence.) Below are a couple of interesting excerpts from the piece (the first more on topic than the second):
“White men from prosperous families grow up with the expectation that our voices will be heard. We expect politicians and professors to listen to us and respond to our concerns. We expect public solutions to our problems. And when we’re hurting, the discrepancy between what we’ve been led to believe is our birthright and what we feel we’re receiving in terms of attention can be bewildering and infuriating. Every killer makes his pain another’s problem. But only those who’ve marinated in privilege can conclude that their private pain is the entire world’s problem with which to deal. This is why, while men of all races and classes murder their intimate partners, it is privileged young white dudes who are by far the likeliest to shoot up schools and movie theaters.”
“It’s not that White men are guaranteed preferential treatment in every setting. It’s that White men are raised to expect to be welcomed wherever they go.
When they find that automatic welcome is not forthcoming they tend to be indignant. When angry middle-class whites gather together in political groups to ” take back our country” what they want to grab back is the privileges they sense they have lost.” ( Sounds like the Tea Party to me.)
Of course the comment section degenerated into a copy of Abagond’s “Broken Record Section”. For a long while WM argued the semantics of so called ” white privilege”. (What do the words really mean? What is privilege? Does it really exist?). Then white privilege was denied all together ( it doesn’t exist). And finally the comments turned completely into statistics showing how violent Black men are and how many White women are raped by Black men every year.
So in the end, a discussion about a racial link between White men and mass murder degenerated into discussion about Black men and their crime statistics. Amazing…..so in the end White people that do bad things are still just ” evil individuals” ( according to alot of the discussion participants) and Black people, as well as other people of color that kill, and their crimes are reflections of their less developed cultures and their animalistic natures. So that has taught me that even when they are supposed to be analyzing themselves everything ends up being about us.
Well, from my point of view autism is not the excuse, but the label to be put on the shooter so he can be “otherized”. Not a normal white guy but one of those “them”.
About the mental state of the shooter, the Dutch mall shooter Tristan van der Vlis was indeed known to have mental problems, but indeed that wasn’t what drew the attention, what drew the attention was that he had gotten a licence while slightly mentally disturbed. No new legislation was needed, but the existing legislation was enforced with a vengeance.
Kind of agree that the title sounds weird and slightly praiseful. Maybe ‘Ten Deadliest School Shooters’ if you feel like changing it
@ Jadapoo1
love your post. I agree that it seems when poc try to offer constructive criticism to whites they want to quote crime stats for blacks.I try my best to accept constructive criticism because people can’t always see their wrongdoings.I think that is why jesus spoke in parables because if he told people straight out what they were doing wrong then their walls would go up and ignore everything he said.If you try to tell a white person their ish stank they want to say well yours stinks more.Some people are just blind and used to having yes men around them, enablers.Example donald trump now you know donald has nothing but yes men around him because no real friend will let him walk around with that ratchet toupe on his head lookin like dennis the menace.
Another thing i notice how whites want to say blacks voted for Obama just because he was black yet hardly any blacks supported hermain cain crazy black arse.could it be because most black people vote democrat and not based on color*gasp*.Yet they were not addressing the crazy whites who were saying keep the white house white and voting for romney because he white.People need to keep black people outta their mouth.They act like little kids who don’t want to get disciplined and blame their siblings and say well they did it too.That is the excuse they use when they get pulled over too ,well officer the person in front of me was speeding too why did you just stop me.
did anyone think maybe some of them just did this because they wanted to?…and they wanted the attention, but not the consequences…which is why they almost always kill themselves afterwards…they may have been angry and bullied…but i think deep inside…they chose this particular type of crime because they wanted to do it…not because they “SNAPPED” most of them had the forethought to put on bullet proof vests for THEMSELVES…so they were thinking ahead of time…they may have been angry…but that wasn’t the only reason they did this.
there has always been crazy people and people with mental issues MOST throughout modern history haven’t gone around killing people, especially little children in school indiscriminately….this is a relatively new phenomenon…
the elephant in the room is gun control…if we didn’t have guns with that type of killing power and if we had a limit on the amount of amunition a person can purchase over a certain amount of time…these tragedies may well have been avoided altogether…as technology advances and guns and weapons become more accurate at their killing capacity…it’s just no longer feasible or safe to have the same type of gun access to the general public.
you want to hunt deer or shoot ducks….well you don’t need assault rifles to hunt deer, you use hunting rifles.so there is really no need to have these weapons made available so easily to the general public i mean you can LITERALLY order guns off of amazon…not too long ago someone had n assault rifle accidentally mailed to them from amazon when he really asked for a television…
here is the story about the guy who got the assault rifle in the mail from amazon: http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2012/08/08/oops-amazon-accidentally-mails-assault-rifle-instead-of-tv/
Kind of agree that the title sounds weird and slightly praiseful. Maybe ‘Ten Deadliest School Shooters’ if you feel like changing it
Seconded.
to be honest i’m not even really sure of the difference between a hunting rifle and an assault rifle…except one is used to hunt animals and the other people, certainly you could do harm to a person with a hunting rifle though…but probably not as much as a n assault weapon…
@ Y
did you know your picture keeps popping up on my screen…every time i move my mouse your face comes up…is anyone else having this happen?
Peanut,
I didnt know and Im sorry. :-/ Its not happening on my computer, something might be wrong with WordPress
no need to apologize u didn’t do anything…it’s not happening anymore anyway
@mstoogood4yall & Y. I like the comments from you ladies. Good Points.
@Y. You have a cool blogsite.
@mary burrell
Thank you! I enjoy reading your commentary as well
I agree with this guy..
Seems to me that this type of behavior is recurring in societies where human life is secondary in value compared to economics, money etc. These kids, for various reasons, kill people because it is not that big of deal compared to the stock exchange or economic reports. Where ever money is more important than life, this is only natural. I mean, why not kill if I am pissed, troubled or other wise messed up? Massacre is very cost effective way to make one stand out, to make oneself even something, from meaninless and unimportant ant. And lets not forget hope. This happens when kids think there is no way to change their lives, the world, no hope, no use for voting etc.
I agree that bullying in schools needs to be dealt with, but I also think that it is no excuse for plotting a mass murder in which one randomly shoots others (including innocents that never did anything to the shooter). Perhaps those who did that were already psychopaths.
I think it is entirely possible that a kid or teenager is bullied so severely they bring a weapon to school one day. That they are so desperate to stop what ignoring, telling teachers, telling parents, joking along with, reacting verbally and physically did NOT stop. That, in desperation, they decide waving around a knife or gun and convincing the bullies they are insane enough to injure/kill them is the only solution. The bullies aren’t afraid of them, aren’t afraid of teachers, parents, detention, insults or a punch in the face, but maybe they are scared of insanity and the threat of death. I can also believe that, if the bullies physically attack this kid/teen before they have revealed they have a weapon, the kid/teen can easily snap after years of abuse and do what they never intended to do: stab/shoot in a blind rage.
While I think the above situation could be defended as `temporary insanity’, I do not think saying these school shooters had permanent mental health issues is a good excuse. In fact, the majority of those who suffer from mental health issues are far more likely to become the victims of violence rather than the perpetrators. Only a small percentage of the total number of mental health conditions makes the sufferer violent and dangerous.
all caused by the lack of compassion that continues to breed more and more in modern society.
you forgot barrack obama, how many children has he killed?
isn’t it ironic that the psychosis demands that they attack the same school system and society that created them. ??