Saugus High School: Comparison to 165 Other School Shootings
This morning, a 16-year-old student shot 5 classmates in an outdoor school courtyard before turning the gun on himself. Tragically, two of the victims died at the hospital. This shooting is the 70th time this year that a gun has been fired on k-12 school property and the 5th “active shooter” attack on a K-12 school campus in 2019.
While the motives of the suspect remain unknown, the initial information given by authorities during a press conference this morning aligns with many of trends seen from studying 165 other active shooters at schools over the last 50 years.
Quick Response
The shooting occurred at 7:38 AM. Police, Fire, and EMS arrived at the school in less than 2 minutes at 7:40 AM. Police officers on the scene declared an “active shooter” situation, officers formed tactical teams, and incident command was setup. EMS — escorted by police officers — entered the scene and 6 victims were quickly transported to the hospital.
The shooting occurred prior to classes starting, when most of the students were outside of the classrooms. Many students immediately ran from the campus while others sheltered inside the school. Police quickly searched and cleared the campus while other surrounding schools were locked down. A nearby park was setup as a family reunification center for parents to meet students.
All of these actions happened quickly and efficiently due to multi-agency exercises and pre-incident planning. Police, fire, and EMS crews knew where to go, how to communicate, and worked together during the initial chaos. Public safety officials took action to stage resources, notify the public, and provide information to the media. A multi-agency press conference was held within 3 hours of the incident.
Comparison to Prior School Shootings
Police reported the shooter used a .45 caliber handgun. Handguns are the most common weapon used by active shooters on school campuses over the last 50 years.
The shooter was a student at the school and more than 80% of active shooters are current or former students of the school they attack. This complicates school security procedures because these attackers have access to the campus, are familiar with the layout, and have been trained on the active shooter procedures.
There was a single shooter who carried out the attack. 95% of the time, there is only one shooter even though initial media reports and witnesses often indicate there are multiple attackers.
Most active shooters at K-12 schools are between 13- and 18-years old. This Saugus High School shooter turned 16 the day of the attack.
After firing at 5 other students, the shooter shot himself in the head (reported to be in grave condition in the hospital). Only 16% of active shooter incidents end in suicide. Disturbingly, the shooter did not reload the gun and it was found empty meaning that he counted the shots as he fired and used the final bullet to shoot himself. This indicates some level of pre-planning and lucid thoughts during the attack.
Improving Active Shooter Drills and Lockdown Procedures at Schools
The Saugus High School has 2,400 students on a campus of +20 different buildings with open hallways. This design of the campus means that it is not possible to lockdown the entire campus because there are not doors to close at the end of hallways. Due to the moderate climate in South California, this style of campus makes sense because open hallways and multiple buildings are more efficient than having a huge single school building. Thousands of school campuses across the country have a similar outdoor hallway design.
The location where the shooting took place has 9 different access points plus doors to multiple classroom buildings. This is not a “lockdownable” location meaning that this type of school campus needs a different security plan than the standard active shooter/lockdown approach.
Most active shooter exercises and lockdown drills at schools are conducted while students are in classes. Students at the school who were interviewed after the shooting said they knew this was a real incident, not a drill, because it happened before the school day started.
School shootings occur at all different time periods during the day. It is important that active shooter exercises by emergency responders, plans developed by school officials, and drills to train students account for all of the different times during the school day when students are not in the classroom.
More Information Will Be Shared As It Becomes Available
This analysis is based on the initial reports and the press conference by law enforcement and other city officials. As more details are released to the public, it will be possible to develop more comprehensive findings including analysis of the motive and history of the shooter.
For information about this and other incidents from 1970-present, please visit the K-12 School Shooting Database page.
The K-12 School Shooting Database is a product of the Homeland Security Advanced Thinking Program (HSx) sponsored by the Center for Homeland Defense and Security. Follow us on twitter @k12ssdb.
David Riedman is a criminologist, co-founder of the K-12 SSDB, and Ph.D. student at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
