School Shootings

An Indiana 16-year-old plotted a Columbine-style mass killing on September 11 and even sought the same pistol used in that attack, the AP reports. The high school student faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder when he appears in court today. Police found 100 knives in his home and say he discussed how to make explosives and obtain weapons online with an out-of-state friend. More »

Ryan Schallenberger, the South Carolina teenager whose Columbine-style attack police say they foiled yesterday, will be charged with a federal count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, the AP reports. The charge, stemming from the 10 pounds of explosives discovered by Schallenberger’s parents yesterday, carries a possible life sentence. The 18-year-old also faces two lesser federal charges. More »

South Carolina police have foiled a student's suicide bomb attack on a high school, timed to coincide with the ninth anniversary of the Columbine school massacre, officials said. The 18-year-old senior was arrested after his parents discovered 10 pounds of explosive chemicals, a year-long journal  and detailed plans for a major assault the boy referred to as a new Columbine, reports the Charlotte Observe r. More »

A year after the tragic shootings in which 33 people died, members of the Virginia Tech community are still doing their best to heal, reports the Washington Post . "We have struggled to equilibrium," says a writing instructor at the university, "But no matter how strong we are, how wise we are, it hurts." More »

In the wake of campus shootings at Virginia Tech and NIU, threats in a bathroom stall at Chicago’s St. Xavier University prompted an indefinite campus shutdown last night. After graffiti appeared for the second time Thursday, this time reading “Be prepared to die 4/14,” school authorities told students to leave campus and suspended operations, the Chicago Tribune reports. More »

Victims’ families in the Virginia Tech shootings have settled with the state for $11 million in a deal to prevent future lawsuits, lawyers said today. The lawyers, who represented 21 families, are mum on details pending finalization, reports the Roanoke Times . At least 20 families had earlier warned they might sue over the tragedy last April 16, when student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 and wounded more at the school before killing himself. More »

For about 90 minutes, his Facebook status read: “Lucas Caparelli: recommends not going to class on Wednesday because he is going to blow up campus. ” In those 90 minutes, Caparelli went from a highly-recruited running back to a persona non grata suspended by Wake Forest. “It was a dumb, immature, ignorant joke, but to me, it was a joke,” Caparelli told the Washington Post . More »

In the wake of shootings on college campuses, administrators around the nation are forming threat-assessment groups and rethinking policies about sharing information on troubled students, the AP reports. "If a student is a danger to himself or others, all the privacy concerns go out the window,” said an administrator at the University of Kentucky, whose panel of administrators, police, and mental health officials meets twice a month. More »

The state of Virginia is offering $100,000 to each family of the 32 students and teachers killed by a lone gunman in the Virginia Tech massacre, the Virginian-Pilot reports. If accepted, the settlement would prevent families from suing the state for negligence. One attorney called the offer "for a human life an insult, an absolute insult." More »

Eric Thompson sold guns to both the Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech shooters, but he’s not apologizing for it. “I’m a businessman,” he tells the Los Angeles Times . “It’s a product.” But Thompson thinks he knows how to stop such violence: allow students to carry guns. “We know it’s going to happen again. It’s time to hit it head on.” More »

Campus shootings keep making headlines, and schools are increasingly adopting text message alert systems as a response—but students aren't jumping on the bandwagon, the AP reports. Experts chalk up low enrollment rates to students' sense of invincibility, unwillingness to reveal personal information and the cost of receiving texts. "It will take time to earn their trust," said one spokesman. More »

As Northern Illinois University resumes classes today, the prevailing feeling is uncertainty. One professor will leave it up to her class whether to stick to the syllabus or talk about the Valentine's Day shooting that left five students dead. Others question whether the semester's grading standards should change and wonder what will become of the scene of the tragedy, reports the Chicago Tribune. More »

While many states have responded to recent college shootings by debating whether firearms should be allowed on campus, Utah is the only one with such a law on the books—and students at its public universities are taking advantage, CNN reports. Predictably, while some students say they feel safer with their guns on hand, others say it makes classrooms even scarier. More »

The student who killed five at Northern Illinois University last week took pains to stump investigators ahead of time, police say. Steven Kazmierczak pulled his computer’s hard drive and his phone’s SIM card; he also revealed little in a package to his former girlfriend. "The one thing I want to know is motive," NIU Police Chief Donald Grady said today. But he couldn't "even begin to assume a motive yet." More »

The girlfriend of the gunman who murdered five students at Northern Illinois University Thursday talked to him every day last week, including the night before the shooting spree, and detected nothing amiss. "He wasn't erratic. He wasn't delusional. He was Steve; he was normal," Jessica Baty, 28, told CNN. Steven Kazmierczak, who killed himself after the carnage, sent her parting gifts and a love letter that read: "You've done so much for me, and I truly do love you. Don't forget about me!" More »

The shooter in the NIU carnage that left five students dead last week began to exhibit troubling signs of mental illness as a high school student as he explored satanism and white-power movements, reports AP.  Steven Kazmierczak "started to identify more with hatred-type stuff," said a friend. His behavioral problems became so severe that he required mood-stabilizing drugs, and landed for a year in a psychiatric treatment center where he cut himself and resisted taking medication. More »

An Army Corps of Engineers vet who wanted to be a first grade teacher. A violinist who knit for fun. A rugby player and frat man who worked for the student newspaper. The Chicago Tribune profiles the five students gunned down in their oceanography class Thursday at North Illinois University, while police are still searching for the killer's motive. All of the victims—four of them women—had Illinois hometowns. More »

Before his shooting rampage at NIU, Steven Kazmierczak spent two days in a motel, taking cold medicine and drinking Red Bull, the Chicago Tribune reports. He left behind no note, only a sealed duffel bag filled with gun ammo. Kazmierczak, who had stopped taking medication for anxiety, also sent his ex-girlfriend packages loaded with gun accessories. He instructed her not to open them until Valentine’s Day. More »

An online gun dealer who helped arm the Virginia Tech shooter also sold accessories to the killer in Thursday's Northern Illinois University rampage, the AP reports. "I'm still blown away by the coincidences," said Eric Thompson, whose company, TGSCOM, is based in Green Bay. He called a federal agency yesterday when he realized he had sold two magazines and a holster to Illinois shooter Stephen Kazmierczak.  More »

Northern Illinois University profs and students who knew Stephen Kazmierczak said today they were stunned by his transformation into a killer: “I knew him as a warm, sensitive, very bright student,” one professor said in disbelief. "I have had him in my home." A mentor told the Chicago Tribune , "He was the most gentle, even guy." A fellow student  said he was  "probably the best student in the class." More »