USA TODAY International Edition
2018 notches its 20th school shooting
Grim statistic underscores depth of problem in U.S.
“This has been going on for too long in our country, too many years, too many decades now,” President Trump said Friday after he learned that a gunman had opened fire at Santa Fe High School outside Houston.
Few Americans would disagree that shootings like the one Friday in Texas have become too common.
But as politicians and law enforcement officials scramble for answers, the shootings and bodies continue to pile up.
Santa Fe, Texas, was at least the 20th incident of 2018 in which someone was injured with a firearm on the campus of a U.S. school.
Here are the other 19 shootings at schools this year:
❚ May 11: Palmdale, Calif. A 14-year-old fired about 10 rounds with a rifle at Highland High School, wounding a 15-year-old student.
❚ April 20: Ocala, Fla.
On the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, Sky Bouche, 19, a former student at Forest High School, returned to the campus with a shotgun and fired through a classroom door, injuring a 17-year-old student. ❚ April 12: Raytown, Mo.
A man was shot in the stomach at Raytown South Middle School during a track meet. ❚ March 20: Lexington Park, Md. Austin Wyatt Rollins, 17, opened fire at Great Mills High School — about 65 miles south of Washington, D.C. — shooting two students before an armed school resources officer intervened. Rollins was killed, and one of his victims, Jaelynn Willey, 16, was later taken off life support.
❚ March 8: Mobile, Ala.
One person was wounded in a shooting at an apartment building on the University of South Alabama campus.
❚ March 7: Birmingham, Ala. A female student, 17, was killed when a 17-year-old student shot her in a Huffman High School classroom in what appeared to be an accidental shooting. The suspect, who shot himself in the leg while trying to leave the scene, was charged with manslaughter.
❚ March 7: Jackson, Miss.
A student was shot in a Jackson State University dorm. The injuries were not life-threatening.
❚ March 2: Mount Pleasant, Mich. Police said James Eric Davis Jr., 19, fatally shot his parents at a Central Michigan University dorm.
❚ Feb. 27: Norfolk, Va.
A Norfolk State University student was shot in the buttocks from an adjacent dorm room while doing his homework. His injuries were not lifethreatening.
❚ Feb. 27: Itta Bena, Miss.
A person was shot in a Mississippi Valley State University rec center. Police said the victim was not a student, and the injuries were not lifethreatening.
❚ Feb. 24: Savannah, Ga.
A man was shot multiple times on the Savannah State University campus and later died from his injuries. Neither the suspect nor the victim was a student at the university, officials said.
❚ Feb. 14: Parkland, Fla. Nikolas Cruz, 19, killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., with an AR-15style semi-automatic rifle.
❚ Feb. 9: Nashville
A 17-year-old was shot outside PearlCohn Entertainment Magnet High School. Police identified the suspect as a 14-year-old boy.
❚ Feb. 5: Oxon Hill, Md.
An Oxon Hill High School student was shot in the school’s parking lot after a disagreement with two other teens. The victim survived the shooting.
❚ Feb. 1: Los Angeles
A 12-year-old girl brought a gun to Salvador B. Castro Middle School, and the weapon accidentally went off when her bag dropped. Four people were hit, including a 15-year-old student who sustained a non-fatal gunshot to the head. ❚ Jan. 31: Philadelphia
A man, 32, was shot twice in the leg and later died of his injuries after a brawl during a Lincoln High School basketball game.
❚ Jan. 23: Benton, Ky.
Two students were killed at rural Marshall County High School when a 15-year-old opened fire, injuring more than a dozen other students. The suspect was charged with two counts of murder and a dozen assault charges.
❚ Jan. 22: Italy, Texas
A 15-year-old girl was wounded when a student, 16, shot her inside the Italy High School cafeteria. The victim survived after she was airlifted to a Dallas hospital. ❚ Jan. 20: Winston Salem, N.C. Najee Ali Baker, 21, a Winston-Salem State University football player, was fatally shot at a party on Wake Forest’s campus.