Earlier threats common in shootings

Study looks at last 10 years of school attacks

WASHINGTON – In nearly every case over 10 years, attackers who targeted schools had engaged in threatening or other suspicious behavior that caused people to raise concerns beforehand, according to a Secret Service examination of more than three dozen attacks.

The review, released Thursday, largely tracks an analysis of mass casualty attacks in 2018, which was published earlier this year. And it affirms a chilling conclusion: Much of the violence could have been averted.

In 80% of the cases, according to the report, the attackers’ behavior was so alarming that it “elicited concern from bystanders regarding the safety of the attacker or those around them.”

“In many of these cases, someone observed a threatening communication or behavior but did not act,” the Secret Service concluded. “These findings continue to highlight the importance of encouraging students, school personnel and family members to report troubling or concerning behaviors in order to ensure that those in positions of authority can intervene.”

Authorities analyzed incidents involving current and former student assailants in which a knife or firearm was used between 2008 and 2017. Those attacks left 19 dead and 79 wounded.

The Secret Service concluded security measures alone were not enough to stop the violence.

The most common defenses were school lockdown plans and electronic alert systems that use text messages or phone calls to notify students, teachers and other staffers about potential emergencies.

At least 80% of the schools targeted had some type of security measure, from surveillance cameras to metal detectors. Half of the schools reported having one or more security officers on duty at the time of the attacks.

At least nine of the schools had threat assessment programs, in which staffers were assigned to identify potentially harmful conduct. But the Secret Service found that training and participation in those programs varied dramatically.

Those programs, the Secret Service wrote, “should complement the physical security measures that a school determines is appropriate for its community.” Attackers did not fit a rigid profile, with the exception of gender: 83% were male. Their ages ranged from 12 to 18. Whites accounted for 63% of suspects, while 37% were of other or mixed races.

“There is no profile of a student attacker, nor is there a profile for the type of school that has been targeted,” the Secret Service concluded.

However, researchers found that the attackers were much more alike in their psychological histories and motives.