School shootings are not an anomaly in USA. This Tuesday, an 18-year-old robbed Robb Elementary School in Uvaldein Texasin a shooting with which he murdered 19 children and two adults. This new tragedy has been the largest in almost a decade, when the death toll at the Sandy Hook school reached 26. However, it is by no means the only one.
In the nearly five months of 2022, there have been as many as 27 school shootings in USA, yesterday’s being the deadliest. These attacks have caused 27 deathly victimsof which 24 were minors, according to calculations by the Education Week’s 2022 School Shooting Tracker. Another 40 people have been injured.
2022 is thus heading for the grim record for most school shootings in the country, a position it now occupies last year, with 34 school killings. In 2020, the restriction on mobility due to the pandemic caused the number of attacks to drop to 10, while in 2019 and 2018 they were up to 24.
As happened after other massacres, yesterday’s in Uvalde is reopening the debate on regulating the sale of weapons in the country and even on whether teachers should go to class armed.
In the last 20 years, the US has experienced multiple armed attacks against schools, institutes and universities in its territory. These are the most notorious cases:
Oxford, 2021
On October 30 last year, a 15-year-old boy killed four students and injured seven others at Oxford High School in Michigan. The case is studied as a “terrorist act”.
Santa Fe, 2018
On May 18, a 17-year-old teenager shot and killed 20 people at the Santa Fe High School in Texas. The perpetrator of the massacre was arrested and is in jail.
Parklands, 2018
On February 14, Valentine’s Day, a 19-year-old had the macabre idea of unloading his semi-automatic rifle on his colleagues, killing 17 people. He went to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, from where he had been expelled for disciplinary reasons. He is in prison.
Rosburg, 2015
On October 1, a 26-year-old student opened fire at Umpqua University in Oregon, killing nine people. Later, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
New Town, 2012
On December 14, 2012, the United States experienced the worst school massacre in its history. Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza murdered his mother before heading to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where he killed 26 people, most of them boys and girls between the ages of six and seven. The perpetrator of the massacre committed suicide.
Virginia, 2007
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On April 16, a student at the reputable Virginia Tech University killed 32 people and injured 17 others with his two semi-automatic pistols before committing suicide. It was the largest massacre in the history of the country until, in 2016, a man murdered 49 people in a gay club in Orlando.
Columbine, 1999
Two 17- and 18-year-old high school students in Columbine, Colorado, killed twelve classmates and a teacher before committing suicide. They failed to detonate the homemade bombs they had prepared. The massacre opened an important debate on the need to regulate the sale of weapons in the country.