Does the killing really continue until police engage a school shooter?

An assumption is that students need to lockdown while EMS waits outside because an attack continues until police engage the shooter. Real incidents tell a different story.

“There was no reason for [Apalachee High school shooter] to stop shooting at all. Had he just opened fire into that hallway at us, he could have killed us,” Officer Boyd said. “I took several full magazines of ammunition out of his pockets like he wasn’t done.”

Does a school shooter want to kill as many victims as possible and the only thing that “stops the killing” is violent intervention by police?

From the DHS Active Shooter Response Handbook: Typically, the immediate deployment of law enforcement is required to stop the shooting and mitigate harm to victims.

When I watched the security camera footage from CVPA High in St. Louis, the first thing I noticed was how little shooting was taking place despite the 19-year-old attacker having preloaded magazines with 600 total rounds inside his bag. The teen had clear shots at security officers, but he kept walking. After 15 minutes of roaming around the school with an AR-15, he ended up in a 3rd floor hallway where he stopped and waited for 2 minutes and 30 seconds until police found him.

In his journals, he wrote over and over that his life had no purpose and he wanted to die. He wanted to emulate the image of a school shooter (AR-15 rifle, BDUs, tactical vest) and elicit a police response that would be a violent public suicide. It appears that killing every victim possible until police found him wasn’t part of that plan.

The officer who arrested the Apalachee High school shooter in September 2024 tell the same story as CVPA High School. When the officer first saw the shooter, he was 70 yards away and too far to shoot at him with a handgun inside a crowded hallway. The 14-year-old assailant had an AR-15 rifle and multiple extra loaded magazine, but he decided to drop his gun and surrender. The teen could have easily killed the officers by firing indiscriminately down the hallway with his rifle, but he decided to stop shooting.

This made me think about other planned attacks at schools and how many of the school shooters actually killed victims up until the moment when police found them. The Parkland school shooter dropped his rifle and walked away from the school while there were still victims that he could keep shooting at. The Uvalde school shooter was inside a classroom for more than an hour yet he didn’t shoot every student inside.

During 11 preplanned school shootings since 2018, each of the perpetrators had a functional firearm and extra ammo, yet the “killing stopped” before police shot or subdued the shooter.

Types of Planned Attacks at Schools

The first flaw in planning is making a blanket assumption like “the killing continues until police stop an active shooter”. This is because active shooter is a clunky blanket term for distinctly different types of attacks.

Insider (or multi-insiders) Attacks:

• A surprise attack where the perpetrator is allowed inside the facility and utilizes insider knowledge to bypass or overcome security measures.

• Example: In December 2019 at Saugus High, Santa Clarita, CA, a high-achieving student with no disciplinary history started firing indiscriminately at a crowd of students in the school courtyard when morning classes changed. Five classmates were injured/killed before the shooter took his own life 16 seconds are his first shot.

Frontal Assault:

• An attack on a target that the perpetrator doesn’t have permission to enter.

• Example: In October 2022 at Central Visual Performing Arts High, St. Louis, MO, a former student armed with a semi-auto rifle and 600 rounds forcibly entered the school by breaking a window of a locked side door. Proceeding to the third floor, the assailant opened fire on students in the hallway, injuring six and killing a teacher and student. After locking himself in a third-floor classroom, he was eventually killed by the police. Some students resorted to jumping from third-story windows to escape the danger, with over 200 rounds discharged inside the school.

Sniper Attack:

• Firing upon a target from a distance beyond the security perimeter.

• Example: In April 2022 at Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC, a 23-year-old man fired a rifle at students on a glass pedestrian bridge from his fifth-floor apartment across the street. Sixty shots were discharged in 18 seconds, resulting in injuries to a student on the bridge, a school security guard, a parent in a waiting vehicle, and another adult pedestrian. The shooter, armed with six firearms, including rifles modified for automatic fire, took his own life when the police raided his apartment. The entire incident was live-streamed with a camera inside the rifle scope.

Assassination or Ambush:

• Targeted killing of specific individual(s) due to the shooter's knowledge of where they will be at a exact time and place (e.g., targeted student always exits the same door at dismissal).

• Example: In October 2021 at YES Prep, Houston, TX, a 25-year-old former student shot out the glass doors and fired down the hallway at the school principal. The school went on lockdown, and the shooter surrendered to the police. The shooter told police that the principal was not his target and that he was seeking another staff member who knew would be inside the school.

Hostage-Taking:

• Taking hostages based on ideology, grievances, or financial motives (ransom).

• Example: In September 2012 at Normal Community High School, Normal, IL, a 14-year-old student armed with three handguns, a knife, and a hatchet, took a classroom hostage. While holding the class at gunpoint, he lowered his weapon for a second and the teacher tackled him, ending the standoff.

Barricade:

• Entering a facility and maintaining a defensive position without taking hostages.

• Example: In February 2018 at Dalton High School, Dalton, GA, a teacher with a gun barricaded himself inside an empty classroom. After firing a shot, the school resource officer negotiated with the teacher, leading to a peaceful surrender without harm to students, staff, or officers.

Complex Coordinated Attack:

• A hybrid involving any combination of attack types.

• Example: In December 2013 at Arapahoe High School, Centennial, CO, a student entered the school with a shotgun, Molotov cocktails, and extra ammunition. After firing shots and throwing a Molotov cocktail, he was confronted by a school resource officer and then committed suicide. The intended target appeared to be the librarian, who sponsored the debate team of which the shooter was a member.

Within the types of attacks, there may be different levels of motivation for the perpetrator to harm as many victims as possible. If a surprise attack by an insider is based on a grievance directed at specific staff or students, they may be the only victims while bystander students are not harmed. Meanwhile, someone taking hostages may not want to harm any of the victims to maximize the reward they are trying to achieve. If a police officer rushes into a hostage situation to immediately engage the shooter, this could escalate a situation that might be resolved peacefully.

An ambush might only target victims in one location (e.g., exit from the football field after practice) while no one else in other parts of the campus is in danger. During a targeted attack like an ambush, students probably don’t need to lockdown inside for hours while police search every room of the building.