Every shooting at a school in April 2025

While shootings were trending down from January to March, 27 shootings on campus in April is returning to the post-COVID peaks.

On April 15, five students were shot, and another was seriously injured (possibly jumping from a window) when a 17-year-old student opened fire inside Wilmer-Hutchins High during afternoon classes. In less than 2 minutes, the teen was able to enter through a side door, shoot at a group of students he targeted in the hallway, and flee before police arrived on campus. Dallas ISD high schools have metal detectors, school police officers, security guards, security screenings, ballistic shields, lockdown alert systems, campus security audits, and clear backpack requirements.

During a press conference, the police chief said "it was not a failure of our staff, of our protocols, or of the machinery that we have". In April 2024, a student was shot inside a classroom at the same school after sneaking a gun past the metal detectors.

On April 24 in Memphis, three gunmen in ski masks killed two male students outside Booker T. Washington High at dismissal. Around 3pm, a car pulled onto the street in front of the school. Three masked people with rifles got out and opened fire on the students. One of the students was killed 'execution style' before the shooters fled. A large crowd of students leaving campus at the end of the school day all witnessed the attack.

More than a week later, Memphis police still haven’t arrested any suspects.

In Jackson, MS on April 29, a fight between students during lunch turned into a shooting at the front door of the school.

Even when the teenage shooter in Mississippi fled from the campus immediately (most common outcome), the campus was locked down for hours as multiple police agencies searched the building with rifles and tactical vest on. And the same thing happened following the shooting in Dallas. Students and staff sheltered inside Wilmer-Hutchins High for hours while police searched the building for a shooter who fled before the first officer arrived.

Read more about the problems with unnecessary lockdowns: FSU's 3-hour lockdown started after the school shooter was in custody

Trends

More victims were shot on campus in April 2025 compared to any other April in the past decade.

While the number of incidents in 2025 was trending down from January-March, the total for April is back in the range of the post-Covid peaks.

An increase in the number of shootings in April is a trend that’s worth noting because historically April is one of the months with the fewest number of incidents. I don’t have an explanation for why April is historically lower than most of other months.

The time periods and locations on campus where the shootings occurred continue to align with the same patterns that I’ve been reporting.

April Podcasts and Articles

• Ep 38. Dr. Jens Ludwig explains his new book 'Unforgiving Places'

  Why do two neighborhoods in Chicago have dramatically different rates of gun violence? One of them is an 'unforgiving place' to live.

• Ep. 39: Talking about "unspeakable" violence (like Columbine) with Rev. Dr. Ingebretsen

  Why are school shooters called 'monsters'? This word gives up permission to gaze at the horror of mass murder while absolving ourselves of responsibility for it.

• Schools with multiple shootings are 'unforgiving places'

  When there are 98,000 public schools in the United States, why do some campuses have multiple shootings while the vast majority have zero?

• Errors in school shooting threat reporting mandated by Texas law

  Data entry errors caused a suburban waterfront community's elementary school to report the highest number of threats in the Houston Area. There are easy ways school districts can spot these problems.

• Columbine's 'MONSTERS next door' and cultural rituals of school shootings

  Why do we talk so much about "unspeakable" acts of violence? In literature, monsters mirror the culture they inhabit and serve to absolve society of responsibility.

• Most school shooters flee. Why do police search every room of the school?

  After shooting five classmates, a student at Wilmer-Hutchins High in Dallas ran from the campus before police arrived. This is the most common outcome during a school shooting.

• Second shooting at same school shows why TSA-style security doesn't work

  Two shootings at the same Dallas high school happened because of inherent flaws with the concept of manually searching every student on a large campus.

• Covenant School shooting motives and missed warnings

  Timeline, behaviors, motives, and planning from the official report on the Nashville school shooting in March 2023.

• Official report on the Covenant School shooting in Nashville

  Two years after the attack, Nashville Police released a 50-page report with new images and a revised timeline.

Every shooting at school in April

Date: 2025-04-28
School: Jim Hill High School
City: Jackson, MS
Summary: Student fired shots near front door following fight between multiple students
Location: Front of School
Time Period: Lunch

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Date: 2025-04-24
School: Booker T. Washington High School
City: Memphis, TN
Summary: Three men in ski masks opened fire killing two students at dismissal, school placed on lockdown
Location: Front of School
Time Period: Dismissal