Every shooting at a school in November 2024

Same patterns continue as shootings outside of schools during dismissal are the most common situation for gun violence on campus.

On November 12, fifty (50) shots were fired in the parking lot of Woodlawn High School in Alabama during a fight after a varsity basketball game. Amazingly, only one student was wounded in the hail of automatic gunfire (likely another modified Glock). The prior weekend, a father was killed in front of his child when he was ambushed by 4 gunmen while leaving a basketball game at Hillcrest High School in Illinois. This was the second fatal shooting at a Hillcrest High sports event after a student was killed at a football game last year.

At Stanton Middle School in Delaware, a ‘school constable’ was terminated after accidentally firing his gun in the school hallway while class was in session. Delaware only requires these armed guards to take a 40-hour training taught by private security vendors. Only a portion of the training time is actually handling firearms.

At Roosevelt Elementary in Wisconsin, a teen with a duffle bag attempted to enter the school and ran away when confronted by staff. Police arrested him at his home after they found photos with a rifle on social media. While the teen researched and told other students about his interest in committing a school shooting, it turned out the only firearms he had access to were replica airsoft guns.

As we near the end of the calendar year, there is a 70% probability of ~330 shootings on campus in 2024 (5% drop from the all time high in 2023). 2024 would be the second highest year on record. The chances of there being +/-10 incidents from my prediction is ~27%. There is less than a 2% chance that this year exceeds the 2023 record. Even with a 5% drop, we are still at 10x the average from a decade ago.

There was a slight decrease in the number of incidents in November 2024 compared to 2023.

Even with fewer incidents, there were slightly more victims than last year. 2021 stands out as an outlier because 11 students and staff members were shot at Oxford High School.

Back in 2017, 18 victims were shot in the vicinity of Rancho Tehama Elementary School when an adult man when on a killing spree following a dispute over methamphetamine just before 8am. While the school had a fenced campus, the man drove his vehicle through the fence before opening fire from outside. Five wounded students were inside the school and struck by bullets that went through walls and windows.

Following the same pattern as other months this year, the most common time period for a shooting on campus was dismissal.

Aligning with shootings at dismissal, the school parking lot and outside beside the school building were the most common locations.

Increased Liability

In November, there are three important lawsuits and legal decisions that impact school administrators. Two of the cases stem from the Oxford High shooting in 2021 where a judge ruled the school’s insurer owes $55M instead of $5M (very important ruling for self-insured school districts) and a teacher wounded during the attack is suing five Oxford school officials. In Virginia, school board members are facing a lawsuit after a student was fatally shot while getting off a school bus in 2022.

I’m paying more attention to risk, liability, and catastrophic financial impacts for schools since I gave a presentation on my research at Llyod’s of London in November. As school districts and school officials face civil liability for failing to implement procedures or take action to prevent school shootings, there will be an increased need for specialty insurance (most general hazard policies won’t cover the full costs from an attack or the civil liability for failing a ‘duty of care’ to act on red flags to prevent violence).

More about The Fortress Problem and catastrophic risk

Court decision could mean $55 million for Oxford shooting victims

Victims in the Oxford high school shooting could be a step closer to settlement after a ruling from an Oakland County Circuit Court judge. The district argued the insurance company SET-SEG Property Casualty Pool interpretation of the policy wasn’t accurate.

The insurance company said the shooting on November 30, 2021, was one occurrence meaning they would payout 5 million dollars. Oxford Community Schools disagreed saying each person shot and killed or injured should be included, totaling 11 victims.

"This is not a $5 million policy. There are 11 different events. That's 5 million times 11 or 55 million. And arguably, there might be even more, depending on what other courts may rule," says Ven Johnson who represents several victims in civil lawsuits.

Teacher injured in Oxford shooting sues district, former school officials

Molly Darnell filed the lawsuit against the Oxford Community School District Tuesday for “recklessly creating or exacerbating the risk of a mass shooting,” according to the suit.

This lawsuit comes nearly three years after the shooting, which killed four students and injured seven others on Nov. 30, 2021. Darnell was the only teacher shot during the attack.

Five former school officials were also named in the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that the school district claims that its employees “had no choice” other than to send the shooter back to class that day because they were adhering to its policy that a student couldn’t be sent home or kept in the counselor’s office “unless there was a disciplinary issue.”

“However, the truth is that school officials escalated the danger by releasing the shooter back into the school population from a place of safety and security,” according to the suit. “They did this despite knowing of the shooter’s desire to inflict harm on himself and/or others. These school officials compounded the danger to Oxford High School students and staff by releasing him from a safe zone with an unsearched backpack that contained the deadly weapon that the shooter used to carry out his suicidal or homicidal plans.”

Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board sued two years after student fatally shot at bus stop

Parents of Nahzir Taylor sued the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education two years after he was shot and killed by another student while getting off of a school bus.

Taylor, a 17-year-old student at Rocky River High School, was shot while getting off a bus on Lanza Drive in 2022. A new lawsuit claims school employees heard a student threaten to kill him earlier that day, but did not report it to police or parents.

In a lawsuit filed in Mecklenburg County on Nov. 27, 2024, the parents say the school was negligent ahead of the fatal shooting. Now, Taylor's parents claim the school knew about a dangerous conflict between the students, including bullying and threats, but failed to warn parents or report anything to police.

Every Shooting at a School in November 2024

School: Helen Barrett Montgomery School No. 50
City: Rochester
State: NY
Date: 2024-11-26

• Time Period: Dismissal

• Location: Front of School

• Summary: Man fatally shot in front of school following dispute.