Near Miss: Man planning mass shooting walked into an Arizona school

An adult man with no connection to the campus was inside a charter k-8 school on picture day with a loaded 9mm handgun. He told officers he intended to harm children.

On January 16, a 31-year-old man drove to Legacy Traditional School in Tucson, AZ. He parked his vehicle in the school parking lot and entered the building through an open delivery gate.

After walking into the gym, he approached contracted photography staff who were there for student picture day and requested that his photograph be taken.

Daniel Hollander, 31, had his picture taken…by Tucson police

School staff eventually realized that this random adult man wasn’t part of picture day staff and didn’t belong on the premises so they called the police. When officers arrived, they found him “sitting on the floor and talking to himself.” After detaining him, they found a loaded 9mm handgun in his front jacket pocket and a knife. He told officers that he intended to carry out a mass shooting at the school.

Police believe that he had no connection to the campus and “was utilizing narcotics for several days” before going to the school “to cause harm to the children”.

He faces charges of attempted terrorism, interfering with an educational institution, weapons misconduct on school grounds and first-degree burglary. My internet searches don’t show any criminal history or prior threats of mass violence.

Importance of Near Miss Reporting

A near miss in aviation is an incident that could've caused physical injury or property loss but didn't. When a near miss happens in an airplane, a report needs to be filed with the FAA within seven days so that other pilots are aware of what happened. Creating a culture that prioritizes safety above all else means that mistakes are not kept secret, they are documented and openly shared across the aviation industry. Because of this reporting and information sharing, commercial aviation is now safer than driving a car.

Unlike aviation, the federal government has not made safety a top priority at schools. When a near miss happens on campus, the government fails to collect, analyze, and share this information.

Near miss reporting is mandatory for aviation and part of the reason there hasn’t been a fatal airline crash in the United States in more than a decade. Meanwhile, there are shootings on k-12 school campuses almost every day.

Analysis of the Campus

Legacy Traditional School (East Tucson campus) is a k-8 charter school with ~376 students. The school’s enrollment is 70% minority students and 58.5% of students are economically disadvantaged. The schools has 22 teachers and students only score around 20% on math proficiency and 40% on reading compared to state-wide results. This is not a high performing or well-resourced school.

Across the country, there are nine general types of school campuses. Legacy Traditional School is a single building with indoor hallways campus. This is a common style for suburban schools (see: There are 9 types of school campuses. Each needs a different security strategy).