Revisiting the North Park Elementary School Shooting
There are many school shootings that most don't make national news. Instead of ignoring these attacks, we can learn something from each one.
Chances are you never heard about the shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino, California. Here is the coverage from ABC News back in April 2017 (warning: the 911 calls are graphic but if you care about school safety, you should listen anyway).
I frequently get asked, “How should people be using your data?” While academics immediately think of logistic regression models, there is a more practical application. My hope is that every school principal would look at the details from thousands of real-world shootings on campus and ask themselves if a new security investment or their current plan for a shooting would prevent these attacks.
If you didn’t watch the video, a husband was allowed into an elementary school to see his wife who is a special ed teacher. Her husband served in the military for 8 years and had no criminal convictions (note: under programs like Florida’s armed school guardians, his military service would fast track permission to carry a gun on campus). Staff at the front desk had no reason to see him as a threat.
He walked into her classroom, pulled out a .357 handgun, and fired 10 shots. His wife (Karen Elaine Smith) and a student (eight-year-old Jonathan Martinez) were killed. Another student was critically wounded. Both students were behind their teacher when the shooting started and neither were intended targets. He paused to reload his gun and then killed himself. The attack was over within seconds.
Nobody at the school was expecting any trouble that day. A teacher in an adjoining classroom thought the gunshots were construction noise. 7 minutes passed before police arrived at the school.
This is a very common way for a school shooting to play out because most shooters are actively suicidal and plan to die during their attack. In a note left by the shooter, he explained that their recent marriage separation (which school employees were unaware of) had left him feeling “disrespected and dishonored” and the attack was to seek “closure”. He had a history of domestic violence and other criminal charges but had never been convicted (again, even with a background check nobody at the school would be aware of these charges because he wasn’t convicted).
School shooters see violence as their only option and as a final act without an escape plan.
Usefulness of common school security measures?
How many school security methods stop a teacher’s husband who drops by the school at 10:30 am?
❌SRO (visitor is allowed, unlikely a husband of a teacher would be escorted)
❌Armed teacher (shooting was a surprise before she would have time to pull her weapon)
❌Locked door (he was allowed into the school)
❌Badges/IDs (he was allowed inside to visit)
❌Bulletproof chalkboard (10 shots were fired within seconds, there was no time for the two students who were shot to get behind it)
❌Saferoom (again, there was no time to get inside it)
❌Panic button (even if there was an SRO in the front office, the entire attack was over in seconds before he would have time to get to the classroom)
❌CCTV (he didn’t look like a threat and the handgun was concealed)
❌Security screening (rare to have staff to conduct searches at elementary schools + he was a known visitor + he could shoot the screener (The Matrix Problem) then continue to the classroom)
A “no visitor policy” is unreasonable because it's normal for spouses (and parents, of course) to stop by schools and be allowed into the building. He could be bringing her lunch or exchanging car keys.
Following the shooting, the family of the student killed sued the school system. The details of the settlement were not released and the school district refused to comment.
Fundamental problem with securing schools
These are problems that physical security at schools will not solve when most shooters are insiders who are allowed to be on the campus and/or have knowledge of the security plan. Learn more about the challenges with fortifying school campuses in my prior article ‘What is school security?’.
We need to increase the resources available to victims of domestic abuse and create systems that empower them to take action. This must be paired with legal action to prevent a domestic abuser (prior to conviction) from accessing or purchasing firearms.
When someone arrives at a school with a gun, it’s already too late.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database and a national expert on school shootings. Listen to my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio and the New England Journal of Medicine.