Seven 'active shooters' at schools the FBI forgot to include in their 2023 report

Same agency that paid a $127M settlement for botching their investigation of the Parkland shooter before his attack can't write a simple report about how many shootings happened last year.

The FBI released a “comprehensive” report on Monday about active shooter incidents across the United States in 2023. For anyone who doesn’t pay close attention to these attacks and their details, this looks like a useful document. But it’s not.

I published an article yesterday about the problems with the FBI’s definitions, methodologies, and biases. The biggest problem is the FBI fails at basic data collection and the missing information skews their findings.

FBI report

For example, the location summary graphic shows three “active shooters” at educational settings including pre-K, K-12 schools, and higher education.

The three “active shooters” the FBI includes at education in 2023 are:

• Covenant School in Nashville: Former student fatally shot 6 students and staff before being killed by police.

• Michigan State University: Man with no relation to the campus shot 8 students before walking away and killing himself.

• University of Nevada: Disgruntled professor who was denied a job killed 3 professors and wounded 3 others before being evacuated from the building by police officers (based on training, officers was probably looking for a young man in sunglasses and a tactical vest). Once outside, he rushed at an officer standing by a police car to commit ‘suicide by cop’.

I completely agree that all three of these incidents were ‘active shooters’ and should be studied. But why did the FBI leave out seven other active shooters at k-12 schools? How many serious incidents at colleges, universities, shopping malls, and other public places were also omitted?

Active shooters the FBI forgot

October 23, 2023: Kennedy Middle School, Germantown, WI

A man suffering from a psychological crisis climbed onto the roof of a school while students were inside for sports and evening activities. When the man was confronted by police, he opened fire on the officers leading to a shootout. Students inside heard numerous gunshots and locked down inside closets and storage rooms for hours.

FBI defines an active shooter as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. I’m pretty sure a man with a gun on the roof of an occupied school who is shooting at police officers counts as “attempting to kill people in a populated area”.

October 15, 2023: North Kirkwood Middle School, Kirkwood, MO

Matthew McCulloch, a St. Louis police officer, told multiple people they “are all going to die” at the middle school Halloween ‘trunk-or-treat’ event. He then fired shots into the air approximately a dozen times while shouting that the attendees would die. Several people at the event tackled Matthew McCulloch and took his gun, according to court documents. McCulloch was attending the event with his family.

A St. Louis County grand jury indicted McCulloch on Nov. 8 on 15 counts that include seven counts of armed criminal action, six counts of endangering the welfare of a child, one count of a terrorist threat, and a single count of unlawful use of a weapon.

FBI defines an active shooter as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. A man with a gun who threatens to kill everyone and starts shooting before being subdued by parents at the school meets the definition of an active shooter.

July 31, 2023: Margolin Hebrew Academy, Memphis, TN

Memphis police were called to the Margolin Hebrew Academy-Feinstone Yeshiva of the South around 12:20pm after an armed man tried to enter the school. Police say the suspect tried to enter the building but couldn’t get inside. Class was not in session, but there were staff and construction workers there at the time.

Why is the rest of this below the paywall? The FBI has a multi-million dollar budget to write reports. I do a better job of collecting data for almost nothing. Help me out by subscribing.