On May 1, police were called for an active shooter at Mount Horeb Middle in rural Wisconsin. Officers spotted a teen outside of the school with a long black rifle and killed him when he didn’t comply with commands. Four days later, police provided an update that the rifle was a $100 pellet gun available at Walmart and Amazon.
Robert Chappell, the executive editor of Madison 365 News, has two kids at Mount Horeb Middle and High schools. He arrived at the school at the same time as the first two police officers.
On WORT 88.9 A Public Affair, we talked about:
Missed warning signs to prevent the attack before a 14-year-old student brought a gun to school.
Many of the highest casualty school shootings happen in small communities where “it could never happen here”.
Confusion with messaging, delays in reunification, and prolonged lockdowns with students being separated from their siblings and families.
Lack of standardized system to report red flags.
I wrote this article about the missed warning signs at Mount Horeb Middle and also spoke with Wisconsin Watch about school shootings in small communities.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database and an internationally recognized expert. Listen to my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio and New England Journal of Medicine.
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