School shootings are more frequent and fights are often to blame

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The United States saw a higher number of school shootings at the start of this school year compared to any other year the incidents were tracked.

And a growing number of attacks, like this week’s one at a Texas high school that left four injured, have been linked to youth brawls.

Since the beginning of September, the country has seen 64 incidents of guns on campus, 23 of which were attributed to escalations of disputes, according to a database of gunfire at K-12 schools at the Center for Homeland Defense & Security.

“What we are seeing is a massive increase in gun violence on school campuses,” said David Riedman, senior researcher for the K-12 School Shooting Database.

Police at the shooting scene at Mansfield Timberview High School in Arlington, Texas on October 6, 2021 REUTERS / Jeremy Lock

“As the children have returned to school, much of the violence is representative of the increase in gun violence that we are seeing across the country,” he added.

More than 50 incidents have been attributed to the escalation of disputes so far in 2021, compared to 23 for the 2020 calendar year disrupted by the pandemic and 49 in 2019.

Where school shootings are often viewed in terms of planned attacks, such as the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 or the mass shooting of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, in which gunmen walked through several locations Indiscriminately targeting victims, the recent surge in campus shootings has been fueled in large part by random acts of violence.

Students evacuated from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida after a shooting. Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP

This is what authorities say happened on Wednesday morning when Timothy George Simpkins, an 18-year-old student at Timberview High School in Arlington, Texas, allegedly opened fire after a fight escalated in class.

A week earlier, on September 30 in Memphis, Tenn., A 13-year-old boy shot another student during a brawl in their school’s stairwell while morning classes were taking place, police said. .

The shooting victim, also 13, was shot in the abdomen and is expected to recover. The suspect, meanwhile, fled the school and later surrendered after a police search.

Police at Heritage High School in Newport News, Va., After a shooting began in a brawl on September 20, 2021.Peter Casey-USA TODAY / Sipa USA

This shooting followed that of September 20 in Newport News, Va., In which police said a 15-year-old boy pulled a gun from his belt and fired several shots at another student when a scuffle erupted in the main hallway of their high school.

Two students were injured: a 17-year-old boy shot in the face and a 17-year-old girl shot in the leg.

In addition to instances where students suddenly fired guns during fighting, some of these shooting incidents have also been linked to gangs, Riedman said.

For example, authorities blamed gang rivalries at a southern Los Angeles high school for a shootout in a September 2 brawl that injured a 17-year-old student.

A growing number of school shootings stem from fights between students, experts say.AP Photo / Tony Gutierrez

A lawyer speaking on behalf of Simpkins, the accused Timberview shooter, attempted to distinguish at a press conference Thursday that the incident was not a “standard school shooting”.

“There are many school shootings that have taken place across this country that are tragic. All school shootings are tragic, ”said civil rights lawyer Kim T. Cole. “However, in this situation it was not someone who had just gone to shoot a school and had made up his mind. [and said,] “You know, I’m angry and I’m going to shoot anyone I see. “

Experts and officials, however, say whatever the cause of a shooting, the incidents can have traumatic effects for students.

“These isolated incidents still have a profound impact on all students and schools,” Riedman said.

A teacher at Timberview High School, for example, told The Post how his students were forced to barricade their classroom door when the gunshots rang out, and how some were left in tears during the lockdown that regular.

Students console themselves outside Stoneman Douglas High School after the February 14, 2018 shooting John Mccall / TNS via ZUMA Wire

Newport News Virginia Public School Principal George Parker also described how upsetting the shooting had been for students and staff.

“Just seeing the faces of our students and how scared they were under these circumstances, and our traumatized staff,” Parker said in the wake, “No one would want to go through these circumstances.”

The disturbing trends in the K-12 school shootings database statistics are compared to data kept by the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety, which counted 30 cases of gunfire on school grounds between August 1 and September 15 that left five dead and 23. injured.

This was the highest number recorded in the same period since the organization began tracking gunfire on school grounds in 2013.

It could take years for researchers to determine why more young people are bringing and shooting guns into schoolyards, but experts believe the trends follow similar societal patterns that have been attributed to a range of causes, including including the toll of the coronavirus pandemic and an increase in firearms purchases.

“We’re just in this trend now and it’s hard to find an explanation,” Riedman said. “What we do know is that in all demographic groups and regions, gun violence is rampant on school campuses.”

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