School Shooting Case Study Template
Your Name:
Name of Incident:
Key Facts of Incident:
When:
Where:
Offender(s):
Status of Offender(s) – living or deceased – cause of death:
Weapon(s) Used:
# of Victim(s):
Type of Victim(s) – students/teachers/admin/family:
1. Situational factors: description of the events immediately surrounding the incident (leading up to and immediate response to the incident at different levels of analysis as seen by different participants and witnesses):
a. Description of the shooting itself: preparations, precipitating events (including possible provocation by victims), location, targets, relationship of shooter to victims, immediate responses that ended the incident.
b. Motivations/state of mind of shooter(s) at time of shooting
c. Recent trends in objective and subjective life of the shooter
d. Witness accounts of shooting (including their interpretations of the offender and motivations)
e. Warning signs for incident (e.g., shooter(s)’s threats, widely known festering grievances and disputes)
Individual factors: Individual traits and family background of offender(s):
a. Prior criminal activity of the offender(s)
b. School record (both achievement and disciplinary)
c. Peer standing/affiliations at school (what groups? What standing in individual groups? Relationships with opposite sex?)
d. Important adults in offender(s)’s life/quality of communication and connection
e. Family relationships (parents/siblings) (strength/quality) (parental knowledge/ supervision of kids)
f. History of mental illness
g. Interest/consumption of violent media materials
h. Experience with firearms
2. Community–level factors affecting incident and response:
a. Economic status of community
b. Stability of community
c. Social coherence/division of community (ethnic, racial, religious, political)
d. Engagement of community with teenagers and with schools
e. Teen culture in community
3. School-level factors affecting incident and response:
a. Size of school
b. Organization of the school – level of school, any distinguishing characteristics of school?
c. Teacher characteristics
d. Parental involvement in the school
e. Educational policies of the school (tracking/class size/ extracurricular activities)
f. Governance and disciplinary policies and practices of the school
g. Security arrangement for the school
h. Extent and quality of teacher connection to students beyond curriculum
4. Description of response and consequences for community of both incident and responses made:
a. Outcomes of court cases
b. Consequences for offenders
c. Consequences for victims
d. Grief counseling/activity following events
e. Policy changes (and apparent consequences) initiated with schools
1. New hardware at school – fences, etc.
2. Increased surveillance and control of students
3. Police officers in school
f. Policy changes in wider community/other schools
