The shooting on December 16 at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin has shaken the nation, not only due to its brutality but also because of its unexpected nature. This time, a teenage girl entered her school and started shooting, resulting in the deaths of a teacher, another student, and, apparently, herself, while injuring six others. Female school shooters are exceptionally rare, yet the underlying patterns leading to such tragic events are regrettably all too familiar.
School shootings are deeply embedded as a uniquely American crisis. Data from the K-12 School Shooting Database reveals a staggering 323 incidents on school grounds in 2024 alone, where guns have been displayed or fired.
People often fixate on the gender of the shooters. Following the tragic mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville in March 2023, a significant amount of discussion centered around the shooter’s transgender identity. In other instances, “toxic masculinity” is often brought up, along with the well-documented reality that most mass shootings are committed by males.
In a newly released K-12 school homicide database, out of 349 homicides at K-12 schools since 2020, only 12 (3%) involved female assailants. There have been a few notable cases of female school shooters. In 1988, a babysitter walked into a second-grade classroom in Winnetka, Illinois, claiming she was there to teach kids about guns; she opened fire, killing an 8-year-old boy and injuring five other students.
Another case occurred in 2021 in Rigby, Idaho, where a 12-year-old girl planned to kill 20 to 30 classmates. Armed with two handguns, she emerged from a bathroom and began shooting in a hallway, injuring two students and a custodian before a brave teacher disarmed her with a hug.
The earliest instance in the records dates back to 1979, when a 16-year-old girl opened fire at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, killing two and wounding nine. She chillingly remarked, “I just don’t like Mondays,” a statement that has since been etched into pop culture. But this wasn’t mere apathy; it was rooted in despair. During a parole hearing years later, she admitted, “I wanted to die.” Her violence was a bid to be killed by police.
Her narrative underscores a common truth: most school shooters are suicidal, deeply troubled, and driven by a volatile mix of hopelessness and rage.
Extensive research has revealed a consistent reality. School shooters usually come from within, either current or former students. They are familiar with school routines, security protocols, and vulnerabilities. While the exact motives behind the Madison shooting aren’t clear yet, it’s well-known that such shootings are rarely spur-of-the-moment acts.
In fact, school shootings often represent a grim breaking point, a desperate scream for help. Over 90% of shooters display obvious signs of distress in the weeks or months leading up to their actions—depression, mood swings, isolation, or difficulty coping with life. Alarmingly, more than 90% communicate their plans ahead of time, sharing warnings, posting ominous messages, or directly voicing their intent.
With each school shooting, public discourse tends to focus on specifics: the rare female perpetrator, the large-scale tragedy, the swift action of authorities. However, zooming out reveals a repeated narrative: a troubled insider, battling a crisis, feeling suicidal.
Crucially, there’s always access to firearms, bridging the gap from crisis to catastrophe. Details on how the Madison shooter acquired her weapon remain unknown. In Wisconsin, individuals under 18 are generally prohibited from possessing firearms, barring some exceptions.
In nearly every school shooting, the shooter accessed a gun from home or with adult complicity. This pattern was true back in 1979 when the Cleveland Elementary shooter wielded a rifle gifted by her father during Christmas, and it remains prevalent today. Proper firearm storage—locked, unloaded, separated from ammunition—significantly reduces impulsive acts of violence, yet this precaution is frequently neglected.
Parents and guardians play a pivotal role in preventing these tragedies. Safe gun storage is one of the simplest, most efficient ways to ensure guns don’t fall into the hands of teens in crisis. Many jurisdictions impose legal responsibilities on adults if minors access their firearms. In Wisconsin, this law applies when the child is 14 or younger, and the shooter was 15.
Alongside vigilant families, schools must cultivate a trust-based environment where students feel comfortable reporting concerning behaviors without fearing punishment or stigma. This year, we’ve seen instances of teenage girls making violent threats, sometimes coming dangerously close to carrying them out. On September 7, for instance, a 15-year-old girl in Temperance, Michigan, was detained for a text message threatening a shooting at Whiteford Agricultural Schools. Just two weeks earlier, a tip to the FBI in Austin, Texas led to the arrest of a 17-year-old girl plotting to attack her former elementary school. In March, an 18-year-old woman was arrested in Knoxville, Tennessee after threatening a school shooting.
However, if we only punish threats without meaningful intervention, we risk deepening the grievances that spark violence in the first place. Addressing the broader culture of despair fueling these attacks is crucial. Social isolation, bullying, and untreated mental health issues aren’t just typical teenage struggles—they can be precursors to violence when individuals see no alternative.
School shootings should serve as vivid reminders of existing knowledge and preventable measures rather than the peculiar details of each case. While we can’t undo the trauma these events inflict, we can heed and act upon the lessons they offer. The warning signs are often evident. The methods of prevention are available. Each unprevented school shooting underscores a tragedy we had the power to avert.
James Densley teaches at Metropolitan State University and is a co-founder of the Violence Prevention Project Research Center at Hamline University. Jillian Peterson is a fellow co-founder and a professor at Hamline University. David Riedman, a professor at Idaho State University, is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
