This chronological list of school shootings in the United States in the 2000s includes school shootings in the United States that occurred at K–12 public and private schools, as well as at colleges and universities, and on school buses. Included in shootings are non-fatal accidental shootings. Excluded from this list are: Incidents that occurred as a result of police actions Murder–suicides by rejected suitors or estranged spouses Suicides or suicide attempts involving only one person. Shootings by school staff, where the only victims are other employees that are covered at workplace killings.
Number of US school shootings by year with casualties YearTotal number of shootingsTotal number dead (including the shooters)Total number wounded (including the shooters)Total mass murders (4 or more deaths, not including the shooters)2000206302001651702002687020035670200421160200511131612006131015120071041351200815173012009104200Total1171111564
2000 incidents.
DateLocationDeathsInjuriesTotalDescription101During a fight between students, the shooter fired two shots that missed his target.000A fight in the Albuquerque High School parking lot resulted in shots being fired.000During a basketball game at Erwin High School, a bullet from a high-powered rifle hit the wall. Four teenagers were arrested for the shooting, and the shooter was also charged with conspiracy and making bomb threats.101At Alicia Reyes Elementary School, an ongoing dispute escalated into gunfire.011During a fight between two students, one student fired a gun at the other student, but missed and hit another uninvolved student.000A gun was fired during a fight, and missed; the shooter also pointed the gun at the principal, and it misfired.011At Duke Ellington Elementary School, a gun accidentally discharged in the bathroom, and the bullet went through the wall and hit a student in a classroom.101Killing of Kayla Rolland: At Buell Elementary School, a 6-year-old boy fatally shot 6-year-old girl classmate Kayla Rolland. To date, the boy is the youngest documented fatal school shooter.011At Hugo High School, a fight between two mothers during a track meet resulted in a shooting that injured a third woman.011At La Cima Middle School, a teacher shot herself and blamed the shooting on a student who did not exist.2Including the suspect or perpetrator02A man killed his estranged wife in a preschool classroom at Carmichael Elementary School, then killed himself.10113-year-old honor student Nathaniel Brazill was sent home for throwing water balloons, but returned to his Lake Worth Middle School with a family pistol. He fatally shot teacher Barry Grunow, who was popular at the school.000A student jumped on a cafeteria table, fired one shot into the ceiling, then ordered students to go to the stage, but they fled. Then the shooter fled.2022000 University of Arkansas shooting: 36-year-old James Easton Kelly, a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at University of Arkansas, killed 67-year-old John R. Locke, the English professor overseeing his coursework. Kelly had been dismissed from this PhD program for lack of progress toward his degree. Kelly shot Locke three times before committing suicide in the director's office, which campus police had isolated.202At Bidwell Porter Elementary School, a cafeteria worker was murdered by her estranged husband, who then went home and killed himself.000A 14-year-old student fired a gun into the ceiling inside a classroom at Mount Healthy North Junior High School. After a 25-minute standoff, the shooter surrendered to a police officer.02213 year-olds Darrel Johnson and Alfred Anderson were initially charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of 15-year-old William Pennington. Pennington, after being shot, gained control of the gun and shot Johnson in the back. Charges were later reduced to aggravated battery. To prevent violence, Carter G. Woodson Middle School had students pass through metal detectors at the time. A 13-year-old student, who had recently been expelled for fighting, slipped the weapon, a .38-caliber revolver, through a chain link fence.022At Minneapolis North High School, two people were shot after a homecoming dance.011A 15-year-old Junipero Serra High School student who showed off a handgun on campus and threatened to shoot a classmate ended up accidentally shooting himself, causing minor injuries.101At Norland Elementary School, two teens shot and killed an armored car guard and stole money.
2001 incidents.
DateLocationDeathsInjuriesTotalDescription011At Balboa High School, one 15-year-old student was shot in the hip when a student showing it off had the gun discharge somehow, wounding the other person while inside a classroom. The victim was hospitalized in fair condition and then subsequently in good condition.033At Osborn High School, two students and a teacher were grazed by gunfire after a student fired a gun in their classroom.21315Santana High School shooting: 15-year-old student Charles Andrew Williams killed two students, 14-year-old Bryan Zuckor and 17-year-old Randy Gordon, at Santana High School. In total, he wounded thirteen others. Williams was arrested and convicted of murder and attempted murder. He was sentenced to life with the chance of parole after serving 50 years.01114-year-old student Elizabeth Catherine Bush wounded fellow student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School. Bush was released in 2004.06618-year-old former student Jason Hoffman opened fire at Granite Hills High School, injuring five people before being shot and wounded by a police officer. He was convicted of assault and sentenced to prison, where he committed suicide in October 2001.10117-year-old Donald Ray Burt Jr. fatally shot Neal Boyd IV with one bullet to the head in a parking lot outside Lew Wallace High School. Burt was sentenced to 57 years in prison.20240-year-old music instructor and organist James D. Holloway was shot multiple times with a .22-caliber handgun at Pacific Lutheran University by a 55-year-old man from Tacoma. The shooter was not a student or employee of the university, and he also killed himself. The victim was apparently chosen at random, as the shooter had a personal dispute with a different staff member who was not on campus that day.
2002 incidents.
DateLocationDeathsInjuriesTotalDescription02217-year-old Vincent Rodriguez wounded two students at Martin Luther King, Jr. High School in Manhattan with a semi-automatic pistol. He retaliated against the people who had harassed his girlfriend. In February 2003, Rodriguez was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of assault and attempted assault.336Appalachian School of Law shooting: Recently dismissed graduate student 42-year-old Peter Odighizuwa killed three people at the Appalachian School of Law: 42-year-old dean Anthony Sutin, 41-year-old professor Thomas Blackwell, and 33-year-old student Angela Dales. Three other students were also wounded. In 2005 Odighizuwa received three life sentences and an additional 28 years without the possibility of parole.10116-year-old Washington High School student, Joseph Johnson Jr., was killed by then 22 years old Phillip D. Jackson Jr., when violence erupted between rival supporters in the parking lot, after a basketball game against Vincent High School.011In the Beltway sniper attacks, one victim of several was 13-year-old Iran Brown, who was wounded as he arrived at Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Maryland. His aunt, a nurse who had just dropped him off, rushed him to a hospital emergency room. Despite serious injuries, Brown survived the attack. The shooters, Lee Boyd Malvo and John Allen Muhammad, were later convicted of numerous unrelated murders committed during their killing spree. Muhammad was executed in 2009, while Malvo was sentenced to life in prison.4042002 University of Arizona shooting: Failing nursing college student and Gulf War veteran, 40-year-old Robert Stewart Flores Jr., killed three assistant professors of nursing at the University of Arizona; this included 50-year-old Robin Rogers, 44-year-old Cheryl McGaffic, and 45-year-old Barbara Monroe. Flores finished by turning the gun on himself.011A 15-year-old student was shot in the abdomen and wounded inside the basement of Lincoln High School during an argument with another student. Another 15-year-old student was arrested and charged with attempted murder.12313-year-old Wind River Middle School student Tony Fiske fired a rifle round into a classroom, wounding two students with broken glass. Fiske was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a forest across from the school the following day.
2003 incidents.
DateLocationDeathsInjuriesTotalDescription011A 10th-grader was shot in the leg near Cardozo High School in Columbia Heights, resulting in a three-hour lockdown at six D.C. public schools to allow for police to search for possible gunmen.134John McDonogh High School shooting. 18-year-old Steven Williams, and 17-year-old James Tate, opened fire with an AK-47 and a handgun in the gymnasium of John McDonogh High School, killing a 15-year-old student and wounding three female students. Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Tate to 15 years.20214-year-old student James Sheets entered Red Lion Area Junior High School armed with his stepfather's pistols. He killed the school's principal, Eugene Segro, before killing himself.1342003 Case Western Reserve University shooting: On May 9, 2003, Biswanath Halder, a 62-year-old business school alumnus of Case Western Reserve University, killed a graduate student, wounded a professor, and wounded another student using a semi-automatic rifle. He held the building and its nearly 100 occupants hostage for seven hours. He exchanged fire with police and SWAT officers several times during the incident before being wounded and apprehended by a SWAT team. He was sentenced to life in prison.2022003 Rocori High School shooting: 15-year-old John Jason McLaughlin shot 15-year-old freshman Seth Bartell and 17-year-old senior Aaron Rollins at Rocori High School. Rollins was killed immediately, and Bartell died from his wounds 16 days later. McLaughlin was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole in 2038.
2004 incidents.