Category Archives: US school shootings

Police arrested teen for allegedly planning shooting at Berkeley, California, high school

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Authorities received tip that the teenager was recruiting students for mass violence, in one of many recent threats against US schools

A teenage boy was arrested in Berkeley, California, on Monday after police received a tip he was “recruiting other high school students to participate in a mass shooting and/or bombing” at a local high school.

When authorities searched the teen’s home they found explosives, assault rifles, knives and electronic devices that could be used to make more weapons, police said.

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Bipartisan group of US senators push for compromise on gun control legislation – as it happened

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In more midterms news, independent Tiffany Bond of Maine has secured enough verified signatures to qualify for a spot on the ballot this November, according to the Press Herald.

This upends one of the most closely-watched races of the cycle: a rematch between Democratic congressman Jared Golden and former Republican congressman Bruce Poliquin for Maines second congressional district.

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‘More could have been done’: Texas police under scrutiny over response to school shooting

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Gunman remained barricaded inside a classroom for up to an hour before his rampage was brought to an end

Texas law enforcement agencies are facing escalating criticism over their response to the mass shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, after it emerged that the gunman remained locked inside a classroom for up to an hour while large numbers of police officers were amassed outside the room without taking any action.

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Texas authorities confirmed that the shooter had been locked inside a classroom for an hour before he was confronted and killed. He committed all his 21 murders inside that room – including 19 children and two teachers.

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Texas officials deflect questions on ‘missing hour’ when gunman was in school – as it happened

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Chris Murphy, the Democratic Connecticut senator who delivered a powerful “What are we doing?” gun law plea to the chamber in the immediate aftermath of the Texas shooting, will address the media a little later this morning with progress report on bipartisan talks.

Murphy is leading his party’s efforts to get enough Republican senators on board to pass some kind of firearms control measures, and met last night with Susan Collins of Maine and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, as well as a group of fellow Democrats, Politico reports.

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Texas school shooting: gunman was inside for 40 minutes, officials say – updates as they happened

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This blog is now closed. Click here for full coverage of the shooting at the Robb elementary school in Uvalde

As the US begins to reflect on the events of yesterday as it begins to wake up, several politicians have made calls to action or asked pressing questions. Tulsi Gabbard, who ran for the Democratic party presidential nominations in 2020, said:

We grieve for the 21 who were killed in Texas today. But grieving is not enough—we could have, and must now, take commonsense actions to prevent these tragedies, like establishing single points of entry into schools, armed guards, trained staff, mental health services & more.

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Texas school shooting: first student victims identified; Biden calls for action on gun laws after 21 killed – latest updates

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Three children, aged eight and 10, have been named; US president Joe Biden called for ‘common sense’ legislation after school massacre

The second US mass shooting in 10 days, which left 14 young children and a teacher dead at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday, led to an outpouring of disbelief and potent rage at America’s persistent failure to tackle its epidemic of gun violence.

Tuesday’s horrifying attack in Uvalde, a small, largely Hispanic community outside San Antonio, came just 10 days after the events in Buffalo, New York. There 10 grocery shoppers, most of them African American, were gunned down in a supermarket.

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Republican Thomas Massie condemned for Christmas guns photo

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Congressman causes outrage by posting ‘insensitive’ tweet just days after Michigan school shooting

A US congressman has posted a Christmas picture of himself and what appears to be his family, smiling and posing with an assortment of guns, just days after four teenagers were killed in a shooting at a high school in Michigan.

Thomas Massie of Kentucky tweeted: “Merry Christmas! ps. Santa, please bring ammo.”

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Michigan shooting: suspect’s parents held on $1m bond after capture

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James and Jennifer Crumbley, who face manslaughter charges, entered not guilty pleas after being found hiding in a warehouse

The parents of Ethan Crumbley, the Michigan teen charged with killing four students at his high school this week, “could have stopped” the shooting, prosecutors alleged at the parents’ arraignment on Saturday, before the judge set a combined $1m bond.

In a Zoom hearing, James and Jennifer Crumbley entered not guilty pleas to each of four counts of involuntary manslaughter.

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Michigan shooting: suspect’s parents missing after pair charged with manslaughter

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  • Police in Oakland county hunting Jennifer and James Crumbley
  • Son Ethan, 15, charged with murder over deadly school shooting

The parents of a boy who is accused of killing four students at Oxford high school are missing and being searched for by law enforcement after the pair were also charged as part of the investigation into the mass shooting in Michigan.

Jennifer and James Crumbley were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter.

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Prosecutor announces Michigan shooter’s parents to be charged with manslaughter – video

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A prosecutor in Michigan filed involuntary manslaughter charges on Friday against the parents of a boy who is accused of killing four students at Oxford high school. 'Gun ownership is a right but with that right comes great responsibility,' Karen McDonald said at a press conference on Friday morning.

The parents were summoned to the school a few hours before the shooting occurred after a teacher found a drawing of a gun, a person bleeding and the words 'help me', McDonald revealed

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‘Every parent’s worst nightmare’: Michigan school shooting leaves three students dead – video

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A 15-year-old boy killed three fellow pupils and wounded eight others after opening fire with a semi-automatic handgun at a school in Oxford, Michigan. Those killed were a 16-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl. The suspect was believed to have acted alone and was arrested without resistance after firing 15 to 20 shots. The suspect has declined to speak to police. Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, offered condolences at the scene, saying: 'I think this is every parent's worst nightmare.'

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Parkland shooter pleads guilty to 17 counts of murder

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Defense attorneys turn their focus to saving Nikolas Cruz from a death sentence for 2018 shooting massacre at Florida high school

Nikolas Cruz has pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder for the 2018 shooting massacre at a Florida high school, leaving a jury to decide whether he will be executed for one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.

Relatives of the victims who sat in the courtroom and watched the hearing via Zoom shook their heads or broke down in tears as Cruz entered his pleas and later apologized for his crimes.

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Idaho teacher disarmed school shooter and hugged her until help arrived

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Krista Gneiting said she was trying to help one of the students who had been shot when she saw the girl holding the gun

When a student opened fire at an Idaho middle school, teacher Krista Gneiting directed children to safety, rushed to help a wounded victim and then calmly disarmed the sixth-grade shooter, hugging and consoling the girl until police arrived.

Parents credited the math teacher’s display of compassion with saving lives. While two students and the school custodian were shot in the incident on 6 May, all three survived, and the gunfire was over within minutes.

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Police kill student who fired at them at Tennessee high school, authorities say

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Officer wounded after confrontation in Knoxville high school bathroom

A student at a Tennessee high school has been shot and killed by police after opening fire on officers responding to reports of a gunman on campus, authorities said on Monday.

David B Rausch, the director of the Tennessee bureau of investigation, said at a news conference that police found the student in a bathroom at Austin-East magnet high school in Knoxville, a city about 180 miles (290km) east of Nashville. They ordered him out, but he wouldn’t comply, and that is when he reportedly opened fire, Rausch said. Police fired back.

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US supreme court denies Alex Jones’s appeal in Sandy Hook shooting case

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Conspiracy theorist was fighting Connecticut court sanction in defamation lawsuit brought by relatives of victims of the shooting

The US supreme court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by the Infowars host, Trump ally and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who was fighting a Connecticut court sanction in a defamation lawsuit brought by relatives of some victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting.

Related: Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ordered to pay $100,000 in Sandy Hook case

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Gun reform laws eluded Biden in 2013. Could this showdown with the NRA be different?

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The Sandy Hook shooting failed to convince Congress to enact more regulations. In the wake of recent shootings, calls for reform have begun

Within hours of 10 people being gunned down at the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado on Monday – the second such bloody rampage in seven days – the calls had begun for Congress to tighten up America’s notoriously slack firearms laws.

John Hickenlooper, a Democratic US senator from Colorado who was governor of the state at the time of the Aurora cinema shooting that killed 12 people in 2012, opined that “our country has a horrific problem with gun violence. We need federal action. Now.”

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Father of Sandy Hook massacre victim wins defamation lawsuit

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Lenny Pozner, whose six-year-old son was killed in the shooting, sued authors of a book that claimed the shooting never happened

The father of a victim of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre has won a defamation lawsuit against the authors of a book that claimed the shooting never happened; the latest victory for victims’ relatives who have been taking a more aggressive stance against conspiracy theorists.

The book, Nobody Died at Sandy Hook, has also been pulled from shelves to settle claims against its publisher filed by Lenny Pozner, whose six-year-old son, Noah, was killed in the shooting.

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Sandy Hook: Connecticut rules gunmaker can be sued over shooting

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High court justices issued 4-3 ruling over how Remington marketed the Bushmaster military-style rifle used in the shooting

The Connecticut supreme court has dealt a blow to gun manufacturers by ruling that victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting could go to trial against Remington Arms, on the grounds that the gun company irresponsibly marketed the gun used in the shooting to high-risk individuals.

“The families are grateful that our state’s supreme court has rejected the gun industry’s bid for complete immunity, not only from the consequences of their reckless conduct but also from the truth-seeking discovery process,” Josh Koskoff, one of the lawyers representing the Sandy Hook families, said.

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Parkland one year on: what victories have gun control advocates seen?

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From the March for Our Lives to a background check bill, activists have seen success in preventative measures since the shooting

A year after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school on 14 February 2018 sparked a national youth protest movement, gun violence remains an American crisis.

Nearly 1,200 American children and teenagers have been killed with guns in the past 12 months, a number that does not take into account an additional 900 to 1,000 youth gun suicides.

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Parkland commission recommends teachers be allowed to carry guns

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Commission unanimously approved 446-page report containing the proposed policy and other changes to ‘harden’ schools

The commission investigating the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida has included a recommendation in its preliminary report that classroom teachers who volunteer and undergo training should be allowed to carry guns in school.

Related: Parkland parents channel their grief at children's deaths into advocacy

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