School Shooters: Understanding High School, College, and Adult Perpetrators

This book sheds needed light on the epidemic of school shootings. The author seems to have put together a ton of data and also summarized the patterns effectively for understanding what phenomena create the school killer archetype. Add to your reading list!

Enlightening, frightening.

A very good informative read. I also enjoyed his other books as well. If you are reading more on the subject both Newtown and Columbine offer more.

This is a highly detailed, well researched book on a troubling yet timely subject. It would be difficult to find a more thorough book on the subject of school shooters. Professionals in the fields of law enforcement, education and psychology should seriously consider reading this book.

The text was informative, but something was missing throughout. I was aware of it all the way through, but couldn't put my finger on what the problem wad. Perhaps it was me!

My thoughts were disjointed while reading this, so I was writing things down as I read and then tried to meld them into a cohesive typed review.

The first thing that stuck out at me is that while this was published in 2015, Langman was working on this in 2012 when the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting occurred. It’s the culmination of years worth of research that he has done not only for this book, but for other books on similar insights. All of it is steeped in the fact that Langman is a psychologist who has been working with school shooters (and potential shooters) since the late ‘90s.

It is surprising just how much has changed in only 3 years too.

In this book, Langman presents 48 cases that allowed for enough description based on available information. He did not personally evaluate any of the perpetrators, which is good in the sense that it means there is no bias, but bad for me personally as a reader. I understand he wrote based on information he could find, but there are a lot of details missing from at least half of the cases. How did the people get inside the school? Did they go to a single classroom, a cafeteria, go down the hallway, or something else? Who was shot? I don’t need names (though some might), nor graphic details (it’s bad enough being given some awful journal/diary/blog/whatever entries), but the roles that injured/dead people played within the school. The reader is given this information for some of the shootings, but definitely not all.

I was actually surprised at the lack of information on the shootings themselves. I would have preferred more--not DETAILS on the carnage, but how the perpetrators got in. How many rooms they went to. Where they went; who talked to them? This is more about the issues that many shooters had/have (including trauma), but as a teacher, I would also like details so that I have a more comprehensive understanding of what to look for.
I wonder what a book would be like without including any psycho_____s.

Figures and tables that are within certain chapters include:
- The average age of the victims based on the age of the perpetrator and how many were killed/wounded.
- The suicide rate of the shooters
- The percentage of shooter types
- Information on issues like peer harassment by type and population, and family involvement at the school.

Langman is very specific to note that some figures are estimates do to clashing information. He is also clear that for each issue he brings up, there are plenty of non-school shooters who fit that bill, and to remember that no shooter can be put in the same ‘box’ as others.

He also is carefully adamant about causes vs. contributing factors of shootings. Too, he does not get political, but instead offers suggestions that can appease anyone hoping to prevent more of these disasters.
“This is not about gun control, but about people doing a better job of securing their firearms.” (Chapter 9)

Still...there are some surface similarities among them that helped Langman unravel others, leading him to include a chapter on how to identify warning signs.
Langman explains his reasoning for placing each person in specific categories, providing more details if it seems he or she belongs to multiple categories:
1. Secondary school shooters (a person connected to a K-12 school)
2. College shooters
3. Aberrant adult shooters (with no connection to the school)
…
1. Psychopathic
2. Psychotic
3. Traumatic

Each section presents the shooters in chronological order. I don’t know if it’s because the profiles are fairly short or if it’s because Langman only provides a small amount of detail, but the book ended up being a fairly fast read. The sections include Secondary of each disorder, College Targeted and Random, and Aberrant Adult

~ I was very surprised to see events from 1966-1990, as if my mind just assumed there was nothing during that time. I was even more surprised to see multiple middle school shootings--and that Sandy Hook was not the first elementary/middle school targeted for a school shooting.
~ It seems as if the middle school in Jonesboro, AR in March 1998 set off a chain reaction.
~ It’s utterly depressing that I saw the number killed in Columbine and thought “that’s it?” Goodness, any number is awful. Then I realized 1. The numbers are different for Harris and Klebod are different meaning 2. It’s worse than I initially thought (and thus was able to placate my memory that this was indeed a larger attack).
~ Langman includes shootings from other countries, including Canada, Germany, Finland, Brazil, and Scotland.
~ It’s telling that a psychopath in Germany worked hard to follow procedures to meet the requirements to purchase a gun, despite the stringent laws. Still….we do indeed need something a bit more stringent in the U.S.
~ The traumatized shooters are SAD. Oh my goodness. My heart breaks for them. Not for what they did, but for their home situations.
~ There is a statement from Gang Lu that really shows how the mind of a psychopath (or most shooters, I’m sure) works: “Privately-owned [sic] guns are the only practical way for individuals/minority to protect them against the oppression from the evil organizations/majority who actually control the government and legal system.” (Chapter 5) It’s eerie.
~ I am shocked that I never heard of (other than in snippets, but I didn’t make the connection) the University of Texas shooting in <b>1966</b>.
~ Don’t let Trump see this; a lot of the college shootings were done by immigrants.
~ I freaking love that Finland requires gun buyers to be interviewed before purchasing the gun, and then present it to the police.

* Most shooters were bullies, not bullied themselves. And only one targeted a bully.
* School personnel were targeted most often.
“When people talk about peer influence in school shootings, they generally mean bullying. There has been little focus on the supportive role played by the shooters’ friends. In many cases, however, peers supported the violent intentions of shooters. Without such support, it seems likely that some attacks would not have occurred.” (Chapter 8)

Great

Very thorough review of available data on 48 school shooters. Best review on the topic. Author had to make many assumptions and guesses given the limited access to the shooters. If you are looking to spend you own time reviewing their files, he provides very clear citations to sources. Some of the “perhaps this person was schizophrenic” or “maybe this was a contributing factor” I did not agree with but 8 out of 10 times the author and I agreed. Still the best read on this topic. A good work to read if you are getting into the topic.