{"id":16406,"date":"2019-05-10T02:23:32","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T02:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=16406"},"modified":"2019-05-11T04:37:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-11T04:37:34","slug":"colorado-shooting-eerily-recalls-columbine-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/colorado-shooting-eerily-recalls-columbine-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado shooting eerily recalls Columbine massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jillian Peterson<\/a>, Hamline University <\/a><\/em> and James Densley<\/a>, Metropolitan State University <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Columbine. Contagion. Clusters.<\/p>\n

These are the culprits to consider as the nation reels from yet another school shooting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This one took place on May 7 at the STEM School Highlands Ranch \u2013 just a few miles from Columbine High School<\/a>. The high school was the site of a shooting in 1999, which \u2013 at the time \u2013 was the nation\u2019s worst school shooting in history. It also took place just a couple of weeks after the 20-year anniversary of the Columbine shooting.<\/p>\n

One teenager was killed<\/a> and eight others injured after two students allegedly opened fire at the STEM School Highlands Ranch.<\/p>\n

The shooting is eerily reminiscent of the Columbine tragedy. Similarities between the two shootings include the geography and the fact that not one, but two, school insiders are accused of carrying it out \u201cdeep inside the school<\/a>.\u201d Columbine is the one school shooting that all others are measured against, and it has become a script for a new form of violence in schools.<\/p>\n

We make that argument as researchers \u2013 a psychologist<\/a> and a sociologist<\/a> \u2013 who have been studying mass public shootings as part of a grant<\/a> from the U.S. Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

Since the 1999 tragedy at Columbine High School, we identified six mass shootings and 40 active shooter<\/a> incidents at elementary, middle or high schools in the United States. Mass shootings are defined by the FBI<\/a> as an event in which four or more victims died by gunfire.<\/p>\n

In 20 \u2013 or nearly half \u2013 of those 46 school shootings, the perpetrator purposely used Columbine as a model.<\/p>\n

Columbine\u2019s influence continues until this day. On April 17, just three days ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Columbine shooting, authorities closed schools across Colorado<\/a> due to a credible threat of a woman armed with a shotgun and who was \u201cinfatuated with Columbine<\/a>.\u201d The 18-year-old Florida woman was reportedly found dead in Colorado<\/a> later in the day from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.<\/p>\n

The ties that bind to Columbine<\/h2>\n

In our study of school shootings, we only looked at cases where a gun was fired on campus, following the practice of The Washington Post\u2019s<\/a> database on school shootings. Had we included foiled plots<\/a>, the number would be significantly higher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Several school shooters in our study were fascinated with Columbine<\/a> and researched<\/a> the massacre before their own. This includes the Parkland shooter<\/a>, a 14-year-old<\/a> who aspired to be \u201cthe youngest mass murderer<\/a>,\u201d and a 15-year-old<\/a> who shot at his teacher after she refused to praise Marilyn Manson<\/a>, the rock singer who was erroneously blamed<\/a> for inspiring the Columbine killers.<\/p>\n

Prior perpetrators chose the anniversary of Columbine to commit their shootings, including one month<\/a> and two years<\/a> after. A different shooter talked of how he was going to \u201cpull a Columbine<\/a>.\u201d Others discussed Columbine with classmates<\/a>, even joked about it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Sandy Hook Elementary School<\/a> shooter idolized the Columbine killers and curated a Tumblr account paying homage, alongside a graphic collage of Columbine victims. A North Carolina shooter was so obsessed with Columbine<\/a> that he took a vacation<\/a> there with his mother and fantasized about \u201cfinishing off\u201d<\/a> any wounded survivors.<\/p>\n

Multiple shooters, including one 15-year-old in Oregon<\/a> and another in Washington state<\/a>, were inspired by a documentary<\/a> about Columbine that included detailed recreations of what happened. One Wisconsin teenager<\/a> held his classroom hostage after reading a book<\/a> about Columbine.<\/p>\n

Separating myth from reality<\/h2>\n

School shooters are almost always current students<\/a> of their schools. They are students who are in crisis, students who have experienced trauma, and students who are actively suicidal<\/a> prior to the shooting and expect to die in the act.<\/p>\n

Such children have always existed. But for 20 years they\u2019ve had a new script to follow.<\/p>\n

And we, the public, have contributed to the production and direction of this script. Again and again and again. Through our obsession with true crime<\/a> and films, books<\/a>, memes and entire websites devoted to Columbine. By releasing CCTV footage of the shooting to the public. By running our children through regular lockdowns and active shooter drills<\/a> starting in preschool through 12th grade. By sending them to school through secure entrances with clear backpacks<\/a> and bulletproof binders<\/a>. Society and culture have reared a Columbine generation<\/a>, modeling that this is just part of childhood in America.<\/p>\n

Flipping the script<\/h2>\n

Beyond the Columbine effect, research shows that school shootings have a contagious effect<\/a> and tend to take place in clusters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A 2015 study found \u201csignificant evidence of contagion in school shootings<\/a>.\u201d Specifically, it found that a school shooting is \u201ccontagious for an average of 13 days\u201d and incites other school shootings. Although college campus shootings and K-12 school shootings are distinct, it is notable that the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting comes just one week after a shooter opened fire and killed two and wounded four at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte<\/a> on April 30.<\/p>\n

After 20 years, it\u2019s time to rewrite the script<\/a> being rehearsed with young people.<\/p>\n

It starts with no names, no photos and no notoriety<\/a> for mass shooters in media coverage \u2013 which is why we don\u2019t indulge here. At the same time, the fact that both of the suspects in the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting survived, presents an opportunity to better understand the motivations of the shooters in an effort to prevent further tragedies like this occurring. As we have argued in the past, school shooters almost always show warning signs<\/a> well before they open fire.<\/p>\n

The next step is a paradigm shift from homeroom security<\/a> to holistic violence prevention in schools \u2013 mental health, supportive environments, strong relationships and crisis intervention and deescalation. Teachers should feel as comfortable asking a student about suicide as they feel going into lockdown; empowered to spend as much time teaching empathy and resilience as they do now training to run, hide, fight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The victims and survivors of school violence must not be forgotten, but to prevent another two decades of contagion<\/a> and copycats<\/a>, it requires a recognition that it is time to close the curtain<\/a> on the spectacle of Columbine.<\/p>\n

This is an updated version of a story published April 17, 2019<\/a>.<\/em>\"The<\/p>\n

Jillian Peterson<\/a>, Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University <\/a><\/em> and James Densley<\/a>, Professor of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jillian Peterson, Hamline University and James Densley, Metropolitan State University Columbine. Contagion. Clusters. These are the culprits to consider as the nation reels from yet another school shooting. This one took place on May 7 at the STEM School Highlands Ranch \u2013 just a few miles from Columbine High School. The high school was the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":16402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[292],"tags":[6305,6306,372,1737,4052,4093],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16406"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16406"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16412,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16406\/revisions\/16412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}