“If we have figured out the art of time bombs before hand, we will set hundred of them around houses, roads, bridges, buildings and gas stations, anything that will cause damage and chaos…It’ll be like the LA riots, the Oklahoma bombing, WWII, Vietnam…all mixed together.  Maybe we will even start a little rebellion or revolution to fuck things up as much as we can…If by some weird as shit luck me and V survive and escape we will move to some island somewhere or maybe Mexico, New Zealand or some exotic place where Americans can’t get us.  If there isn’t such a place, then we will hijack a hell of a lot of bombs and crash a plane into NYC with us inside firing away as we go down.  Just something to cause more devastation.”

“This quote was not written by a member of Al Queda or any other terrorist group.  It was written by a junior in Columbine High School-a boy who came from a stable family, got good grades, and wanted to destroy the world.  His name was Eric Harris.”

these are the first two paragraphs of Why Kids Kill by Peter Langman.  this book goes into the minds of school shooters to try to provide insight into why it is school shootings happen and what can be done to prevent them from happening.  Langman has over 20 years worth of experience with treating at-risk youth.  he writes in the preface “I did not want to write this book.  I deliberately resisted the thought that this book needed to be written.  I wanted to believe that the rash of school shootings in the late 1990s was over.  It was naive hope.”

there are 10 “rampage shooters” that are discussed in this book.  he chose them because there was enough information on them to analyze the shooters and their actions.  in a couple of the cases where the shooters committed suicide,  he has pulled some information from their personal writings both private and public.  the shooters discussed and a brief summary are as follows:

“Evan Ramsey, age 16 Bethel, Alaska. Evan was suicidal.  When he told friends that he wanted to kill himself, they encouraged him to kill other people at school.  With their encouragement, he developed a hit list.  On February 19, 1997, Evan went to school and shot a student and the principal.  Both died.  He also wounded two other students.  Evan put a gun under is chin to kill himself but could not bring himself to pull the trigger.  Evan remains in prison.

Michael Carneal, age 14 Paducah, Kentucky. Michael talked about “something big” that was going to happen on the Monday after Thanksgiving.  On December 1, 1997, Michael went to school with five firearms: a pistol, two rifles, and two shotguns.  He killed three girls and wounded five other students.  Michael yelled for someone to kill him but made no attempt to kill himself.  He remains in prison, where he has attempted suicide at least twice.

Andrew Golden, age 11 and Mitchell Johnson, age 13 Jonesboro, Arkansas. On March 24, 1998, the two boys carried out a sniper attack from outside the school as students and teachers exited the building after Andrew pulled a fire alarm.  They killed four girls and a teacher and wounded nine other students and one other teacher.  Andrew and Mitchell were too young to be tried as adults in Arkansas but were convicted as juveniles.  They served their time until they turned 21.  Both have been released and are free men.

Andrew Wurst, age 14 Edinboro, Pennsylvania. On April 24, 1998, Andrew went to a school dinner-dance.  Before leaving, he left a suicide note at home and picked up a pistol.  At the dance, he shot and killed a teacher and wounded another teacher and two students.  Andrew remains in prison.

Kip Kinkel, age 15 Springfield, Oregon. On May 20, 1998, Kip was suspended for having a gun at school.  Later that day he killed his parents.  The next day he went to school and killed 2 students and wounded 25.  Kip had planned to kill himself but was tackled by students before he had the chance.  He yelled for someone to kill him.  Kip will be in prison for the rest of his life.

Eric Harris, age 18 and Dylan Klebold, age 17 Jefferson County, Colorado. On April 20, 1999, Eric and Dylan carried out a complex attack involving a sequence of bombs and shooting that they had planned for over a year.  Because most of the bombs did not detonate, Eric and Dylan were forced to improvise.  They began shooting outside the school, then entered the building and continued shooting.  They killed 12 students and 1 teacher and wounded 23 students.  Eric and Dylan committed suicide in Columbine High School.

Jeffrey Weise, age 16 Red Lake, Minnesota. On March 21, 2005, Jeffrey killed his grandfather, who was a police officer.  He also killed his grandfather’s girlfriend.  Jeffrey then drove his grandfather’s police cruiser to school, where he killed the security guard, a teacher, and five students.  He wounded seven other students, the committed suicide at the school.

Seung Hui Cho, age 23 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia. Early on the morning of April 16, 2007, Seung killed 2 students in a dormitory.  He then mailed a package containing a “multimedia manifesto” to NBC News.  Following this, Seung went to a classroom building where he killed 30 people, including students and professors, and wounded 17 others.  Seung then committed suicide.

by Zita