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The story
Since 2009, at least 177 of America’s schools experienced a shooting. These tragedies are as diverse as our nation, but the depth of trauma is hard to convey. There is no standard definition for what qualifies as a school shooting in the US. Nor is there a universally accepted database. So CNN built our own. We examined 10 years of shootings on K-12 campuses and found two sobering truths: School shootings are increasing, and no type of community is spared.
If your school experienced a shooting that isn’t listed here, contact us using the form here at the foot of the story.
Methodology
CNN reviewed hundreds of reported shootings at K-12 schools from 2009 until 2018. To compile our dataset, we primarily relied on open-source databases, news reports, calls to police departments, information on school websites and 2009-2013 data provided by the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO).
Since there is no single definition for what qualifies as a school shooting, our team set the following parameters: The shooting must involve at least one person being shot (not including the shooter); and the shooting must occur on school property, which includes but is not limited to, buildings, athletic fields, parking lots, stadiums and buses. Our count includes accidental discharge of a firearm as long as the first two parameters are met, except in instances where the sole shooter is law enforcement or a security officer. Our count also includes injuries sustained from BB guns, since the Consumer Product Safety Commission has identified them as potentially lethal.
The race column is an estimate of the largest racial demographic among the student body. That demographic does not necessarily constitute a majority.
Where no value is present, an estimate was not able to be made.
License
This data is licensed under the MIT license.