LAKE COUNTY— As part of their 2022-2023 Final Report, the Lake County Civil Grand Jury conducted a review of school shootings noting the causes, effects, and increases while offering several recommendations for local law enforcement and school districts to adapt in order to create safer schools.
According to the CGJ, “School shootings alone have skyrocketed, reaching a record 302 incidents in 2022, according to the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s school shooting database.” The review shares that in 2022 198 people lost their lives to gun violence in schools, and thus far in 2023 there have been 114 incidences resulting in 112 injuries. This is an extremely large increase from the prior year (2021) where there were 93 school shootings. The CGJ noted that there has been an increase in school shootings every year since 2017. “There were more school shootings with casualties in 2021 than in any other year since data collection began in the early 2000s, increasing from 11 in 2009 to 93 in 2021.” The review considered data from 1970 to 2023, finding the 1999 Columbine Colorado incident as a catalyst for future school shooters.
Dually increasing is the act of “Swatting” in which an anonymous threat of immediate violence is made to school administration, forcing a full-fledged SWAT Team response from local law enforcement. In March of 2023 Kelseyville School District received a “swatting” call, prompting a full response from emergency responders, with evacuations and school closures. The call was found to be made by an attending student.
Considering the history of school shootings and analyzing the current academic environment led the CGJ to connect these acts of violence to a common underlying cause – bullying. The review shared part of a 2004 study by the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education that found “nearly three-quarters of school shooters had been bullied or harassed at school.” In middle school and high school today, more often than not, students have direct access to social media, whether it be via phone, tablet, or computer. This has opened up an entire world of bullying that doesn’t stop on school grounds called cyberbullying. Photos, messages, and name-calling now follow students home, into what should be their safe space, allowing them no time away from stressful harassment leading to depression, anxiety and low self esteem.
Social / emotional development has become a focus for schools as students struggle with mental health. The CGJ noted that the second cause of death in children aged 10 to 14 years old is suicide, and 75 percent of school shooters displayed mental health symptoms. In response, and also in the hope of changing these statistics, Google developed a software product called Gaggle used to monitor on-line communication by students using school-provided electronic devices and is utilized by more than 1,500 school districts in the US – including in Lake County. Gaggle shares data and even interferes at any time of day or night if a student’s online communications indicate feelings of self-harm, suicide, or harm to others. Over the 2021-2022 school year, Gaggle saw an increase in violence towards others, self-harm, and harassment, conducting over 6500 tele-therapy sessions to help kids through hard years. The CGJ review noted that “(The) superintendent of the Upper Lake Unified School District recently related that he twice had been notified during the night of a potentially suicidal student and that he was able to contact law enforcement officers who then went to the students’ homes to alert the parents.”
The second highest factor found in these shootings was access to firearms. According to the review, “Roughly a third of U.S. homes with children have guns, but less than half of gun owners secure their guns. As of 2022, an estimated $4.6 million children in the U.S. live in a home with unlocked, loaded guns.” The CGJ shared figures from the nonprofit Every Town for Gun Safety that shows how every year more than 300 people are either wounded or killed in unintentional shootings by children. Early in 2023 one 6 year old boy obtained a gun from his home (legally purchased by his mother) and fatally shot his teacher at school. Since 1970 there have been 17 shootings where the student shooter was under the age of 10 years old.
In its summation the CGJ exposed the vicious cycle this country is stuck in stating, “Mass shootings have become a feature of American life, and the Grand Jury knows very well what follows each one: The shock, the horror, the demonization of the guilty, the prayers for the innocent, the calls for action, the finger-pointing, the paralysis, and, finally, the forgetting.” They made several recommendations including “That school officials set a goal of meeting with each student’s parent or guardian at least once during the year to discuss recognizing changes in students’ behavior.” They also urge parents to lock up their firearms, for communities to find the funding to reduce entrances into schools and install metal detectors, for law enforcement to train School Resource Officers to better understand adolescent development and non violent communication, and also that school district officials and law enforcement officers include athletic events in their active shooter response plans. The local school districts and police departments have 90 days to respond while the Lake County Sheriff has 60.
For more information on the Civil Grand Jury Final Report please visit the county website at lakecountyca.gov.
