This is an addendum to the FBI’s study of active shooter incidents from 2000 to 2013. 

This report was produced by the New York City Police Department. Besides the recommendations, the document contains a long listing of active shooter incidents, dividing them into several categories based on the location of the attacks: office buildings, open commercial, factories and warehouses, schools, and other.

This report was released in 2021 by the National Threat Assessment Center of the United States Secret Service.

Understanding the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is essential for threat assessment. This document addresses issues relating to FERPA in colleges and universities.

Understanding the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is essential for threat assessment. This document presents key points relating to primary and secondary educational settings. 

This report was published in 2010 as a joint effort from the Secret Service, Department of Education, and FBI.

This report was compiled in the wake of the Umpqua Community College attack.

This report was produced by the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) of the U.S. Department of Justice. It contains eight case studies as a guide to conducting campus threat assessments. 

This was published by Colorado’s Attorney General in 2018. 

This document was originally created by the Colorado School Safety Resource Center in 2009, but has been updated as of 2018.

This report, written by Peter Langman and Frank Straub, presents findings on 51 incidents of school violence that have occurred since the attack at Columbine High School and compares the findings to 51 incidents of averted school violence. Recommendations and lessons learned regarding school safety are also included.

This was published by the U.S. Secret Service in 2018.

This document from 2002 is the result of collaboration between the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education.

This report from the U.S. Department of Justice is not about violence prevention, but it is included here because it presents statistics on firearm violence. Despite the common perception that gun violence is an ever-increasing phenomenon, the report notes that firearm-related homicides decreased 39% from 1993 to 2011. In addition, it states that school-related homicides of youth between the ages of 5 and 18 decreased from an average of 29 per year in the 1990s to an average of 20 in the first decade of this century (a decline of 31%).

This report was produced by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the U.S. Secret Service. It was released in 2023.

This is a report from the U.S. Department of Education that presents data on multiple facets of school safety.

This report was created by the FBI through their Behavioral Analysis Unit—National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime.

This was published by the U.S. Secret Service in 2018.

This report by the U.S. Secret Service contains data on mass attacks, including but not limited to, school shootings.

This report was prepared by the National Threat Assessment Center of the United States Secret Service.

This is a report by the National Threat Assessment Center of the United States Secret Service. 

This report was published by the FBI in 2015. 

This report focuses on physical security and crisis response.

This report was released in 2014 by the Police Executive Research Forum.

This report, written by Jeffrey A. Daniels, presents the findings from the Averted School Violence database created by Police Foundation. The findings are drawn from 51 incidents of averted school violence since the attack at Columbine High School (20 April 1999). Recommendations and lessons learned regarding school safety are also included.

This is a collaboration between the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education. The focus of this 2008 study was investigating students with prior knowledge of impending school attacks.

This report was created by the National Threat Assessment Center of the United States Secret Service. It presents data on school attacks from 2008 through 2017, along with recommendations on threat assessment as a violence prevention strategy. 

This document contains media guidelines for how to appropriately report on mass shootings so as to minimize the likelihood of copycat attacks, to respect the victims and their families, and to address other relevant issues. This project was led by SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education) and included national and international experts from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), the CDC; Columbia University; International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) Media Task Force; JED; NAMI­-NH; SPRC; and multiple media industry experts. It is posted here with permission from SAVE.org.

This document was written by Dewey Cornell, Ph.D., one of the leading experts on school safety and director of the Virginia Youth Violence Project. 

This publication was the result of collaboration among numerous national and governmental organizations. It was published by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, American Institutes for Research.

This is the Massachusetts Task Force Report on School Safety and Security.

This document was created by the United States Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota, along with the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. It covers multiple aspects of school safety, including preventing school shootings, improving school climate, addressing bullying, increasing community engagement, and many other issues.  

This is a report to the Illinois State Board of Education in 2016.

This is the FBI report on school shootings (primary author, Dr. Mary Ellen O'Toole).

This report by the United States Department of Justice was released in 2013.

This analysis was published by the FBI.

This is the FBI’s follow-up report to its previous analysis of active shooter incidents between 2000 and 2013.

This document from 2002 is the result of collaboration between the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education.

This white paper was created by the National Behavioral Intervention Team Association (NaBITA) in 2014. It is included here with permission. 

This is a report by the FBI. Though it is not focused on school shootings, it provides important guidelines on do’s and don’t’s for implementing threat assessment programs that are also relevant to educational environments. Though school shootings most commonly are committed by current or recent students, several perpetrators have been university employees (e.g., Edward Allaway, Valery Fabrikant, and Amy Bishop). Finally, for anyone working in a school setting, school shootings constitute a form of workplace violence.

This document is the official report of the investigation commission of the Finnish Ministry of Justice.

This is the official findings of the review panel from August 2007.

This report, released in November 2009, is a revised version of the original report.

This report was produced by Police Foundation and released in August, 2019.

The subtitle of this document is “A National Police Foundation Interim Review of the Impact of Communication Systems and Processes on the Response to the February 14, 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting.”

This document contains an account of Nicholas Elliott’s purchase of a firearm and his actions during his attack. He is first mentioned on p. 56.

Fabrikant had a long history of conflict with the university and this report investigates his complaints.

This report documents the history of Fabrikant's years at Concordia from 1979 to 1992, highlighting his erratic behavior and warning signs of impending violence.

This report is the summary of the public inquiry conducted in the wake of the attack by Thomas Hamilton. The transcript of the court proceedings is also available on this site. The official report provides details on the life of Thomas Hamilton, as well as discussing issues related to firearm access, school security, and other topics. A published, bound copy of the report is available from Scotland, and a version is also available online as an html document. We created this pdf version from the html version and matched the pagination to that of the published report. Thus, any quotation cited from the published report can be located on the same page in this document. 

This document is the transcript of the public inquiry that was held following Thomas Hamilton's attack. Note: the pagination in this document is not reliable.

This is the final report from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office regarding the attack at Columbine High School. (Note: The report was published as a website. This is a PDF version of the entire site. As of October 2014, the original site no longer seems to be accessible. We have added bookmarks to this document; we recommend downloading it and using the bookmarks pane in your PDF viewer to navigate. Most of the audio and video links are still functional; clicking on a link will download the audio or video media to your computer.)

This is the official report from May 2001 on the attack at Columbine.

This report reviews all the known law enforcement contacts relating to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold prior to their attack. Most of these involved Harris and occurred in 1997 and 1998.

As stated in this document, “This report is an analysis of the fire service and emergency medical service (EMS) operations and the overall response to the assault on Columbine High School at Littleton, Colorado, on April 20, 1999. Incident command, special operations, and mass casualty emergency medical services are featured.” The report was produced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

This is the official report on Steven Kazmierczak, the attack, and the university's response.

This brief review was done in the wake of Sunghee Kwon’s attack in 2015 to evaluate the university’s response and recommend improvements.

In the initial aftermath of the attack at Sandy Hook, it was reported that Adam Lanza had deleted his computer files. Among other details of the investigation, this document provides information regarding Lanza’s electronic files that investigators were able to recover. In addition, there is a summary of “The Big Book of Granny,” a piece of writing created by Lanza and a peer. The story includes a character who states, “I like hurting people … especially children.” Also, in one “episode,” Granny’s son shoots her in the head; in other words, a son shoots his own mother in the head. This is what Lanza ended up doing in real life.

This report presents recommendations on school safety in three domains: Safe School Design and Operation; Law Enforcement, Public Safety, and Emergency Response; and Mental Health/Mental Wellness.

This is the official report by the State’s Attorney, Stephen J. Sedensky, III, documenting the investigation of the attack by Adam Lanza.

This report was released on November 21, 2014. It reviews Lanza’s contacts with medical and mental health professionals and the missed opportunities for intervention.

This report was published by the Secret Service.

This document provides a detailed account of Pierson’s attack, the events leading up to it, and significant excerpts from his diary.

This document is actually several documents on the case, including a chronology of Patrick Purdy's life, his contacts with the mental health system and the legal system, a psychological analysis, his preparation for the attack and details of the attack itself, and his autopsy. This is the best source of information on Purdy that I have found.

This is the official report of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office on the rampage by Elliot Rodger. Though Rodger’s autobiography referred to “concentration camps,” it contained no references to Hitler or the Nazis. This official report documents Rodger’s many online searches related to Hitler, Nazis, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels. It also presents information on Rodger’s childhood, adolescence, education, and mental health treatment.

This is the official report on Matti Saari's attack by the Finnish Ministry of Justice.

On 8 September 1966, this official report was made public.