February 5, 1981 - Luke Woodham
Woodham carried out two separate acts of lethal violence on the same morning in 1997, first at home and then at school, making his case one of the earlier instances of what became a recognized pattern in American school shootings. The Pearl, Mississippi attack predated the more widely covered school shootings later in the decade and drew attention to warning signs that investigators and schools had largely lacked frameworks to address.
From Wikipedia
On October 1, 1997, a mass shooting took place at Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi, United States. Two students were killed and seven others were injured before the perpetrator, 16-year-old 11th grade student Luke Woodham, was apprehended by an armed faculty member. The victims included Woodham's ex-girlfriend and prior to the shooting, he had killed his mother by bludgeoning and stabbing at their home.
Woodham was convicted of murder and attempted murder, for which he was sentenced to three terms of life imprisonment and an additional 140 years respectively. Six other students were arrested as potential co-conspirators, but charges were dropped against five of the students, who were minors, while an 18-year-old group member sentenced to six months of boot camp and five years probation.
Further reading
- Child's Prey
A detailed account of Luke Woodham's 1997 Pearl High School shooting spree, exploring the events of his deadly 11-minute rampage that left two students dead.
View on Amazon → - Inside the Mind of a Teen Killer
Drawing on prison interviews with young offenders, this book investigates the warning signs and motivations behind teen killers like Woodham.
View on Amazon →
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