In our previous article, we quoted a NowThis Politics statement that the Parkland school shooting was the 18th school shooting of 2018 and we’re only in February.
A few readers challenged that number without doing any research.
According to Everytown For Gun Safety, as quoted by myth-buster site Snopes.com, a school shooting is defined as:
“any time a firearm discharges a live round inside a school building or on a school campus or grounds, as documented by the press and, when necessary, confirmed through further inquiries with law enforcement or school officials.”
Since January 3, 2018, there have been 18 confirmed occurrences of firearms used either inside a school or on school grounds. These 18 “school shootings” include drive-by shootings aimed at students inside schools, accidental firing of weapons inside schools, suicides by firearms inside schools or on school grounds, and of course, mass shootings.
Snopes.com listed 17 occurences between January 4, 2018 – February 14, 2018 that fit the description above of a school shooting. They also proved links to local news coverage of each incident. See that HERE.
The one incident left off the list, that would’ve rounded that number to 18, occured January 3rd, 2018 and involved the suicidal death of a military veteran in the parking lot of an elementary school that had been closed down for several months.
The 31 year old military veteran suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. After negotiating with police for hours, the man killed himself in the parking lot of East Olive Elementary School in St. Johns. Because the school had been closed for several months, whether this incident qualifies as a school shooting is debatable.