NTAC research and case examples

Since the creation of the U.S. Secret Service in 1865, the agency has evolved to meet changing mission demands and growing threats in our nation.

To ensure we remain on the forefront, the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) was created in 1998 to provide guidance and training on threat assessment both within the U.S. Secret Service and to others with criminal justice and public safety responsibilities.

Today, the highly skilled men and women of the U. S. Secret Service lead the field of threat assessment by conducting research on acts of targeted violence and providing training using the agency’s established threat assessment model for prevention.

Our agency is dedicated to expanding research and understanding of targeted violence, including those that impact our nation’s schools.

Since the creation of the U.S. Secret Service’s NTAC, we have provided 450 in-depth trainings on the prevention of targeted school violence to over 93,000 attendees including school administrators, teachers, counselors, mental health professionals, school resource officers, and other public safety partners.

The tragic events of the February 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and the May 18, 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, demonstrated the ongoing need to provide leadership in preventing future school attacks.

The content in this guide is based on information developed by the U.S. Secret Service, Protective Intelligence and Assessment Division, National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC).

Over the last 20 years, NTAC has conducted research, training, and consultation on threat assessment and the prevention of various forms of targeted violence.

Following the tragedy at Columbine High School in April 1999, the Secret Service partnered with the Department of Education on a study that examined 37 incidents of targeted violence that occurred at elementary and secondary schools (i.e., K-12).

The goal of that study, the Safe School Initiative (SSI), was to gather and analyze accurate and useful information about the thinking and behavior of students who commit these types of acts.

The findings of the SSI, and an accompanying guide, served as the impetus for establishing threat assessment programs in schools.

In 2008, the agencies collaborated again and released a report that further explored one of the key SSI findings, namely, that prior to most attacks, though other students had information about the attackers’ plans, most did not report their concerns to an adult.

The findings of this report, known as the Bystander Study, highlighted the importance of creating safe school climates to increase the likelihood that students will speak up in order to prevent an attack.

All publications related to studies conducted by the U.S. Secret Service, National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) are available from https://www.secretservice.gov/protection/ntac/.

U.S. Secret Service research identified the following themes to explore when conducting a threat assessment investigation: • The student’s motives and goals • Concerning, unusual, or threatening communications • Inappropriate interest in weapons, school shooters, mass attacks, or other types of violence

Access to weapons • Stressful events, such as setbacks, challenges, or losses • Impact of emotional and developmental issues • Evidence of desperation, hopelessness, or suicidal thoughts and gestures • Whether the student views violence as an option to solve problems • Whether others are concerned about the student’s statements or behaviors • Capacity to carry out an attack • Evidence of planning for an attack • Consistency between the student’s statements and actions • Protective factors such as positive or prosocial influences and events

On February 12, 2016, a 15-year-old female student fatally shot her girlfriend while they were sitting under a covered patio at their high school and then fatally shot herself.

In several notes found after the incident, the student explained that she carried out her attack because her girlfriend had recently confessed that she was contemplating ending their relationship.

She also wrote in her notes that she hated who she was and that learning her girlfriend wanted to end their relationship “destabilized” her.

fire on five of his closest friends as they were having lunch in the school cafeteria, killing four of them, and then fatally shot himself.

In the months prior to his attack, the student sent a number of text messages to his ex-girlfriend indicating he was considering suicide and posted videos on Snapchat that mentioned suicide.

Two people confronted the student about his concerning statements, but he told them he was just joking or having a bad moment.

The student also posted a number of Twitter messages indicating he was having trouble overcoming a setback, posting in one Tweet, “It breaks me… It actually does… I know it seems like I’m sweating it off… But I’m not..

Earlier NTAC research that examined attacks on schools found that not every student directly threatened their target prior to attack, but in a majority of incidents (81%), another person was aware of what the student was thinking or planning.

The Team should also remember that firearms are not the only weapons to be concerned about. Even though many school attackers have used firearms in carrying out their attacks, explosives, incendiary devices, bladed weapons, or combinations of these weapons have been used in past attacks.

On October 21, 2013, a 12-year-old male student took a handgun to his middle school and opened fire, injuring two classmates and killing a teacher. He then fatally shot himself.

In the months leading up to his attack, the student conducted numerous internet searches for violent material and content, including “Top 10 evil children,” “Super Columbine Massacre Role Playing Game,” ”shoot,” “guns,” “bullets,” “revenge,” “murder,” “school shootings,” and “violent game.” He also searched for music videos of and songs about school shootings. On his cell phone, the student had saved photos of violent war scenes and images of the Columbine High School shooters.

He also enjoyed playing video games, doing so for several hours each night. Of his 69 video games, 47 were first-person shooter or similar games.

On April 29, 2014, a 17-year-old male student was arrested after a concerned citizen called police when she observed the student acting suspiciously around a storage unit and thought he might be attempting to break into one. Responding officers discovered bomb-making material and other weapons inside the unit the student had asked a friend’s mother to rent for him.

The student later confessed to an extensive plot that involved murdering his parents and sister, setting a diversionary fire, planting explosive devices at his high school, targeting students and the school resource officer for harm, and engaging in gunfire with responding police officers before committing suicide.

The student admitted that at some point he became fascinated with chemicals, explosives, and weapons and began researching how to build his own explosive devices. He created his own channel on YouTube to post videos that showed him detonating his devices and included a written commentary about each video.

On November 12, 2008, a 15-year-old female student fatally shot a classmate while students were changing classes. The attacker fled to a restaurant across the street from her high school and phoned 9-1-1 to turn herself in to police.

Prior to her attack, she faced a number of stressors in her life, mostly outside of school. As an infant, her college-aged parents abandoned her and she was raised largely by her grandparents.

At the age of six years, she was sexually molested by a family member; and at age 12, she was raped by an uncle. She did have some contact with her birth parents, but her mother was reportedly abusive and suffered from severe mental illness; and her father began serving a 25-year prison sentence for murder around the time she was 14 years old.

At her high school, she was lonely, appeared to struggle to connect with others, and had behavior problems.

On January 18, 1993, a 17-year-old male student fatally shot his English teacher and a school custodian at his high school and held classmates hostage before surrendering to police.

The student had recently turned in a poem to his English teacher for an assignment that discussed his thoughts of committing homicide or suicide.

The student had failed in at least three prior suicide attempts, including one the night before his attack.

Although the student entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill at trial, ultimately he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

On February 1, 1997, a 16-year-old male student used a shotgun to fire on fellow students in the common area of his high school prior to the start of the school day. He killed one student and the principal and injured two additional students.

Prior to his attack, the student had been bullied and teased by several classmates, including the student killed.

On March 25, 2011, a 15-year-old male student fired two shots at a classmate, wounding him in the abdomen. After firing the weapon, the student fled the scene and dropped the gun in a field. He was arrested about an hour after the incident.

The student had a history of being involved in numerous physical altercations with other students throughout his 6th, 7th, and 8th grade school years. Additionally, he tried to start a fight with the targeted victim, and once threatened him with a chain.

About three weeks prior to the attack, the student threatened to blow up the school. Days prior to the incident, the student, who was angry at the targeted victim, told a friend that he planned to kill him. engaged in behaviors

On December 7, 2017, a 21-year-old male shot and killed two students at his former high school before fatally shooting himself. Prior to his attack, a number of individuals had expressed concern regarding his behaviors and statements.

Sometime in 2012, other users of an online forum were concerned after the student made threats about attacking his school. In March 2016, federal investigators met with the student after he made comments in an online chat room about wanting to find an inexpensive assault rifle he could use for a mass shooting. At the time, a family member told the investigators that the student was troubled and liked to make outlandish statements.

At some point prior to his attack, the student posted content supportive of the attacks at Columbine High School in an online forum, upsetting many of the forum’s users.

On January 14, 2014, a 12-year-old male student used a shotgun with a sawed-off stock to fire three rounds of birdshot at fellow students gathered in their middle school gymnasium prior to the start of the school day. He injured two students and a security guard before surrendering to a teacher.

The student began talking about his attack plans as early as November 2013, saying that he wanted to fire a weapon in the air to make people take him seriously.

According to reports, his father owned a pistol and a shotgun. In January 2014, the student wrote in his diary that he wanted to use his father’s pistol for his attack, but was unable to locate it so he used the shotgun instead.

The morning of the attack, the student was driven to school by a family member so he hid his shotgun in a duffel bag, claiming it contained items for his gym class. impulsive

On December 13, 2013, an 18-year-old male student entered his high school with a shotgun, a large knife, bandoliers with ammunition, and a number of homemade Molotov cocktails. He opened fire on two female students, fatally shooting one. He then entered the school library and opened fire on a faculty member there, who was able to escape through a back door. The student then set fire to a shelf of books in the library with one of his Molotov cocktails before fatally shooting himself.

The student spent three months planning his attack, starting a diary on his computer in September 2013 to detail his plans. There he wrote that he wanted to choose a day during final exams so that the largest number of students would be present.

Over the next few months, he planned how and where he would enter the school, including where he would initiate the attack, and purchased the firearm and ammunition he would use. On the morning of the incident, the student purchased a four-pack of glass soda bottles and used these to create the Molotov cocktails he deployed during the attack.

On June 10, 2014, a 15-year-old male student brought a rifle, handgun, nine magazines with ammunition, and a knife into the boy’s locker room at his high school. He had taken the weapons from his brother’s locked gun case in his home.

Once at school, he changed into all black clothing, and donned a helmet, face mask, and a non-ballistic vest. He then fatally shot one student and wounded a teacher. After being confronted by staff and law enforcement, the student fatally shot himself in a bathroom.

Prior to his attack, the student was an ordained deacon at his church and was appointed president of the deacon’s quorum. He participated in youth night at the church, Boy Scouts, youth basketball, and track. Friends described him as friendly and outgoing. He was also a member of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) and was fascinated with guns and the military.

Despite his outward appearance, some time prior to his attack, he wrote in a journal about his plans to kill his classmates and spoke harshly about “sinners,” which included people who smoked cigarettes and took the Lord’s name in vain.

Removing a student from school does not eliminate the risk to the school community. Several school attacks have been carried out by former students who had been removed from the school or aged out of their former school.

In one recent case, a school principal described a situation when a student was suspended from his high school for drug possession. Soon after, a fellow student discovered a concerning video he posted online and notified school personnel.

A school administrator met with the student and his father. While the administrator had no immediate safety concerns about the student, he was aware that the student was experiencing a number of stressors.

The student’s parents were divorced and he was living with his father, who was diagnosed with a terminal illness and was receiving frequent medical treatments. His mother was dealing with a mental illness, was a source of embarrassment to him, and was unlikely to be able to serve as his guardian after his father’s passing. He was also recently removed from the wrestling team, and due to his suspension, banned from attending the matches. While suspended, the student was required to attend tutoring sessions in lieu of school, but was unable to make his sessions because he was transporting his father to medical appointments.

Following an averted attack at a high school, the school principal sent a note home to students and parents about the incident. He used the note to explain what had been reported, the steps the school had taken to avert the attack, and praise for the students who had alerted school officials about concerning and threatening statements they saw online.

In the note, he also asked parents to encourage their students to speak up if they ever felt concerned about a classmate’s behavior, explaining that students’ “cooperation [with school officials] is important for everybody’s safety.”