Active Shooters: Santana HS & Appalachian Law School

Sept. 20, 2016
This article has two sections: One covering the Santana High School shooting and the other covering the Appalachian School of Law shooting. Not unique to these two shooting attacks, mental and emotional stability of the shooter was in question.

In this article, we will be looking at two separate active shooter incidents in which the shooter was not reportedly mentally or emotionally stable. The first event will be the Santana School shooting that took place on March 5, 2001. The shooter in this event was fifteen year old Charles Andrew Williams.

Williams was attending Santana High School in Santee, CA when he was reported as being bullied by other students. Williams began to spend time with a crowd of students who skateboarded but was also reportedly bullied by some of those students as well on occasion. Williams attempted to contact the school counselor in the weeks leading up to the shooting but was turned away because the office was allegedly too busy when he tried during school hours. As the year continued Williams’ friends believed him to have reached the tipping point and began to mention he “didn’t want to live anymore.” This only resulted in more bullying from other students. Williams was reported to believe that the problems would not fix themselves in early 2001. The Friday before the shooting Williams and his classmates reported that his drama teacher had humiliated him in front of the class, which Williams viewed as an “abusive setup.”

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The remainder of this article is part of the book "Active Killers and the Crimes They Perpetrated," available in print or ebook via Amazon.

About the Author

Joshua Borelli

Joshua Borelli has been studying active shooter and mass attack events over the course of the past several years, commensurate with receiving training on response and recovery to natural disasters and civil disturbances. Joshua started to outline this series of articles in an attempt to identify commonalities and logistical needs patterns for response.

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