Violence In Our Schools

September 5, 1595 through July 31, 1980

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To report a threat of school violence before the instigator has a chance to act on his/her intentions, please contact Speak Up at 1-866-SPEAKUP (that is 1-866-773-2587)

I would like to thank all of the Survivors and others who have contacted me with information about school violence.  I really do appreciate the help, for without their help, several of these occurrences would not be here.

One other thing I would like to ask of those who read over this list of tragedies is this: If you can provide me with any more details of any of these incidents, I would greatly appreciate the information. Or, if you know of another violent act at a school that is not on this list, please forward that information to me as well.  The link to my e-mail is above.

School violence and students with guns are not exclusive to the late 20th century American educational system.  In 16th century Scotland, students regularly carried guns to school and staged rebellions against school authorities.  Hercules Rollock was a new teacher at RHS, but was unable to maintain order in the classroom.  The students, all children of politicians and wealthy businessmen, missed a large amount of study time and the school board threatened to cut the week-long autumn holiday completely.  The students were outraged at this.  The students gathered food and weapons, and then locked themselves in the school to stage their rebellion.  Town and school officials called on Bailie John Macmorran, a magistrate of the town and the town's richest merchant, to come to the school to help resolve the situation.  When John Macmorran arrived, he advised on breaking down the door to the school and take command from inside.  Several men, including John, obtained a battering ram and charged the front doors.  As they approached, one of the students yelled out that he would shoot the bailie if they continued their plan.  John ignored the student's warning and charged ahead with the battering ram.  William Sinclair, the student who had previously yelled the warning, fire two shots from his pistol, both of which entered John's head and killed him.  The news story doesn't say if this was the end of the rebellion or not, for it jumps right to the punishment phase.  Seven boys were imprisoned for this rebellion.  However, since they were sons of Edinburgh's elite, their stay in prison was short.  Their real punishment was expulsion from Royal High School.  Just five years later, William Sinclair obtained a remission under the Great Seal for the killing of Bailie John Macmorran.  William was the grandson of the Earl of Caithness and later became a knight, Sir William Sinclair of Mey.  He was knighted by King James VI.  Royal High School was originally built in 1578 and is now (summer 2005) in it's fourth building at Baron in the west of Edinburgh.  Between August 15 and 19, 2005, the Citadel Arts Group at Riddle's Court staged this event as a play at what was the home of Bailie John Macmorran.

Webmaster's note:  With the re-designing of my web site, I am now counting this entry. Previously this entry was not counted, even though it did happen on school grounds.  School violence has been around for a very, very, very long time.

Source: The Scotsman - Infamous Shooting by Pupil to be Relived in Victim's Home; An alumni of the Royal High School of Edinburgh

This is another early act of school violence to show you, my visitor, just how long school violence has been around.  Today, teacher Enoch Brown was teaching a dozen young students in a log school house, that was located in Franklin County, near present-day Greencastle, Pennsylvania.  During the class, four Delaware (Lenape) American Indian warriors entered the school.  Enoch pleaded with the warriors to spare the children.  The Lenape Indians silenced Enoch with a shot and then scalped him.  The warriors then turned on the children with their tomahawks.  The warriors scalped all twelve students and killed ten of them.  Only two survived this early American act of school violence.  In historical records this act of school violence has become known as the Enoch Brown School Massacre.

Webmaster's note:  With the re-designing of my web site, I am now counting this entry. Previously this entry was not counted, even though it did happen on school grounds.  This entry is here to show you, my visitors, that American school violence didn't start with Andrew Kehoe.

Source: Post by "johnynemo" at http://p216.ezboard.com/frigorousintuitionfrm10.showMessageRange?topicID=6362.topic&start=21&stop=34    

During today's recess, 70-year-old James Foster fires a shot gun at a group of male students on the school's playground.  Several of the boys sustain minor injury from the pellets.  The brief article doesn't say exactly how many boys were injured, so for statistical purposes, I'm going to say that 5 were injured.

Source: Reference.com - List of School-Related Attacks

Bath Links  Andrew Kehoe  The Bath School Disaster

Source: Pottawatomie Online - Bethel School's History Attracting Lots of Attention

College student Wesley Crow failed his English course this semester.  He wanted his professor, C. Wesley Phy, to change the grade instead of suffering the consequences of failing English.  He went to Professor Phy's office and demanded the grade change.  When Professor Phy refused to change the grade, Wesley pulled out a gun and killed his English professor.  Wesley then committed suicide.

Source: Reference.com - List of School-Related Acts

For an undisclosed reason, college freshman James Heer, grabbed .45 caliber handgun from the dorm room of a Delta Tau Delta fraternity brother.  James then used the handgun to kill Jack McKeown, 21, of Norwood, Ohio, a senior at the university.

Source: Reference.com - List of School-Related Acts

The Phi Delta Theta house held a carnival at their fraternity house Friday night, presumably to celebrate the end of the school year.  As any frat party goes, the beverage of choice was beer, and lots of it.  Putnam Davis Jr., William Joyner and Allen Long were still drinking beer on Saturday morning, around 7 a.m., when Putnam pulled out a gun and started shooting at his roommates.  Putnam had obtained the gun from the car of a former roommate.  The entry goes on to say that "during the exchange of gunfire in the dorm room," Putnam is killed while William and Allen are wounded.  What is not clear in the entry is who Putnam was exchanging gunfire with; did William or Allen have a gun in the room as well, did another fraternity brother have a gun and respond to Putnam's shootings, or did the police show up and have to kill Putnam?  None of those questions are answered in the entry.  For statistical purposes, I'm putting Putnam as the instigator of this school shooting, since he shot first.

Source: Reference.com - List of School-Related Acts

Five years ago Bob Bechtel's mother requested that her son be hospitalized for psychotic episodes.  After being released from the hospital, Bob, then 22, enrolled at Swarthmore College.  While at Swarthmore, he lived in Wharton Hall and his classmates taunted, bullied, hazed and degraded him.  Today he had finally had enough.  He drove to his home in Pottstown, ate a piece of his mother's coconut cake, picked up his .22-caliber rifle and returned to the college. It was in the evening by the time he returned and he began firing upon his classmates.  The first bullet struck Francis Holmes Strozier in the head and killed him.  Bob fired a few more rounds, realized what he had done and then dropped the rifle to the ground.  At his trial two factors swayed the judge to find him not guilty by reason of insanity: the previous hospitalization and a letter from Francis's mother expressing sympathy and forgiveness. He was sent to Farview State Hospital in Waymart.  Four years and eight months later, Bob was released.  He enrolled in Susquehanna University and pursued a psychology degree.  He got his doctorate at the University of Kansas and began teaching.  He is currently a professor of environmental psychology at the University of Arizona.  When his daughter Carrah turned 19 he told her, his colleagues and his students, what he had done at Swarthmore.  Macky Alston, a filmmaker, produced a documentary, The Killer Within, based on Bob's actions.  However, Bob and school officials at Swarthmore say the documentary doesn't portray Bob or Francis properly.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer - '55 School Killer: A Life Taken, Lived (published April 13, 2007)

Source: A visitor to this site, two Survivors, and the daughter of another Survivor of this shooting.

Built in 1910 and remodeled with additions throughout the years, the two story brick exterior building surrounded an interior of combustibles: stairs, walls, floors, doors and roof all made of wood.  The building had one fire escape, near one end of the north wing.  However, to use this escape, students would have to traverse the smoke-filled main corridor.  The school did have two fire alarm switches, but both of those were located in the south wing and neither of them were connected to the fire department.  The north wing did have four fire extinguishers, however they mounted 7-feet off the floor.  The interior ceilings were 12-feet high, so that if someone were to jump from the second story window, they would fall 25-feet before landing on the ground.  A few weeks earlier, Our Lady of the Angels passed a fire department safety inspection.  The school, even with all the flaws, was grandfathered into the 1949 standards, which stated current schools did not have to retrofit their buildings to be as safe as new school buildings.  This cold December afternoon between 2:00 and 2:20 p.m., a 10-year-old boy started a fire in a cardboard trash barrel in the basement at the foot of the northeast stairwell.  The fire burned half an hour, filling the stairwell with smoke and gas.  The intense heat shattered a window supplying the fire with more oxygen.  The stairwell was consumed and the smoke and gas rose up the stairwell like a chimney.  There was a heavy wooden door at the first floor landing, which prevented the fire from entering the first floor.  However, there was no such door on the second floor, just an open walkway.  A janitor discovered the fire around 2:40 p.m. and the first call was placed to the fire department at 2:41 p.m.  The fire consumed the stairway as smoke and gas drifted about the second floor.  Also in the wooden stairway was a pipe chase that ran from the basement to the cockloft above the second floor false ceiling.  This pipe chase gave the superheated gas a direct route to the attic.  Once in the attic, the gases rose in temperature until they ignited.  By now the fire was burning the second floor hallway and the second floor ceiling, cutting off all escape routes for the 329 students and the 5 teaching nuns, who were just now realizing the danger they were in.  They were left with two possibilities: jump out of the second story windows (and fall 25 feet to the concrete below) or pray that the fire department would reach them in time.  Some of the nuns led their students in prayer until the smoke, heat and flames forced them to the windows.  No firemen had come yet.  Some of the students jumped, others fell and some were even pushed out the windows.  43 fire trucks and over 200 firemen eventually arrived at the school.  However, they were initially directed to the Rectory, which was around the corner.  Once they found the true location of the fire, they lost valuable minutes repositioning their trucks and hoses.  The firemen then had to bust through a small gate to gain entry to a courtyard where they could began rescuing the trapped students.  However, the intense heat became unbearable and the students were panicking by this point.  Those who did jump out of the window did not all survive the landing.  Those students who were too small to reach the window sills were pulled back those who could.  The firemen couldn't save them all and at times helplessly watched as the classroom exploded in flames, killing the trapped students.  In all 87 students and 3 nuns died in the blaze.  Firemen rescued over 160 children.  By Christmas, three more children had died from their injuries.  By August 9, 1959, two more students had died.  In total, 95 students and nuns died as a result of this school fire and over 100 were injured.  The school regularly taught over 1600 students each day.  1200 students were in the path of the fire.  Our ten-year-old arsonist, a fifth-grader, confessed to setting the fire, but then later recanted.  He wasn't afraid to tell the police, but he was very afraid to tell his parents.  The boy did confess to setting other fires in the neighborhood and told police details about this fire that were never made public.  Even though there was strong evidence against the 10-year-old boy, he, nor anyone else, was ever prosecuted.  Officially, the cause of the fire remains unknown.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Source: Our Lady of the Angels School Fire website (www.olafire.com)

Source: Austin American-Statesman: Tots, Adults Killed in School Bombing

Katie McCoy and her boyfriend broke up as the school year began.  The boyfriend threatened Katie and she told her best friend about it.  Her best friend believed the threat to be real and she wasn't going to let her friend get hurt.  She took her father's .22-caliber target pistol to school one day, a few weeks into the fall semester and shot the boy from across the classroom.  The bullet struck the boy in the back of his neck.  She had been practicing quite a bit with the target pistol, or a lucky shot, as the boy collapsed to the floor and later died from the gunshot wound.

Source: A visitor to this site

Source: www.ursula-kuhr-schule.de/Chronik/Attentat/Attentat.html

THE INJURED:

UT Link    The Whitman Shootings

Source: Austin American-Statesman - Student Slays Wife and Mother, Kills 13, Wounds 31 on Campus; Austin American-Statesman - Dead and Wounded; The Whitman Shootings website; attorney for one of the officers who engaged Charles Whitman

David Black was a victim of family abuse, teasing and an over active story book mind.  One of his friends was Mark Lebeck and David always tried to impress Mark with stories.  One day, David tried to impress Mark with a gun to prove he was a tough guy with mafia connections.  David got his father to teach him how to load a .22-caliber pistol on Tuesday.  David even told his classmates he was going to kill them the next day.  (Of course, during that time, that meant a fist fight, not a school shooting.)  This morning, his friends were waiting for David to arrive.  As he approached them, he pulled out the gun from his jacket and pointed it at the group.  The group ran, except Kevin Roth, who stood there like a stone statue.  David fired the pistol and hit Kevin a half-inch from his heart.  The bullet collapsed his lung, went through his liver and stopped just before exiting his back.  At this time, Kevin ran from the scene.  Mark told school administrator Forest Wiley that David had a gun and had shot somebody.  Forest came out to talk to David.  He asked David to give him the gun, and David fired six shots into him.  Forest died from his injuries while Kevin survived, even though doctors said Kevin's wounds were more fatal.

For an in depth news story with Survivor Kevin Roth, please click here.

The city of Orangeburg is home to two colleges, Claflin and South Carolina State, both with the majority of their students being black.  For several years, the entire population of Orangeburg begged and pleaded with Harry Floyd, owner of the town's only bowling alley, the All Star Bowling Lanes, to desegregate his business.  They had on their side the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  Harry refused saying he had the right to operate his business as he saw fit as long as it was within the dictates of the law.  If the blacks wanted into his business, they would have to go through the courts, Harry vowed.  He even had a sign up saying, "For Whites Only." The nearest bowling alley that admitted blacks was over 40 miles away in Columbia and it had an early curfew for females. Monday evening, February 5, 1968, John Stroman, a strong-willed, league-bowler from Savannah now attending the college, and several of his classmates went to the bowling alley, just five blocks from the campus, and saw that Harry had changed his sign to: "Privately Owned."  To John and the students, the sign meant the same thing.  They entered the bowling alley from a back door and about 40 of them got in before Harry was able to lock the door.  He tried to keep John in the rear of the building, but John walked past Harry to the snack bar, where he was refused service.  Harry called the police to have the students arrested for trespassing.  When Orangeburg Police Chief Roger Poston arrived, he saw how volatile the situation could become and ordered the bowling alley closed for the night.  It was closed and the students returned to their dorm rooms, vowing to continue their desegregation efforts.  On Tuesday the Orangeburg City Council sided with Harry, saying he had more right to choose his customers than the students claim of the right to be served.  That night, John led another group of students to the All Star Bowling Lanes where they met up with 20 law enforcement officers, some carrying riot batons, and the doors to the bowling alley locked.  Chief Poston and the chief of the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED, which reports directly to Governor Robert E. McNair) J. P. "Pete" Strom explained to John that Harry had the right to file trespass charges against the students if they refused his request to leave.  John told the 30-plus students of their rights and they were then allowed into the bowling alley.  The students lounged about for 25 minutes before Harry asked them to leave.  John told the co-eds and anybody who didn't want to get arrested to leave the bowling alley.  Half of the students left, the others were arrested.  As the arrested students were being led outside to the patrol cars, one of the students in the crowd cursed an officer.  He was arrested as well.  Other students began to protest this latest arrest and one of them ran back to the campus to recruit more students to come to the bowling alley.  A throng of students left the campus and headed to the bowling alley. The dean of the college, Oscar Butler, also went to the bowling alley and talked to Chiefs Strom and Poston.  The chiefs agreed to release the arrested students into Oscar's care so that they could then persuade the throng of students to return to the campus.  Oscar went to the jail and John agreed to the deal.  Unfortunately, tensions had risen and 50 more law enforcement officers had arrived at the bowling alley by the time they returned.  A fire truck had arrived and the students believed they would be doused with water.  Chief Strom, John, Oscar and others were only able to convince some of the throng to return to the college.  The fire truck was told to leave and as the police provided cover for the truck, the throng of students surged forward toward the doors of the bowling alley.  The students tried to remove the door by it's hinges and even kicked out a small window by the door.  Chief Strom had arrested Arthur Dodson Jr. for vandalism, even though he didn't kick the window in.  By now the remaining students were protesting anew at the arrest of Arthur.  One of the students squirted liquefied tear gas into the eyes of Patrol Sgt. John S. Timmerman, 38. The night climaxed when the police pulled out their riot batons and began to club the out of control throng of students.  The police officers didn't discriminate as they clubbed males and females alike.  The students retreated down the streets and the chiefs had to reign in their officers to keep them on the scene and not chase the students.  As the students walked the five blocks back to their college, they threw rocks, bricks and anything else they could find at the white-owned businesses along the street.  The injured students made their way to the college's infirmary where the on duty nurse called the doctor to have him meet her at Orangeburg Regional Hospital.  Eight students were admitted at the hospital and another eight students spent the night at the infirmary.  The white patrons of Harry's All Star Bowling Lanes bowled all night long without interruption.  Cleveland Sellers (national program secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)), John, Oscar, the student body presidents of both colleges and a few more students met at Professor Roland Haynes's home (faculty advisor to the student NAACP chapter) and planned a peaceful march to the mayor's office the next day.  Later that evening, Governor McNair ordered 250 National Guardsmen to report for standby duty.  On Wednesday, several meetings were held at city hall and at the college.  The only thing that was definitively accomplished in all of these meetings was that Harry agreed to close the bowling alley for the night.  Hundreds of National Guardsmen and highway patrolmen were sent to Orangeburg to maintain order.  That night students threw rocks, bricks, coke bottles and more at white motorists as they drove past the college.  Police eventually setup road blocks and for two more hours the students tried to vent their frustration.  By 2 a.m. the students were back in their dorms and the police began to clean up the debris in the streets.  Today, Thursday, February 8, 1968, more meetings were held but the only real action that was taken was that Harry agreed to close the bowling alley at 5 p.m.  Word spread through the two colleges that the state NAACP field secretary, Reverend I. DeQuincy Newman, would talk to the students at 6 p.m. at Claflin College.  Students gathered there but Reverend Newman never showed up at the meeting, not out of spite, but because he was never informed of the meeting taking place nor his requested presence at the meeting.  The students began to jeer the organizers of the meeting and eventually the dean of Claflin told them they had to leave.  With temperatures dropping fast since the sun went down, Harry Smith and a group of students tried to build a small bonfire at the intersection of College Avenue, Watson Avenue and State Street.  Other students threw bricks and rocks at passing motorists.  Law enforcement officials setup their command post, "Checkpoint Charlie," at the intersection of Russell Street and College Avenue, a block south of the where the bonfire was being built.  They blocked off the road and stayed beyond the barrier.  One police car with two officers did pass the blockade and stopped at bonfire.  While one of the policemen raised a shotgun in the air, the other policeman began to disassemble the bonfire.  He placed the wood on the east sidewalk of Watson Avenue.  Just to the east of Watson is a small embankment and then the college campus.  Just after 8 p.m., Patrol Lieutenant Jesse Alfred Spell (45-years-old, 22 years experience) was called to "Checkpoint Charlie."  From there, he and his 17-man squad positioned themselves at Watson Avenue and Russell Street to prevent the students from marching down Watson toward downtown Orangeburg.  The students never planned to march downtown, but the police believed those gathered for the bonfire would be marching soon.  Just before 9 p.m., the students moved north, to the edge of Claflin College and hurled rocks at the policemen across College Avenue at Livingston's Warehouse.  A few minutes later, gunfire rang out from Claflin College, as a student with a .22-caliber gun shot over the heads of the policemen.  The policemen retreated behind the warehouse and a student threw a Molotov cocktail bomb at the building.  A small fire started, but quickly burned itself out without damaging the building.  At 9:30, a student with a bugle came out of Lowman Hall and played the "Charge!" theme.  The students close to the tri-intersection retreated back to Lowman Hall to see what was going on.  One of the students cried out, "Let's build a bonfire!" So the students went back to the tri-intersection and built a new bonfire, this time the police did not tear it down.  Henry Smith threw a gas-filled bottle onto the wood, but the bottle didn't break.  Another attempt by another student did break, followed quickly by a match and the students now had a bonfire going in the middle of Watson Avenue.  Almost 200 students gathered on the embankment of Watson Avenue and enjoyed the bonfire.  They sang songs, told jokes and watched the fire closely so that it wouldn't burn the overhead electrical wires.  Henry began to tear down street signs and added them to the fire.  Several students tore the shutters and other pieces of wood off of a nearby vacant house for fuel for the bonfire.  National Guardsmen had closed off all roads leading out from the two colleges after the 9:00 shootings.  A crowd of white people, entire families and boys with their dates, pulled up to the west side of the railroad tracks to watch the events unfold.  Law enforcement officials setup at "Checkpoint Charlie" could see the bonfire, and the students attempt to burn the vacant house.  They called for a fire truck to extinguish the bonfire.   The fire truck arrived at "Checkpoint Charlie" at 10:30 p.m.  Patrolmen surrounded the truck and walked up with it to the site of the bonfire.  National Guardsmen were ordered to the strip of land between College Avenue and railroad tracks.  Patrol Lieutenant Spell was told to move his men to the tri-intersection; once there, they placed themselves on the embankment between State Street and the vacant house.  Chief Strom, FBI agent-in-charge Charles H. DeFord and SLED Lieutenant Carl B. Stokes drove their car up to the bonfire.  Cleveland Sellers came out from one of the dormitories and headed toward the bonfire when he heard the fire truck's siren.  Seeing the police and fire truck advance on their position, the students began to retreat back toward Lowman Hall, throwing rocks and bottles at Lieutenant Spell and his men.  Patrolmen David Shealy and Donald Wayne Crosby were in Lieutenant Spell's squad.  They moved toward the vacant house.  David was in front when Donald noticed two large white banister posts flying toward them.  He ducked out of the way, but David was laid flat when one of the posts struck him in the mouth and nose.  Confusion amongst the law enforcement officers ensued when Patrolman Shealy went down.  Many of them of them shouted out that he had been shot as blood poured from his head wound.  Patrolman Shealy was taken from the scene to the hospital.  As more and more law enforcement officials arrived to see what had happened to Patrolman Shealy, the students retreated further from the scene, toward Lowman Hall.  The students didn't know that Patrolman Shealy had been injured.  However, they did see him being removed from the scene and thought it was a student being arrested.  Some of the students began to head back to tri-intersection and the police force along the embankment.  Five minutes have now passed since Patrolman Shealy was injured, the bonfire was out and its smoke now drifted across the campus toward the students.  As the students approached the embankment, they shouted slurs and epitaphs, and a few threw bottles at the police.  The law enforcement officers then opened fire on the students with their shotguns, carbines and pistols.  Lt. Spell, Sgt. Henry Morrell Addy (37-years-old, 20 years experience) and Sgt. Sidney C. Taylor (43-years-old, 20 years experience) fired their shotguns from the students left; Corporal Joseph Howard Lanier (32-years-old, 10 years experience) fired on the students from their right with his shotgun; Corporal Norwood F. Bellamy (50-years-old, 12 years experience), Patrolman First Class John William Brown (31-years-old, 8 years experience), Patrolman First Class Colie Merle Metts (36-years-old, 10 years experience) and Patrolman Allen Jerome Russell (24-years-old, one and a half years experience) fired their shotguns from the embankment along with Patrolman Edward H. Moore (30-years-old, 4 years experience) and his .38-caliber Colt special. The students quickly turned and began running back toward Lowman Hall.  Several of them fell to the ground.  Minutes before the shooting started, Johnny Bookhart had stepped out onto a porch Lowman Hall to see what the commotion was about.  He was shot in the knee.  Henry Smith was very close to the embankment when the shooting started.  He was shot in both sides of his body, his back and his right shoulder.  Just 20 feet away, Savannah Williams was struck in the left shoulder. Charles Hildebrand fell to the ground when he heard another student shout out that he had been hit.  While on the ground, Charles was shot in the back of his leg. He got up, was shot in the hip, fell to the ground, got up again, was shot in the armpit and finally took refuge behind a trashcan.  Samuel Hammond was felled by a shot to his upper back.  Delano Middleton was shot three times in the forearm, his hip, thigh, right side of chest and his heart. Robert Davis had crawled away from the embankment, stood up underneath a street lamp and was shot in the back after taking two steps.  Thompson Braddy was shot in the right elbow and left leg. Cleveland Sellers tried to help Thompson flee the massacre scene before being shot in the arm and then hiding behind a trashcan.  Bobby Burton, roommate to Henry Smith, fell to the ground after he had been shot in the right hand.  While on the ground, two more bullets tore through his body, one in his left arm and the other in his right leg.  Richard McPherson was struck in the back of the head by one bullet.  He hit the ground unconscious, but woke up a few seconds later.  He got up to flee the scene and was shot in the back. Joseph Hampton was just a few feet from Richard when he was shot in both legs.  Just a few feet behind Richard were students Samuel Grate and Harold Riley.  Samuel was injured with bullet wounds to his buttocks and pelvis.  Harold was injured in the right knee and pelvis.  To the right of Samuel was Bobby Eaddy, who was on the ground when he was shot in the back of his right shoulder. Ronald Smith was a few feet away from Bobby when he laid low by gunshot wounds in his right arm and right thigh.  Joseph Lambright was crawling on the ground trying to get away when he was shot in the right shoulder.  Nathaniel Jenkins dropped to the ground when the police opened fire on the students.  As he crawled away, he was shot in the left heel.  However, he didn't know this at the time.  Thomas Kennerly hit the ground when the shooting started.  He was struck in the upper right arm, left hip and left big toe.  Just behind Thomas, Robert Watson was wounded in the foot, thigh and buttocks.  Frankie Thomas, who was behind Robert, had over a dozen of his teeth fall out when buckshot tore through his left cheek.  He was also wounded in the arm and leg.   Behind Frankie was Herman Boller.  He had turned to run from the scene when the shooting started.  He had taken five steps before being shot in the thigh twice.  Herman fell to the ground and about 15 seconds later was struck in his left foot.  Robert Williams and Jordan Simmons were about midway between the embankment and Lowman Hall when they were struck down by the police gunfire.  Robert was crawling away from the massacre when he was shot in the arm.  Jordan was also crawling toward Lowman Hall when a he was injured by buckshot with a neck wound.  Albert Dawson was one of the few students heading toward the embankment.  He was shot in the chest, fell to the ground and began crawling away.  To his right, was Samuel Grant with a left shoulder wound.  Herbert Gadson hit the ground when the shooting began.  He was shot in the left hip as he laid on the ground.  Ernest Carson was near the embankment when he was shot in the side.  He fell to the ground and was shot in the heel, sole, thigh and the back of his right leg.  Harvey Miller was taken down by buckshot to his right leg, chest and abdomen.  Ernest Shuler was wounded in the sole of his right foot and the back of his right arm.  By now, just twenty seconds after the first shot was fired,  the law enforcement officers who weren't shooting were calling for a cease fire.  The shooting stopped and the injured students began to make their way to the college's infirmary a block beyond Lowman Hall.  Samuel Hammond was picked up by the police and driven to the infirmary.  Delano and Henry were dragged from where they fell down on the embankment to the rescue truck that had been called in for Patrolman Shealy.  The two teens were loaded on the truck and taken a mile away to Orangeburg Regional Hospital.  The nurse at the infirmary inspected Samuel Hammond and ordered him taken to the hospital.  Several students who weren't injured loaded up their classmates and took them to the hospital.  On his second trip to the hospital, Nathaniel Jenkins felt pain in his left foot.  He took off his shoe and saw the bullet wound he had gotten earlier in the night.  The doctors went to work on the injured students, although some hospital staff members showed little compassion for them.  John and Willie Carson, older brothers of Ernest Carson, came to the hospital to check on their little brother.  Ernest nodded to the highway patrol at the hospital, indicating they were the ones who shot him and John began to question them.  He was told to quiet down, but he kept repeating, "Why did it have to happen?"  He was arrested minutes later and continued to protest as he was being forced outside the hospital to a patrol car.  Once outside, one of the officers hit him on the head with the butt of his rifle and blood began to flow.   Willie Carson, who was following, took a step toward his brother but he stopped short when the officers drew their guns on him.  Both of the Carson boys were arrested and put into the car.  As they were driven away, John said he wanted to return to the hospital to get his head looked at.  The officers eventually agreed, but first they put Willie into another car that took him to the police station.  Once Willie was out of the first car, it returned to the hospital where John was treated for his head wound.  He was then taken to the police station and locked up.  The Carson brothers were released the next day on $500 bond.  Dr. Roy Campbell finished stitching up Patrolman Shealy before checking on Samuel Hammond and Henry Smith.  Henry's fatal wounds were at his neck, right shoulder and one bullet that entered near his rib cage, put a 4-inch tear in his liver and pierced his vena cava (main vein leading to both legs).  Samuel's fatal wound was 2-inches left of his spine and Dr. Campbell was unable to keep him alive.  He died at 11:30 p.m., not even an hour away from being shot.  Delano was in another emergency room.  He was calling for his mother and she was called in.  She came to the hospital with her other son and they stood by Delano until he died at 1:10 Friday morning.  Sudden hemorrhaging in his neck and shoulder wounds ended Henry's life at 1:45 a.m.  Louise Kelly Cawley was outside Lowman Hall when the police opened fire on the students of South Carolina State College.  She wasn't injured and when the shooting stopped she helped the injured students get to the infirmary.  She made three trips to the hospital and on her way back to the college, she was stopped by Orangeburg policemen.  The officers tried to force her into their car but she resisted, fearing for her life over what had already happened.  The officers pummeled her and sprayed a chemical in her face.  Another female student told the officers they could be in trouble for attacking a pregnant woman.  The officers then took Louise to the hospital where she came in crying and screaming, "I've been beaten." over and over again.  A week later Louise had a miscarriage.  After being treated for his wound, Cleveland Sellers, police called him the chief agitator, was taken from the hospital by Orangeburg County Sheriff Robert Dukes.  He was taken to the courthouse where Sheriff Dukes and Chiefs Strom and Poston agreed on these charges: arson, inciting to riot, assault and battery with intent to kill, destruction of personal property, damaging real property, housebreaking and grand larceny.  Bond was set at $50,000 before he was taken to the state penitentiary in Columbia.  In the morning, National Guardsmen patrolled the city in wide-tracked armored personnel carriers and Harry Floyd still kept the blacks out of his bowling alley.  On Thursday, February 22, 1968, United States Judge J. Robert Martin Jr. ordered Harry to stop his ban against blacks.  The following Monday classes resumed at State College and John Stroman and James P. Davis became the first blacks to bowl a game at the All Star Bowling Lanes.  Charges were filed by the FBI against the nine law enforcement officials who fired on the students, but a federal grand jury declined to indict them.  The troopers claim the students fired first, but no spent shell casings were ever found near the bonfire.  Federal prosecutors attempted a trial and just over a year later, but a jury of 10 whites and two blacks acquitted all nine of the law enforcement officials, saying they acted in self defense.  The trial of Cleveland Sellers began on September 24, 1970 in Orangeburg.  The previous charges had been reduced to three counts of rioting.  His jury, nine whites and three blacks, found him guilty of inciting a riot.  He was sentenced to one year in prison and to pay a $250 fine. South Carolina State College erected three statues to honor those who died and who were injured in this school shooting. A quarter of a century later Cleveland Sellers was pardoned by the governor.  For more information, check out The Orangeburg Massacre by Jack Bass and Jack Nelson.  It provides more details of this school shooting.

THOSE WHO DIED:

THE INJURED:

Source: The Orangeburg Massacre by Jack Bass and Jack Nelson

Principal Martin Mogensen was in his office talking on the telephone early this afternoon (12:30) when a 14-year-old boy walked in with a 20-gauge shotgun and fired upon him.  The bullet struck Martin, 46, in the elbow.  He retreated to his adjacent private office, but the boy followed and fired again.  This time the bullet tore through Martin's back and he collapsed to the floor.  A secretary and a female student witnessed the execution of their principal.  The boy waited in the hallway until the police arrived.  When they showed up, he tossed the shotgun to the floor and kicked it.  Police then arrested our young instigator.  The boy remained in juvenile custody for over three years and was released.  Years later, he died in a traffic accident.

Source: The Capital Times - School Violence a Tie That Binds (published October 4, 2006); Visitor to this web site