Doane University experienced a swatting attempt on the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 19, sending the campus into a lockout. Swatting is the deliberate practice of making a false report to police, often concerning mass shootings, hostage situations, or bombings, to summon law enforcement.
On Monday, Aug. 25, the Associated Press reported that six U.S. universities had active shooter threats earlier that day, all of which turned out to be false. A school safety non-profit, the Educators School Safety Network, reported more than 446 false active shooting reports in the 2022-2023 school year.
Little over a week later, a shooter opened fire at a Minneapolis school’s morning mass. Two children, aged 8 and 10, were killed, and 17 people, consisting of 14 kids and three parishioners, were wounded. FBI director Kash Patel said on X that the shooting is being treated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime against Catholics after videos of the alleged shooter showed weapons with phrases such as “kill Donald Trump” and “Where is your God?” written on them.
“We often come to these scenes and say, ‘these unspeakable tragedies,’ or ‘there’s no words for this,’” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said to reporters. “There shouldn’t be words for these types of incidents because they should not happen.” President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, saying he had been fully briefed on the shooting and praising the quick Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) response time. “The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved!” wrote Trump. He also ordered that all U.S. flags be flown at half-staff from Wednesday, Aug. 2, to Sunday, Aug. 31.
Since 1970, 2,331 school shootings have been recorded in the United States, according to World Population Review. Nearly a fifth of the incidents occurred between 2020 and 2022. In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report showing that firearm-related incidents were the leading cause of death for children and adolescents between 2019 to 2021. According to Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, these incidents disproportionately affect minority groups, especially black youth.
