Online Extremist Communities and Mass Killings at Schools and Other Educational Institutions. Continued, Part 1.

 

Note: it should be borne in mind that the author lives and works in Russia, so in this article, he considers the situation on the example of his country. Measures to ensure the safety of schools, other educational institutions and places with a mass stay of children that he proposes are developed by him for use in Russia, taking into account the existing law enforcement system and the situation there.

In 2024, while researching cases of mass school shootings, I first came across information indicating that several such crimes had been committed by teenagers who were carrying out a «final task» assigned by the administrators of a closed social media group. This information was indirectly corroborated by statements from the Children’s Rights Ombudsman, the Chair of the «Safe Internet League» - the largest quasi-governmental organization in the field of digital security—as well as a major public organization providing assistance to minors in crisis situations. It was then that the name of this community - «Red Dolphin» - was first mentioned.

The emergence of communities and movements with similar ideologies and tactics was predictable. First, around 2015, a community called «Blue Whale» emerged, which, operating through social media and messaging apps, incited teenagers to commit suicide. In their activities, they employed a step-by-step scheme to lead the victim toward a planned outcome through the sequential completion of individual tasks modeled after a game-like quest. Even within the community itself, completing these tasks was referred to as «The Game,» with the victim’s profile featuring the hashtag #TheGame and similar tags. Each new «player» was assigned a mentor who gave tasks, monitored their completion, and provided psychological support to the victim until the final task—suicide, most often a jump from a height. There is no exact information in open sources regarding the number of victims officially confirmed. The figures cited in journalistic investigations are contradictory; some sources mention dozens of victims, while others cite hundreds. Regarding the organizers, there is information about only one criminal case—involving the organizer of such a social media community—which was investigated, concluded, sent to court, and resulted in a guilty verdict in 2025.  I am unaware of the motives, but the tactics used by «Blue Whale» were based on an individualized approach aimed at causing the death of a single, isolated person through their own actions.

As for «The Red Dolphin,» things were different here; the tactic was similar—based on the victim, who was being manipulated, carrying out the handler’s instructions—but the tasks here were entirely different. The initial tasks involved minor offenses, such as leaving graffiti on walls and doors or placing a sticker on a car or public transportation. Subsequent tasks became more complex and were classified as criminal offenses, including shoplifting, property damage, assaulting peers or younger children, arson, animal cruelty, and so on. The teenagers were not only required to commit these acts but also to document them with photos and videos and send them to the handler. In effect, they were collecting and handing over incriminating evidence against themselves to the «Game’s» handler. If a teenager tried to refuse to proceed and complete the tasks, blackmail, threats of violence from other «players,» and other forms of psychological pressure would begin. The «handlers» goal was the same—to drive the teenager to suicide—but through a different, more dangerous method. The teenager was first required to commit a mass murder and then take their own life.

This represents a new form of mass murder in educational institutions, with the planning and execution remotely controlled by third parties. Similar crimes have occurred before, but they were primarily mass murders committed in public places or targeting specific individuals or organizations. Recruiters for the terrorist organization ISIS often used this tactic of lone-wolf attacks: they would first identify people interested in their ideology on social media and messaging apps, then remotely indoctrinate them, turning them into committed fanatics. After the subject underwent psychological conditioning, they would receive a command from their handler to take a weapon—or an object used as a weapon—and go out onto the streets to kill people. There have been quite a few such cases, but the use of teenagers to attack schools and other children’s institutions has been virtually nonexistent. There have been terrorist attacks on educational institutions, but they followed a different scenario, and in most cases, the perpetrators were people over the age of 18.

However, I would surmise that the use of teenagers in particular—as the segment of society most susceptible to indoctrination and, at the same time, sufficiently aggressive and reckless—has piqued the interest of terrorist organizations and other extremist groups and movements. Their groups and organizations can be used to instigate mass unrest, while lone actors can be used to carry out mass killings in educational institutions. I first expressed these assumptions in March 2023, when I commented on the situation involving the «Ryodan PMC,» and then in October 2024, I published two more articles (Part 1 and Part 2) on this topic with additional arguments regarding the extremist group «Red Dolphin.»

Even then, I expressed the view that these were not isolated incidents and that we were dealing with a new tactic involving mass killings and the infliction of serious harm on the health of children and adolescents in schools and other educational institutions. I also stated there that, given the development of social media, messaging apps, and other forms of communication, this threat would quickly reach the international level. It appears that this is exactly what has happened.

In early June 2026, my colleagues from the U.S. sent me a link to a document—an open letter from the Dallas, Texas, field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to parents, guardians, and teachers. I won’t quote it in full here (those interested can read it for themselves by following the link), but the letter addresses the growing security threat posed by a malicious online network known as «764.» Their members often befriend minors on popular online gaming platforms and social media, gain their trust by posing as friends, and then coerce them into harming themselves or others. They operate worldwide, driven by hatred, sexual gratification, or a desire to sow chaos. Regardless of their motivation, they share a common goal: children and other vulnerable individuals. They exploit the trust they initially gained to manipulate their victims and force them to harm themselves or others. The FBI is currently investigating more than 450 individuals linked to these cruel online networks. The report also provides recommendations on how to monitor teenagers’ behavior and identify direct and indirect signs that a child may have become a victim of such manipulators. It includes links to additional educational resources and contact information for reporting incidents. The bureau reaffirms its commitment to combating this dangerous phenomenon. 

In short, the extremist online community «764» and several other groups associated with it operate primarily within the United States, but have large cells in Greece, the United Kingdom, France, Romania, Brazil, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Spain, and Turkey. Their main activities include sexual blackmail, the distribution of child pornography, and the recruitment of children to commit crimes. The pattern is similar: recruitment, indoctrination, and the commission of crimes under the supervision of handlers—either at the initiative of teenagers who share extremist views or under coercion.

Among the high-profile crimes committed in recent years by supporters of «764,» the following can be cited:

January 2025, Borås, Sweden: A 14-year-old criminal armed with a knife brutally stabbed an elderly woman to death. The attacker recorded the attack on video and personally uploaded the clip online via an account directly linked to and verified by the «764» community in order to report to the moderators;

August 2024, Eskişehir, Turkey: An 18-year-old criminal armed with a knife attacked random passersby near a local mosque; five people were injured. Before the attack, the assailant published his manifesto, to which he attached extremist manuals and Nazi literature actively circulated by «764» supporters;

April 2022, Mediaș, Romania: A 17-year-old assailant armed with a knife attacked an elderly woman, injuring her, and livestreamed the crime online. During the investigation, it was established that the perpetrator carried out this attack as an «initiation rite» to join the «764» group.

Some journalists also attribute to «764» the mass murder in Southport, United Kingdom, in July 2024, when a 17-year-old assailant armed with a knife attacked a children’s dance studio, killing 3 people and injuring 10 others. Despite the suspect’s interest in extremist ideology, his connection to «764» or similar groups has not been definitively established or confirmed.

Among the attacks carried out by «764» adherents on educational institutions, a link has been confirmed to the attack on Antioch High School in Nashville, in the United States in January 2025, when a 17-year-old student opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol, killing one female student and injuring another.  The perpetrator took his own life at the scene. Immediately before the attack, the perpetrator posted an audio recording online in which he openly stated that he was carrying out this mass murder on behalf of a group affiliated with «764.»

On June 26, according to media reports, a 17-year-old teenager was detained in Russia for creating an online community to recruit other teenagers and organize extremist actions, crimes, and terrorist acts in Russia, the United States, Germany, and Italy. According to the detainee’s testimony, in January 2026, one of the group’s members carried out five arson attacks in Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. Later, in the same state of Texas, the terrorists managed to trigger the evacuation of at least 14 schools by making a false bomb threat. In February 2026, the criminals carried out two arson attacks and triggered one evacuation of educational institutions—this time in the state of California—and in March, they carried out arson attacks in Germany and Italy. The suspect also stated that within the community he had created, there was active propaganda promoting the «Columbine» movement—a group recognized as extremist in Russia and therefore banned—whose members carry out attacks on schools around the world.

According to his own account, the detainee trained the recruited teenagers in tactics for carrying out terrorist attacks and mass killings, provided them with tools of terror, instructions for making homemade explosive devices, and guidance on maintaining secrecy. In Russia, members of the community were planning a series of attacks on educational institutions in various cities.

This is just one person who managed several communities. As for how many such communities there are in total and what their audience reach is, we can only speculate—and, unfortunately, there is no cause for optimism in these speculations.

In short, the conclusions are as follows:

1. The network of extremist communities targeting children and adolescents is actively expanding;

2. Their ideology is becoming increasingly aggressive;

3. The geographic scope of their presence and activity is expanding;

4. The level of public danger posed by their actions is rising;

5. A structured system (training, supply, leadership) is emerging;

6. Educational institutions are their primary targets.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that criminals are actively exploiting the ideology of the «Columbine» movement (cult). These are not merely attacks on schools and other educational institutions; they involve the commission of mass murder as a form of suicide for the perpetrator or group of perpetrators. And such crimes are the most dangerous, because those who commit them have no moral barriers or other restraining factors; they do not consider the consequences of their actions. This is because they know in advance (or think they know) what will happen to them in the end.

The opportunity to gain control of the situation—when it could still have been stopped at a certain point—has already been missed. As is, unfortunately, very often the case, the threat was underestimated, and the necessary countermeasures were not taken at a time when it was still vulnerable. It is now too late—and, from a practical standpoint, pointless—to look for someone to blame. All efforts must be focused on a strategy to counter this threat. We must shift our focus from the question «Who is to blame?» to finding an answer to another, more important question: «What should be done?»

I will outline my proposals for countering this threat in the second part of the article, which I will publish shortly.

 Dear Colleagues,

I would very much welcome your input and suggestions on this topic. As you can see for yourselves, the threat is more than real; it is escalating, and doing so very rapidly. We are faced with a complex applied criminological challenge, but despite its complexity, it is solvable. I invite anyone interested in this area to share their suggestions for possible countermeasures.

The plan is as follows:

1. Containment

Effective measures capable of stopping or significantly slowing the spread of the threat. In our approach, we’ll start from an international perspective; containing the threat within a single country or even a single continent is no longer feasible. Therefore, we consider the following scenario: the organizer is in one country, the recruiter in another, the handler in a third, and the final perpetrators in a fourth.

2. Prevention

Here, the main task is to develop effective practical solutions whose implementation will hinder the spread of information and recruitment, thereby reducing the influx of new members into extremist communities.

3. Disrupting the Management and Coordination System

The objective is clear from the title: we need effective measures that, when implemented, will significantly complicate the work of handlers and organizers in coordinating and managing the activities of operatives, as well as in supplying, training, and monitoring them. I understand that there is little precise data available in open sources regarding the specifics of their organizational structure and operations, but there are general, fundamental principles upon which any modern international criminal organization is built. I do not believe they have invented anything fundamentally new, so we will work from the basic principles found in criminology textbooks.     

4. Prevention and Suppression of Perpetrators’ Actions

Effective practical solutions are needed that will enable the early detection of perpetrators’ preparations for committing crimes and other offenses. We must suppress criminal acts that have progressed to the stage of direct execution. Create conditions that make it difficult for perpetrators to prepare and carry out their criminal plans.

You can develop your proposals however you like—by individual topic or across all four at once, individually or collaboratively. You have complete creative freedom in terms of execution, with the standard restrictions: no politics, mysticism, or conspiracy theories.

You can ask questions here in the comments, via the Portal’s email: mail@orderandsafety.org , or by any other convenient means; all my contact information is available on my Portal page. Please also submit your finished articles there for consideration for publication.  

Author: Roman Grishin

Photo from the website: nevs.ru

#schoolsafety #schoolsecurity #educationalsecurity #educationalsafety #violenceprevention #K-12 #massshooting #764 #reddolphin #bluewhale #schoolshooting #research #criminology #schoolcrime #educationalcrime #terrorism #schoolterrorism #educationalterrorism #massmurder #article #threat

A new article titled “Ensuring Safety in Educational Institutions.”

 

 I worked on it for four long years, during which time I gathered materials and prepared and published two additional studies on a similar topic.

The work took so long because I was looking for more than just practical solutions to existing safety issues in schools and other educational institutions. The main objective was to build a system out of them—a unified mechanism where everything is interconnected, where there are no superfluous details, and  each element complements and reinforces the others, where technology enhances and expands human capabilities rather than replacing them. 

The primary condition for working on the system project presented in this article—designed to ensure comprehensive security for educational facilities against criminal, terrorist, and other threats—was that a school must remain a school, not turn into a prison or a military base. It was difficult, but I managed to find such solutions.

The article begins with an analysis of the current situation, the results of conducted research, and an assessment of existing and potential threats. Subsequently, based on effective global practices for preventing and countering such threats, as well as public demand, I outlined my practical solutions, each of which is aimed at addressing specific vulnerabilities in the existing system for organizing security and safety at educational institutions, as identified during the study of actual crimes.

The project includes: administrative and legal measures, proposals for changes and additions to the system of technical fortification and security of educational institutions, the organization of security, monitoring, and response to direct threats, the use of technical security and access control measures, as well as many other issues and areas. 

In conclusion, I presented the results of a hypothetical experiment on the application of all proposed solutions, using the example of a real attack on an educational facility.

I am fully aware that the framework I propose has not yet been tested in practice, and it is premature to speak of its effectiveness; many of the proposals outlined in it are controversial. However, I believe I have achieved the main goal: to create a format, a basic foundation that can be used as a starting point to work on, improve, make changes and additions to, enhance capabilities, and increase effectiveness. To strive for excellence and create a safe space for our children.

As always, I welcome your reviews, feedback, comments, and constructive criticism. 

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#schoolsafety #schoolsecurity #educationalsecurity #educationalsafety #violenceprevention #K-12 #massshooting #schoolshooting #research #criminology #schoolcrime #educationalcrime #terrorism #schoolterrorism #educationalterrorism #massmurder #article #threat

Announcement: Ensuring Comprehensive Safety in Schools and Other Educational Institutions: From Problem Analysis to Practical Solutions.

 

Note: it should be borne in mind that the author lives and works in Russia, so in this article, he considers the situation on the example of his country. Measures to ensure the safety of schools, other educational institutions and places with a mass stay of children that he proposes are developed by him for use in Russia, taking into account the existing law enforcement system and the situation there.

I am pleased to announce that I have finally completed the main part of my work on the article «Ensuring Comprehensive Safety in Schools, Other Educational Institutions, and Facilities and Locations Frequented by Large Numbers of Children Against Threats of a Criminal, Terrorist, and Other Nature».

All that remains are purely technical details: combining the separate sections into a single whole, making corrections, formatting it, and preparing it for publication on the portal’s main website. There is no exact date yet, but tentatively - late May to early June of this year.

This article is of a practical nature. I am not interested in discussing the problem or stirring up the atmosphere around it—crime statistics in schools, kindergartens, colleges, and universities do that much better. I am also not interested in the motives of criminals. I do not believe, nor do I even entertain the thought, that the mass murder of innocent people could have any justification whatsoever.

My interest lies in finding answers to other questions: can this be stopped? And if so, how exactly can it be done?

I began searching for answers to these questions back in 2018, when I was working on my first article about safety in schools and other educational institutions. I started that work almost immediately after the tragedy at the Kerch Polytechnic College, where 20 people were killed and another 67 were injured.

At the time, as I studied the timeline of that tragedy, I tried to understand: why was it so easy for the perpetrator to commit such a monstrous crime?

Here’s what I saw. A man armed with a gun, a large amount of ammunition, and homemade explosive devices leaves his home, walks to a public transportation stop, gets on a bus, rides to the right stop, walks to the college building, goes inside, finds an open, isolated room, prepares his weapon, arranges the ammunition for quick reloading, and sets the timers on the bombs. Then he goes out, heads to the emergency exit, tries to block it, walks toward the cafeteria, sets up an explosive device, goes back, grabs his weapon, and starts killing.

An explosion, panic. The killer moves calmly and, most importantly, unhindered through the college hallways, shooting at anyone who crosses his path or comes into view. He throws homemade grenades. Then he goes to the library, where he commits suicide.

It was all over before the first police car even arrived on the scene. No one stopped the criminal. No one stopped him. He killed himself when he considered his bloody mission accomplished. From start to finish, he had the situation completely under control.

 

It would be one thing if this were the first tragedy of its kind in Russia. But before this, there were Beslan, Moscow, Ivanteevka, Perm, Ulan-Ude, Shadrinsk, Sterlitamak, and Barabinsk. Wasn’t that enough to realize that the threat is real, and that a tragedy on the scale of the Kerch College attack is only a matter of time?

However, even this crime did not serve as a catalyst for recognizing the level of the threat and revising the entire security system. As always, everything was limited to talk and formal measures that had no real impact on the situation. Next came Kazan, Perm, Izhevsk, Bryansk—and these are only the largest crimes in terms of the number of victims. There were others, and quite a few of them.

The situation in other countries also clearly shows that there is no basis for optimistic forecasts. Statistics (link) clearly demonstrate a trend toward an increase in the number of similar crimes worldwide. The year 2025 set a kind of anti-record for their number. However, the first five months of 2026 clearly indicate that this record will be broken in the very near future.

All of this clearly demonstrates the complete vulnerability of schools and other educational institutions to criminals and terrorists. Every time there is another attack, meetings and discussions begin, task forces and commissions convene, plans and decisions are formulated, and high-profile statements are made to the media. However, very little time passes before new attacks occur and new victims emerge.

At the same time, even the simplest analysis of the chronology of these events shows that in most cases, the criminals exploited the same vulnerabilities that have long been known to everyone.

I was unable to get started right away. Difficulties arose, forcing me to postpone the work for nearly two years.

In the first area of research (the security situation at educational institutions in Russia and around the world), I encountered a lack of statistical data on crimes in this category that had been collected and systematized in a single source. I had to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort gathering information from dozens of different sources and cross-checking it.

Without these statistics, it is impossible to:

- gain an objective picture of what is happening;

- conduct a thorough (comparative and cross-sectional) analysis of the data;

- track developments over time;

- assess the true scale of the threat;

- explain ongoing criminological processes and identify the factors influencing them;

- predict how events will unfold.

Furthermore, there is a lack of understanding regarding the direction and specific characteristics of the threat’s development, which makes it extremely difficult to devise effective countermeasures. We see the result now, when, following yet another mass shooting or terrorist attack at an educational institution, experts, political analysts, law enforcement officials, educators, and journalists ask themselves: «Why didn’t the measures developed and implemented as part of the security strategy work?»

The answer is simple: they were developed based on incomplete data. And in many cases, this data was not only incomplete but also unreliable.

I myself have often come across statistics in media reports that are far removed from reality. For example, when commenting on yet another mass shooting at a school or university, the author would back up the article with general statistics on incidents at educational institutions—even though most of these incidents were not even indirectly related to mass shootings or terrorism. For the most part, these are general criminal offenses: committed due to personal animosity, or for financial gain (robberies, muggings, extortion), often out of hooliganism or even unintentionally.

Therefore, it is extremely important not only to know the statistics, but also to understand what lies behind these numbers. Proper data categorization is equally important.

The principles I used during data collection:

All collected cases underwent cross-analysis and comparison of information from various sources.

Preference was given to police press releases, reports, and court transcripts—these contain more facts than speculation.

All incidents were divided into groups and subgroups based on various criminological characteristics. This classification allows us to clearly see the nature of the situation’s development over a specific time period, both in comparison and in terms of trends.

Based on high-quality, systematically organized statistical data, it is possible to create more accurate (than currently available) criminological models and forecasts. Most importantly, these models can be used to develop truly effective measures for preventing and combating threats.

This requires reliable source data—verified, organized, and compiled into a single repository. But such data did not exist.

It became clear that a unified information and reference resource was needed, containing information on crimes in this category and at least a brief (minimal) set of factual data about their perpetrators and circumstances. Realizing this, I set out to create it.

As a format for presenting the data, I chose a format similar to a police incident report: a brief summary of the circumstances containing such information as the date, time, place, method, object, perpetrator, victims, consequences, outcome, and other reliably established facts.

In February 2024, the first edition of the Handbook of Crimes and Terrorist Acts in Schools and Other Educational Institutions was published on the «Public Order and Safety» portal, containing statistical data spanning 24 years (from 2000 through 2023).

The information has since been updated and expanded. The fifth edition is now available for download, containing data spanning 26 years. One of the main objectives has been achieved: an informative, user-friendly, and, most importantly, publicly accessible reference and analytical tool has been created for researchers and specialists in school safety.

For me, the main outcome of working on the handbook was that I was finally able to see a fairly objective picture regarding the first area of research. And as it turned out, this picture is far from optimistic. I won’t delve too deeply into the details—you can review the statistics and analytics for yourselves. The most important thing is that the year and a half spent on this was not wasted.

While studying materials on crimes in educational institutions, I noticed that experts often use the term «safety level» in their assessments, adding various adjectives to it: high, low, satisfactory, unsatisfactory, adequate, minimal, and so on. This raised a question for me: what exactly do they mean by this concept, and how do they define it?

After reviewing the information available in open sources, I have concluded that there is currently no unified (or even widely used) system in our country for assessing the safety levels of educational institutions based on formal criteria. Most reports containing such assessments are based on the personal opinions of the experts who compiled them.

An analysis of international experience also revealed nothing concrete—the situation there appears to be similar.

This situation struck me as, to put it mildly, strange. It is clear that there is a need for such a tool. Although I am not a proponent of total standardization in safety matters, I consider this area an exception. Since there was no evaluation system that could objectively calculate the safety level of an educational facility based on formal criteria (with minimal human influence), and I needed such a tool for my work, I decided to create it myself.

The result is a table in which evaluations are based on 64 criteria covering:

- characteristics of the educational facility’s grounds and its location;

- characteristics of buildings and structures;

- the presence of physical security and its features;

- technical security measures and their capabilities;

- additional active and passive security measures.

Each item, if present and operational, is assigned a number of points, which are then totaled. A final score is calculated. In addition to the total score, there are factors that negatively impact the final score.

Once completed, the table clearly shows:

- the level of security at the educational institution;

- its capabilities;

and most importantly—obvious shortcomings and vulnerabilities in the security system.

Based on the resulting assessment, measures and costs can be planned to improve the facility’s security level. Using annual data on such assessments of one or more facilities, it is easy to conduct comparative and dynamic analyses, clearly assessing the situation in a specific school, city, region, or even country over a given time period. You can compare both overall assessments and individual indicators or sections.

The result is a convenient and, most importantly, objective tool for monitoring the situation, where even a one-point drop in the rating compared to the previous period immediately indicates that the situation is deteriorating and action must be taken.

Even while collecting data for the handbook and developing the assessment table, I increasingly came to the conclusion that the model of a comprehensive security system for educational institutions that I had previously developed and outlined in my first article was ineffective and unpromising.

Solving the problem would require a completely different approach.

I began work on this at the end of 2023. In May 2026, I finally managed to complete it (though I assume it is not yet final).

In my new development, I was guided by public demand, which is as follows: schools, other educational institutions (including preschools), as well as facilities where large numbers of children gather, must be reliably protected from criminal, terrorist, and other threats, but at the same time, they must not be turned into something resembling a prison or a military base.

Is this realistic? I believe it is.

What needs to be done to achieve this, why, and exactly how—I will address these questions in the main article.

The publication is scheduled for late May to early June of this year on the «Public Order and Safety» portal.

Author – Roman Grishin.

Poisoning as a weapon in schools: a new threat scenario

 
On January 21, 2026 *, a seventh-grade student, aged about 14, brought a chemical education kit (such kits are freely available in stores) to school. He selected one of the dangerous and toxic reagents, mixed it into a carbonated drink, and then offered it to his classmates. Three teenagers drank the beverage, felt severely ill, and were hospitalized at the nearest hospital with a diagnosis of toxic poisoning. Thanks to the competent actions of the medical staff, the teenagers' lives were not in danger, and they were discharged from the hospital the next day.

Unfortunately, attempts by schoolchildren to commit mass murders of their classmates or cause harm to their health are not uncommon these days. In this case, what is of interest to experts is not the fact of the crime itself, but the method chosen by the perpetrator. The use of toxic chemicals as weapons in mass killings in educational institutions is not the most common method, but it is not unique either. Since 2000, there have been five** recorded cases of this kind:

November 20, 2006, Emsdetten, Germany
attack on a secondary school, using chemical poisons (smoke grenades) as secondary weapons; 37 victims (0 killed, 37 injured); perpetrator – male, age at the time of the crime – 18, former student of the school;

November 12, 2019, Kaiyuan, China
attack on an elementary school, using chemical poisons (toxic powder), 54 victims (0 killed, 54 injured), perpetrator – male, age at the time of the crime – 23;

December 2, 2024, Berlin, Germany
attack on an elementary school using chemical poisons (tear gas), 44 victims (0 killed, 44 injured), suspect fled, crime unsolved, identity of perpetrator unknown;

February 4, 2025, Erebro, Sweden
attack on a secondary school, using (as an auxiliary weapon) chemical poisons (smoke grenades), 22 victims (10 killed, 12 wounded), perpetrator - male, age at the time of the crime - 35 years old;

December 16, 2025, Odintsovo, Russia
attack on a secondary school, using (as an auxiliary weapon) chemical poisons (tear gas), 4 victims (1 killed, 3 wounded), age at the time of the crime - 15 years old, a student at the school.

As can be seen from the description, the criminals mainly used tear gas or poisonous smoke; in one case, the criminal sprayed toxic powder in the premises. In three out of five cases, the attackers used poisonous substances as additional weapons and only in two cases as the sole weapon.  I have not found any cases of attacks on educational institutions involving the deliberate poisoning of food or drink as a means of committing a crime, although I fully admit that they may have occurred but were not reported to the police or the media.

I would suggest that in this case, we are dealing with a new method of committing crimes such as deliberate mass harm to health or murder. Given the active discussion of this fact in the media, social networks, and forums, there is a high probability that a similar scenario could well be repeated in the near future.

I invite everyone who is involved in or simply interested in the field of applied criminology, such as the security of schools and other educational institutions, to participate in the development of effective, practical methods for preventing and suppressing threats committed in the following manner: deliberate poisoning of food or beverages with dangerous chemicals (or naturally occurring components) with the aim of mass murder or causing harm to human health.

You can contact the author in any convenient way listed on his page.

Author – Roman Grishin.

 

* The crime took place at a lyceum in the village of Kuyuki, Pestrechinsky District, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia.

** There is partially confirmed data on a series of attacks using poisonous substances in schools and higher education institutions in Iran in 2022-2023. Unfortunately, Iran's information secrecy does not allow us to obtain accurate data on the circumstances of the crimes (if they occurred at all) established by law enforcement agencies for analysis and publication in the handbook.

 

#SchoolSafety #assault #poisoning #threat #chemicals #murder #harm #children #schools #safety #criminology

Has the number of school shootings decreased in 2025?

Note: English is not my native language, so I use an automated translation system to communicate. I apologize in advance if the meaning of some phrases is conveyed incorrectly. 

Not long ago, one of the leading American experts in school safety, Dr. Kenneth S. Trump, published an interesting post on social media stating that in 2025, the number of attacks on schools had fallen to its lowest level in five years, and the number of victims of such crimes had also fallen to its lowest level.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17sPNNL7j5/

First, I would like to say that I have great and sincere respect for Dr. Kenneth S. Trump. I consider him one of the world's leading experts and practitioners in school safety issues, and I highly value his personal contribution to applied criminology. Thanks to his work, many children have saved their lives and health. However, in this case, I completely disagree with the assessment expressed by Dr. Kenneth S. Trump.

On the day I read this message, I was just finishing the final edits to the updated version of my annually published Handbook of Crimes and Terrorist Acts in Schools and Other Educational Institutions. In the published 5th edition, the main addition was the statistics for 2025. I can say right away that the past year set a kind of anti-record for all the previous 26 years of observations, so I even highlighted it in a separate section for comparison. In the entire history of observations since 2000, there has only been one similar sharp rise in all indicators, in 2014. In short, for example, the total number of crimes increased by more than 60% compared to 2024, and by more than 70% compared to the average for the previous five-year period (2020–2024). For crimes involving mass murder and terrorist acts, the increase was more than 43% compared to 2024, and more than 64% compared to the average for the previous five-year period. If we compare the number of people killed and injured (in absolute terms), the situation is similar.

These are global statistics. If we take the data for the US separately, the situation is as follows: in 2025, 32 crimes classified as serious and particularly serious were committed in US educational institutions, 16 of which were mass murders and terrorist acts. Compared to 2024, when there were 12 crimes classified as serious and particularly serious, including 7 crimes with signs of mass murder and terrorist acts.  If we take the average statistics for the previous five-year period from 2020 to 2024 (rounded up), the figures will be even lower:

- crimes classified as serious and particularly serious – 9;

- crimes with signs of mass murder and terrorist acts – 4.

However, one significant change did occur in 2025: 9 of the 16 incidents  with signs of mass murder took place not in schools but in universities, with this proportion (56.2%) of crimes in higher education institutions recorded for the first time. For comparison, in 2024 this proportion was 42.8%, and in 2023 it was 40%.

I cannot say for sure, but it is too early to talk about a decrease in the number of crimes; in fact, there has been no decrease, just a change in the principle of target selection. It is difficult to say exactly what this is due to, but the shift in threats from schools to higher education institutions has been observed worldwide. Between 2000 and 2024, it showed an average increase of 2.7%, and in 2025, the increase in this indicator was immediately more than 10%.

In essence, Dr. Kenneth S. Trump is right in saying that while it is not yet clear what exactly has influenced this situation and how it will develop further, it would be criminal to be complacent about the security of educational institutions.

author: Roman Grishin

#Schoolshootings #schoolsafety #schoolsecurity #DrKennethSTrump #K12 #K-12

Handbook of Crimes and Terrorist Acts in Schools and Other Educational Institutions, 5th edition

 

Dear readers and colleagues! I am pleased to announce that work on the fifth edition of the Reference Book has been completed. The file has already been posted on the website and is available for download. The new edition includes statistics for 2025, as well as additional data for previous periods, corrections of some errors and inaccuracies in previous editions, and a total of about 30 revisions and additions.

New data systematization and analytics tools

In addition to the existing ones, several new evaluation parameters have been added to the comparative and dynamic data analysis tables:

1. In the «Total victims» section, in addition to information about those killed and wounded, a subsection «Kidnapped» has been added, and the section «Involving hostage-taking» has been supplemented with a subsection «For the purpose of kidnapping.» This is related to crimes that occurred in November 2025 in Nigeria, where two organized, group, armed attacks on schools were carried out within four days of each other. In both cases, the aim of the attacks was to kidnap a large number of students and staff from these educational institutions (in both cases, more than 300 people were kidnapped, most of them children) for subsequent use as hostages in order to obtain ransom or satisfy political or religious demands from the authorities.

This section will include information on the number of people kidnapped at the time of the crime.

2. In category «2. Crimes falling under the criteria of mass murder and terrorist attacks,» an additional section «Suspect fled the scene» is created, with information about crimes where the suspect managed to leave the scene after committing the crime, and they were detained or found (in cases of suicide) outside the educational institution they attacked, or the crime remained unsolved.

Statistics in this section will allow (albeit not fully) an assessment of the level of protection of educational facilities from criminal and terrorist threats, as well as the responsiveness of law enforcement agencies. If a criminal was able to freely enter an educational institution, carry weapons, commit a crime, and then leave the scene unhindered. Such facts, and especially the increase in the proportion of such incidents (in comparative and dynamic analysis) in the total number of crimes, give grounds for certain conclusions. 

3. In category «2. Crimes falling under the criteria of mass murders and terrorist attacks,» an additional section «Suspect committed suicide (including attempts)» is created, with information about crimes in which the suspect committed suicide, either at the scene of the crime or within 24 hours after it.

A separate block of analytics on suicidal cases among suspects remains; this section is created solely for the convenience of tracking and comparing general statistical indicators. 

Indication of information about attempted crimes

This issue has been discussed repeatedly, especially after the release of version 4.0, with opinions both for and against this parameter being expressed. As a result of the discussions, it was decided to include this information in the category «2. Crimes that fall under the criteria of mass murder and terrorist attacks» starting in 2025. Only those incidents where the crime has reached the stage of immediate execution but, for reasons beyond the perpetrator's control, the perpetrator was unable to carry it through to completion will be included in the list.

For clarity, let's look at two examples of such attempts in 2025:

January 10, Kursk, Russia: an attempted attack on a secondary school using cold weapons and incendiary mixtures. The suspect, a former student of the school, put on a mask to hide his face and prepared weapons (a hammer, knife, and incendiary mixture), used the hammer to break a window, and entered the school premises. However, his actions attracted the attention of a security guard, who pressed the alarm button and called the police, and also began to pursue the suspect. The criminal dropped the bag with the weapons and incendiary mixture and fled the scene before he could harm anyone.

September 17, Ostrogozhsk, Russia: attempted attack on a secondary school with cold weapons. The suspect, a former student of the school, had previously posted threatening messages on his social media page, prepared weapons (a knife and a hammer), brought them to school, took them out, shouted verbal threats, and attempted to attack those around him, but was quickly neutralized by a teacher and security guard before he could harm anyone.

Such attempts will be included in the list and taken into account, but in cases where the crime was prevented during its preparation, such incidents will not be taken into account.

Information about the presence of security guards at educational facilities under attack

This is a good analytical tool, but unfortunately, at the moment, this information will only be published in part, mainly data on incidents that occurred in Russia, where this feature of such crimes is highlighted in media publications and official releases from law enforcement agencies.

Foreign media pay little attention to this circumstance, and it is rarely mentioned in publications and releases. I tried to make inquiries myself, but they all went unanswered. I do not know the reasons for this, especially since this information is not classified.

Statistics for 2025, tools for data analysis

Due to the fact that five-year periods are used for comparative and dynamic data analysis, and in 2025 such a period is just beginning, three new analytical tools are introduced for the convenience of visual representation of the situation, to compare statistics for the current year:

1. with the same period of the previous year, i.e., in this case, with 2024;

2. with the average indicator of the previous period, in this case, with the period 2020–2024; to calculate this indicator, the arithmetic mean value for each estimated parameter for the five-year period is used. Example: the average number of crimes committed with the use of firearms in the period 2020–2024, we take the values for 5 years, 2020 – 3, 2021 – 8, 2022 – 21, 2023 – 15, 2024 – 14. We add them up to get 61, divide by the number of years – 5 – to get 12 (if the value after the decimal point is 5 or less, we round down; if it is 6 or more, we round up, in this case to 2). The average percentage of such crimes is calculated in the same way.

3. With the average value for the entire reporting period starting in 2000, the calculation of the indicator here is similar to the calculation for the previous period.

This will be presented in the form of a table, where you can clearly see the dynamics of the situation for each individual indicator.

That's all for the changes and additions.

As new data comes in, work will begin on additions to the current edition and, at the same time, data collection for the sixth edition. I would appreciate any help in working on the new edition. You can find out how to do this in the final part of the reference book, in the section «Prospects for new editions.»

My goal is to create a useful, reliable, informative, easy-to-use, and, most importantly, publicly available reference and analytical tool for researchers and specialists in ensuring the security of schools and other educational institutions from threats of various types and nature.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone who helped me collect new information, clarify and correct previously published data, form and edit sections, and do other work on the reference book.

Sincerely.

Author and editor-in-chief of the project – Roman Grishin

 

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