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