What Motivates School Shootings?

Luke Woodham

“October 1, 1997, will go down in history as the day I fought back,” 16-year-old Luke Woodham wrote before murdering his mother with a butcher’s knife and opening fire inside of Pearl High School in Mississippi. “I kill because people like me are mistreated every day. I do this to show society—push us and we will push back.”He’d spent his life being teased by classmates and taunted by his mother, he claimed, and was tired of “watching Johnny football player get the glory.” He’d started moving into different circles, joining a clique of self-proclaimed Satanists who encouraged his violent tendencies and, according to Woodham, helped him plan the massacre. To get ready to kill, Woodham crushed his dog’s head in and set it on fire.