And it hadn’t changed much,” she said. Police lead Kip Kinkel on a detailed walk-through of Thurston High School hours after the 15-year-old opened fire at the school on May 21, 1998. People screamed "shooting," and the girl drove off, the student said. The attack happened … So I’m a witness to the tragedy.”. Standing outside Thurston High, she pointed to where rows of television news trucks lined the street 20 years ago. At the time, the idea of a troubled young man bringing guns from home and firing them at school was something people were starting to voice worries about. We reserve the right to not post comments that are more than 400 words. “It wasn’t until later that evening that the adrenaline sagged, and then you’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, twice in a career,’” he said. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The next morning he opened fire on students at Thurston High School, killing two and wounding 25. William \"Bill\" Kinkel (his father; shot in the back of the head) 2. OPB's critical reporting is made possible by the power of member support. Faith Kinkel (née Zuranski; his mother; shot twice in the back of the head, three times in the face, and once in the heart) 2. Just before school was about to start on the morning of April 27, 2015, a student walked down a flight of stairs from the second floor into the Commons, an area teaming with North Thurston High School (NTHS) students. Officers were called there shortly before 12:30 p.m. for a report of a person shot. "Media has changed dramatically since the '80's and 90's ... Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all of these combined with the 24/7 news cycle quite literately bombard us with images and stories, oftentimes each one more dramatic than the other because they're competing for our attention.". The shooter was 15-year-old Kipland Kinkel. “So having to go in there to sign her up for a class was tough and unnerving. As in the case of Adam Lanza, the consequences of the shooting are indelible while its causes remain largely opaque. Less than a year after the shooting at Thurston High, 12 students and one teacher were killed at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. The bodies of Kinkel’s parents were found in their rural home, having been murdered by their son the night before. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. As difficult as it may seem to believe — especially now when yet another school shooting has just happened — school shootings with multiple victims trended down after the 1990s. On Monday, April 28th, 2015, a sophomore student in Lacey, Washington walked into a commons room and fired two shots with a revolver. "I don’t consider myself a survivor,” she said. Jolene Leu was a junior at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, when the shooting happened. May 21: The Thurston High School shooting: 1. Our quality education begins with a tuition-free full-time preschool program. “He had gotten shot in the side, and it had come out his stomach,” she said. The incident log is updated daily at 12:01 am reflecting activity for the past 24 hour period. From his first days as president to his last, how Trump stoked division, violence and insurrection. Later, police found Kinkel’s parents’ dead at home. I was watching every door.”. The student had a .357 Magnum revolver in one hand. Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation. It’s kind of hard for me to associate myself as a survivor because I don’t have the physical scars that everybody else does. She said that despite the shooting, she loved her high school years. The collapse of small dairy farms has been changing the landscape of Wisconsin — literally and figuratively — for years. The Thurston shooting happened 11 months before Columbine, at a time when Americans were starting to grapple with mass school shootings as a part of life. Welcome to South Redford. On May 21, 1998, the school became the scene of a shooting.Expelled student Kipland Kinkel opened fire with three guns and killed two students and injured 25 others. Kinkel (who had also murdered his parents the previous night) was sentenced to 111 years in prison. 16 years ago a young man walked into Thurston High School in Springfield, opened fire, killing two kids at the school and injuring dozens more. "School shootings occur very infrequently," Brock said. Tweet; Sumo; Tweet; Written by: Greg Ellifritz. The school cafeteria shooting: Mikael Nickolauson, 17 (shot with a .22 rifle) He was armed with more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, along with two pistols when he started firing his father’s Ruger .22 caliber rifle. Related: Kip Kinkel Loses Bid For Shorter Sentence, “He’s a smart guy, he’s got a high IQ,” said Dennis Balske, one of Kinkel’s attorneys. The Killer at Thurston High, which first aired on Jan. 18, 2000, examines Kinkel’s childhood in a nurturing family in suburban Oregon and his transformation from a shy, lonely teenager into a methodical killer. Days before the 20th anniversary, maintenance crew workers cleaned the memorial. But Kinkel, unlike Lanza, survived the shooting, and left an audio confession recorded by police. May 20: William and Faith Kinkel (his parents; both shot): 1. We offer a wide range of opportunities for innovative learning at all grade levels. Kinkel, now 35, was 15 when the shooting occurred on May 21, 1998, at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. “By myself,” Bentz said. The Bath School disaster was a pair of bombings that took place in … Posted on December 14, 2012 by Instructional Technology. Two students died and twenty-five more were wounded. One shot hit the ceiling and one shot hit the floor. “But when he wasn't medicated, which he wasn't back then, his thinking was anything but normal. Bath School Disaster. He immediately drove to school. Mikael Nickolauson, 17 Mikael was a Thurston High School junior and a private in the Oregon National Guard before he died in the May 21, 1998, shooting on campus. Now 30, he has filed several appeals claiming that inadequate legal counsel kept him from pursuing an insanity plea. Kinkel is working to get a new trial that could allow him to leave his Oregon prison cell and go to the state’s mental hospital. The story draws on excerpts from Kinkel’s writings, his psychologist’s notes and interviews with his sister, schoolmates and family friends. While not definitive and perhaps peculiar to his case, his testimony provides rare glimpse into the thinking and emotions of someone who would carry out such an attack. 20 years ago this Monday, 15-year-old Kipland "Kip" Kinkel peppered the Thurston High School cafeteria with bullets, after wounding two students in a breezeway moments before. Leu said she remembers feeling frantic. Students were gathered in the cafeteria and an adjacent courtyard … Thurston County Disclaimer This is an incident log of 911 calls dispatched to the Sheriff's Office. Today, her daughter goes to Thurston High. William and … Kip Kinkel, who killed two fellow students and wounded 25 others at Thurston High School in Springfield, Ore., May 20, 1998, after murdering his parents, is led to his arraignment in Eugene, Ore., May 22, l998. She was sitting next to her boyfriend at the time. Bentz has the dubious distinction of having led two schools through shootings and their aftermaths. He had shot them as well. On May 21, 1998 in Springfield, OR, Kipland Kinkel perpetrated a school shooting at Thurston High School after killing his parents the night before. On May 21, 1998, a teenage boy wearing a trench coat walked into the Thurston High School cafeteria in Springfield, Oregon, and began shooting at his fellow students. 333 58th St. Springfield, OR 97478 Main Office: 541-744-5000 Counseling Office: 541-744-5156 Fax: 541-744-5025. It was the end of a string of deadly school shootings — from Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Pearl, Mississippi — during the 1997-1998 school year. A memorial stands in memory of those lost and wounded on the day of the shooting at Thurston High School 20 years ago. You'll receive access to exclusive information and early alerts about our documentaries and investigations. 'Trump’s American Carnage' premieres Tues., Jan. 26, 2021. Last fall, her daughter enrolled as a freshman at Thurston. “I usually reserve that term for the ones that were actually shot. Five Thurston County Sheriff’s deputies and one Washington State Patrol trooper have been placed on paid administrative leave following the shooting of … Even so, to Bentz, Kinkel wasn’t that guy. And it is unknown whether the perpetrators of such crimes share much more in common than the indiscriminate toll in suffering they inflict. In order to foster a civil and literate discussion that respects all participants, FRONTLINE has the following guidelines for commentary. “Columbine eclipsed all of the previous school shootings because of the magnitude of the evil, the number of casualties, the type and scope of weapons that those two boys were able to put together,” Bentz said. Jolene Leu was in the cafeteria that morning with friends when Kinkel started shooting. Sign up to get important news and culture from around the Northwest, delivered to your inbox six days a week. Kinkel was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. On May 20, 1998, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel shot and killed his mother and father. He shared a bullet with another friend. State Budget Information Data Toggle. But what we all did not know was that they all had a very dark family secret around his mental illness and the impact that it had had on their lives.”. Kinkel, now 17, is serving a 112-year sentence after pleading guilty to murdering his parents and two students at Thurston High School. Thousands of family farms are weighing their future, questioning whether they should keep going when the next round of hard times, which never seems far away, could force them out of business. Chaos erupted. The Thurston High School student was shot in the back and right foot. “Everybody, I think, thinks he is some kind of a monster, when in fact he was a severely mentally ill youngster,” Balske said. Thurston High School Home. He was pinned down while he was reloading and restrained until police arrived and arrested him. Entries that are unsigned or are "signed" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. “If I had been just a couple of inches closer it could’ve been my back and stomach, or worse. More than a decade ago, FRONTLINE set out to understand how a troubled young man with no history of violence could become a random killer in the halls of his high school. The audio confession is part of broader discussion of the Connecticut violence in a PBS special broadcast, After Newtown, which will air tonight at 8 p.m. on PBS stations. Kinkel is serving a 111-year prison sentence in Oregon. You can watch the full film of The Killer at Thurston High above. On May 21, 1998, Leu was in the cafeteria. Be a part of it! The next morning he opened fire on students at Thurston High School, killing two and wounding 25. Untreated mental illness coupled with a love of guns brought disaster when Kip Kinkel killed his parents, two of his classmates, and wounded 25 more. Even now, Leu feels a sense of panic and guilt when she talks about that morning 20 years ago. Two victims of Kinkel, who is now serving a life sentence, are pleading with Oregonians to vote against a November ballot measure that theoretically could result in a lesser sentence. In 2007 he was principal of an alternative high school in suburban Portland when the building was shot up by a student. The 20th anniversary of Thurston comes just days after another school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas. Twenty years later, he said he’ll remember the shooting at Thurston the same way he does every year. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. (KOIN file) On May 21, 1998, Kip Kinkel opened fire in the Thurston High School cafeteria, killing two and injuring 25 others. The hallway shooting: Ben Walker, 16 (shot with a .22 rifle; died at the hospital) 2. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — The Rochester Police Department has responded to a shooting scene on Thurston Road on Monday afternoon. Betina Lynn's back aches sometimes. “Pretty much the entire table around me was shot.”. A Thurston High School yearbook photo of then 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Meet some of Wisconsin's next-generation dairy farmers. Investigators say Kip went on a shooting rampage in Thurston High School’s cafeteria the next day, killing two students and wounding 22 others. “I can’t tell you how to prevent a school shooting. “His parents were popular people. “You won’t find a brother and sister any closer than them.”. In 2007 he was pri… The public memorial service drew more than 1,700 people, including recent and former students of the Kinkels, fellow teachers, school administrators, neighbors and friends. Most of the people around her were shot. Judge Rules U.S. Indian Health Service Must Disclose Sex-Abuse Report, Utah Attorney General’s Office ‘Surprised’ Police Shot at So Many People in 2020, Members of Several Well-Known Hate Groups Identified at Capitol Riot, New Generation of Wisconsin Dairy Farmers Look for a Future That Keeps Them on the Land, Following Their Passion, Following Capitol Attack, FRONTLINE Documentary Special Traces President Trump’s Incitement of Division, Violence and Ultimately Insurrection Throughout His Term, Taking Office in a Time of Crisis: 16 Documentaries on Key Issues Biden Inherits. Welcome to Thurston High School! “He was relatively popular,” Bentz said. "Guns continue to be available to too many troubled youth.". Larry Bentz, the Thurston High principal at the time of Kinkel's attack, was headed to a meeting at the district office when the shooting happened. When he paused to reload, a group of classmates tackled him to … Dennis Murphy is the retired Springfield fire chief that was on duty during the attack in 1998. He said it warps perceptions and alters reality. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Web Site Copyright ©1995-2021 WGBH Educational Foundation. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. He later pleaded guilty to the shootings and was sentenced to nearly 112 years in prison, where he remains today. You are fully responsible for your comments. The shooting happened about 8 a.m. (11 a.m. EDT) at the 1,700-student high school. What explains Kinkel’s attack? 1. North Thurston High School is located at 600 Sleater Kinney Road near the border of Olympia and Lacey. Kinkel killed two students at Thurston and wounded 25 others. And then I turn around and remember those kids who came back to that school the next week and who fought their way towards as normal of life as they could hope to have.”. By definition, his illness caused him to think in a way that led him only in one direction.”. He raised the gun and fired into the ceiling. Kip dressed in long trench coat. May 21, 1998 - Day of School Shooting at Thurston High: 7:30 a.m. Kip leaves house. Welcome to South Redford! “It was right before the bell to go to class,” Leu, a junior at the time, recalled during an interview at a park just across the street from the high school. "The pattern of shooting in schools has not changed greatly over the past 20 years in the U.S.," Daniel Webster, an expert at Johns Hopkins University on firearm policy and the prevention of gun violence, wrote in an email to OPB. By Brian Bull • May 17, 2018 Monday marks the 20th anniversary of the Thurston High School shooting in Springfield, when teen gunman Kip Kinkel opened fire on his classmates. Less than a year after the shooting at Thurston High, 12 students and one teacher were killed at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.“Columbine eclipsed all of the previous school shootings because of the magnitude of the evil, the number of casualties, the type and scope of weapons that those two boys were able to put together,” Bentz said.Bentz has the dubious distinction of having led two schools through shootings and their aftermaths. On May 21, 1998, Teresa was eating breakfast in the same cafeteria at Thurston High School when 15-year-old Kip Kinkel allegedly pulled a semiautomatic rifle from … 1998: 1. And her right ankle is weak, making some physical activity difficult. “Kip’s in prison and her parents are dead and yet she’s behind him all the way,” Balske said. I can help you learn how to respond to it in order to minimize the pain, and that’s what I’ve tried to do over the ensuing years.". “I sit and I think and remember the smell of the blood in the cafeteria at midnight. His bullet went through him and then got her in the leg under the table.”. “(I) slowly recognized the magnitude of the disaster because I started counting the ambulances passing me heading into town,” Bentz said. Despite his having killed her parents too, Kinkel and his sister remain close. The 17-year-old boy who fired two shots inside North Thurston High School will serve 2-1/2 to 3 years in a state juvenile detention facility. (AP Photo/Pool). By submitting comments here, you are consenting to these rules: Readers' comments that include profanity, obscenity, personal attacks, harassment, or are defamatory, sexist, racist, violate a third party's right to privacy, or are otherwise inappropriate, will be removed. Learning Leading Innovating. 25 others at the school … SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – A key figure in the emergency response and recovery from the Thurston High School shooting is speaking out about the massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida this week, and how these tragedies can be prevented. Daniel Webster, an expert at Johns Hopkins University on firearm policy, school shootings with multiple victims trended down after the 1990s, Kip Kinkel Loses Bid For Shorter Sentence. These 16 FRONTLINE documentaries offer context on some of the biggest challenges the new administration faces. On May 20, 1998, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel shot and killed his mother and father. Data shows school shootings are relatively rare events; what's changed is the way the media and social media cover and discuss them, said Stephen Brock, a professor of school psychology at California State University, Sacramento. We will take steps to block users who repeatedly violate our commenting rules, terms of use, or privacy policies. Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Welcome to Thurston High School! “It was hard because they do all of the registration and team sign-ups and everything in the cafeteria. What clues in his background, experience or medical condition might help make sense of a senseless crime? Balske said Kinkel's sister used her parents’ life insurance money to pay for his legal appeals. No one was killed but a few were injured by broken glass. Flowers and signs of support filled the fence that borders the school grounds. The North Thurston High School Shooting; The North Thurston High School Shooting. Thurston High School, Springfield High School National Center for Education Statistics Statistical analysis report: Violence and Discipline Problems in U.S. … The Bath School disaster was a junior at Thurston High School shooting: 1 — years... N.Y. 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