Mass violence in school is easier to stop in a post-Columbine world

Author Dave Cullen spent 10 years studying Columbine. It wasn’t the last mass shooting on school grounds, but Cullen said that because of it, we’re able to prevent other violent plots before they come to fruition.

In Albany, Oregon, Grant Acord, 17, was arrested Thursday night after police received a tip that he was making a bomb to blow up West Albany High School.

Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson said over the weekend that the alleged plot was “forged and inspired” by the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. He said investigators found six bombs in a secret compartment under the floorboards of Acord’s bedroom, along with written plans, checklists, and a diagram of the school.

Cullen told Seattle’s Morning News that in nearly 80 percent of these types of cases, the killer tells someone he’ll do it. “And I mean explicitly. Not just-sort-of-vague jokes.”

That appears to be the case here, noted Cullen. Early reports indicated that police were tipped off by classmates. Some classmates have recently said Acord discussed bomb-making in the weeks before his arrest, but those same students said he did not speak of a plot to inflict damage.

“Now, luckily, in situations like this, we have kids that were aware,” said Cullen. “It only takes one kid who has that sort of wisdom to realize – maybe I should take it seriously just in case and tell an adult to get the police over to his house to stop it. That’s really, by far, the best thing we can do. And it’s much easier than it sounds, but it’s actually true.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.