Whether it's a school in Boston or Akron or Texas, Tim Dimoff says a student who looks for retribution with a gun is likely a loner who feels powerless before his peers and school administrators.
Tim Dimoff: A student is disciplined and is upset with the way he or she is handled, they come back and some sort of violence takes place.
That could especially be expected for a student who has a police record of violence at home, who a judge ordered into anger management, had violated his probation and appears to have been on medication to control his emotions. And that is exactly the history of 14-year-old Asa Coon. In addition, on Monday he had been suspended from SuccessTech for fighting with another student and he wasn't happy about it. One student recalls him saying angrily as he left school, "I've got something for you." She said she didn't think much abut it.
It's unclear whether officials at Coon's high school knew about his record and the potential for a violent outburst.
Tim Dimoff says even schools who can't afford paid security services can do three things to prevent tragedies like this from happening. Students and teachers must be urged to speak up when things just don't sound right, and teachers and parents make it clear to students that if someone is threatening violence, it might not be just talk. It should be reported.
Tim Dimoff: Thirdly I would make sure that I had a communication system in case where every adult worker in the school is notified about any type of student who is under any type of discipline that potentially could come back in a revenge mode.
In this case, there was security, but it was minimal. Charles Blackwell, president of SuccessTech's student parent organization said complained often that the school had just one security guard who, he says, mostly stayed close to the principal's office and no metal detectors.
Charles Blackwell: With no security guard to roan the building or the back of the school they have access to the back of the building. Somebody could have let him in or they they don't check when they come in the front door, so he could have come up the stairs.
Security experts like Tim Dimoff and his Akron based company try to advise school systems on security needs before trouble happens. Currently, he says, schools are all over the main violence prevention -- some have cameras and metal detectors at every door and have contracted security guards. Others have virtually no protection.
Kymberli Hagelberg, 90.3.