1998 Thurston High School Shooting

On May 20, 1998, Kip Kinkel, a 15-year-old freshman at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, was suspended after school officials discovered he was keeping a stolen, loaded handgun in his locker. He was arrested, released to his father, and warned he might be sent to military school. According to his later taped confession, Kinkel shot his father once in the back of the head in the family kitchen that afternoon, then shot his mother six times when she returned home that evening. He covered both bodies with sheets and left a note describing his fear of the consequences of his felony arrest as well as references to hearing violent "voices" in his head.

The next morning, May 21, 1998, Kinkel drove his mother's Ford Explorer to Thurston High School, wearing a trench coat that concealed a semi-automatic rifle, two pistols, and two hunting knives, along with more than 1,100 rounds of ammunition. He opened fire in a patio area, fatally wounding 16-year-old Ben Walker, then continued into the cafeteria, where he fired 48 rounds from his rifle, killing 17-year-old Mikael Nickolauson and wounding 24 other students. In total, Kinkel fired 51 rounds, 37 of which struck students. When his rifle emptied, student Jacob Ryker and several classmates tackled and restrained him; Kinkel fired one more shot from a pistol, further wounding Ryker and another student, before being disarmed. He was arrested by responding police and, in custody, attacked an officer with a knife while asking to be shot, before being subdued with pepper spray.

Kinkel had a documented history of escalating troubling behavior, an interest in weapons and explosives, and had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder prior to the shooting; he was later also diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. On September 24, 1999, three days before jury selection was to begin, Kinkel pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder, forgoing an insanity defense. On November 11, 1999, he was sentenced to more than 111 years in prison without the possibility of parole. He apologized to the court for both the killing of his parents and the school shooting.

Kinkel later sought a new trial and appealed his sentence, arguing ineffective assistance of counsel and challenging his effective life sentence; Oregon courts denied these efforts, including a January 2011 ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals affirming the trial court's judgment. He remains incarcerated at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon, where he takes antipsychotic medication for paranoid schizophrenia and continues to seek parole.

The shooting drew national attention as part of a series of school shootings in the prior year and prompted a visit from President Bill Clinton to the school the following month. A permanent memorial to the two students killed was dedicated at the school in 2003.