Red Flags and Indicators

The following are red flags, warning signs and indicators, associated with school shootings in the United States. Look for individuals who:

• Convey violent fantasies in their writings and drawings, as well in as their reading and viewing materials, often engaging in role-playing acts of violence and degradation.
• Have difficulty controlling anger, who make threats, or who have a fascination with weapons.
• Practice and boast of fighting and combat proficiency such as in military tactics, sharp- shooting, and/or martial arts.
• Are loners, isolated, socially withdrawn, and/or markedly antisocial.
• Display suicidal ideation.
• Display homicidal ideation.
• Display stalking behavior.
• Display non-compliance and disciplinary problems.
• Display imitation of other murders.
• Express interest in previous shootings.
• Portray a victim/martyr self-concept.
• Exhibit strangeness and aberrant behavior.
• Exhibit paranoia.
• Engage in violence and cruelty.
• Maintain an expressionless face/anaerobia.
• Have an unusual interest in police and military.
• Display an unusual interest in terrorist activities and materials.

Updated January 20, 2023