Statistics show rarity of female school shooters

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) — A school shooting in Madison Monday, Dec. 16 left three people dead, including the shooter, and six others injured. Authorities identified the shooter as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow. 

According to the Gun Violence Archive, mass shootings in the U.S. increased in 2020 and have remained high with hundreds of mass shootings each year.

The overwhelming majority of assailants in shootings are male, in fact, only a handful are female.

Will LeSuer is an associate professor and the chair of criminal justice and forensic investigation at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

"Female mass shooters especially in a school setting are particularly rare around 3%," said LeSuer.

LeSuer says this is because women tend to keep negative emotions inside while young men are more likely to externalize and commit crimes toward others.

According to the Mass Killings Database, since 2006 there have been 589 mass shooters who killed at least four victims. Of those shooters, 33 were women.

LeSuer says while there are some warning signs, in general it's difficult to profile people who are likely to commit these kinds of crimes.

"School shooters, in general, don't expect to survive, these are suicide by school shootings. So there is a profile in terms of suicide that you could look for in terms of writing farewell notes or manifestos creating plans for anything like a pet, giving away things," said LeSuer.

LeSuer says it's even more rare for a mass shooter to be a teen woman because if a woman does commit a violent crime, it's usually about a specific person or a situation.