Rigby Middle School Shooting

Lesson 1:

Preventing acts of targeted violence within K-12 schools requires means and methods for gathering information of concern, evaluating that information, and developing mitigation strategies based on the assessment of the behavior.
In this particular incident, staff and other adults reported that students had knowledge of concerning behaviors prior to the incident which were not reported until after the shooting. One of the accused shooter’s classmates saw a drawing that depicted a gun and a school and several other students saw concerning social media posts.

Additional students observed changes in the student’s behavior, including changes in appearance, affect and social engagement. In this case, these changes coincided with the transition from elementary to middle school, so the change in behavior was not apparent to Rigby staff as it was the student’s first year. This information also came to light after the shooting during post-incident interviews.

The school did have a tip line available at the time of the incident but it was not stressed to students during the 2021-2021 school year.

Subsequent Recommendations

1: Schools should implement confidential tip lines. Sustainable efforts must be made to ensure that every year, students are educated on and reminded of the use of and importance of the tool.

2: It is recommended that the state of Idaho consider implementing a social media threat detection system for schools in conjunction with police. Attackers often use social media to communicate their intentions prior to a planned attack.

3: Once information on a threat is gathered, a trained multi-disciplinary threat assessment team should evaluate the threat. While JCSD did receive training on behavioral threat assessment team development and possessed an operational framework for threat assessment, evaluation, and management, a threat assessment was not conducted because there were no concerning behaviors reported to staff.

Lesson 3:

Uniformly trained and exercised emergency response procedures result in fewer casualties during acts of targeted violence.

For many years prior to the incident, JCSD incorporated a standardized response protocol that was uniformly adopted, trained, and exercised. The response protocol adopted by the district preceded the development of the Idaho Standard Command Responses for Schools (ISCRS) protocol for the state of Idaho, but it incorporated many critical elements of effective response.

The response protocol adopted by the district allowed for some level of individual autonomy of response based on the immediate circumstances. Staff was expected to make the best decision for student safety when it came to lockdown or evacuation during the attack. Once lockdown procedures were initiated, students who were already outside did not reenter, and most classrooms were secured and students remained in place until the scene was under control.

However, one class was evacuated from a securable classroom. When exiting the building, the fleeing students were fired upon by the attacker who had also moved outside.

Subsequent Recommendations

1: SSchools should use standardized protocols, language, training and exercise for their emergency operations plans. For Idaho schools, this is offered through the ISSS program.

2: When staff is trained on options-based response for emergency situations, training must include situational awareness and tactical decision-making.

3: All schools should develop an exercise schedule to practice and evaluate lockdown procedures at least annually in coordination with local first responders. Lockdown training and exercises within JCSD had been in place for many years and its ongoing maintenance substantially increased the effectiveness of the response during the incident.

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