Today’s shooting rampage at Virginia Tech is being called the deadliest school shooting incident in U.S. history, with initial reports citing 32 dead and 29 more wounded in the bloodiest school massacre since Columbine. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog that initially discovered the psychiatric drug connection in the Columbine shootings, says the media and law enforcement must move quickly to investigate the Virginia shooter's psychiatric drug history — a common factor amongst school shooters. In fact eight recent school shooters were under the influence of psychiatric drugs documented by the FDA to cause suicidal behavior, mania, psychosis, hallucinations, hostility and “homicidal ideation.” In other instances the shooter’s medical records were never made public, so their psychiatric drug use remains in question. In September, 2005, following the Red Lake Indian Reservation shootings, the National Foundation of Women Legislators, together with American Indian tribal leaders called for a Congressional investigation into the correlation between psychiatric drug use and school massacres, given the high rate of psychiatric drug use by the shooters. Congress has yet to investigate the psychiatric drug link to these senseless acts of violence despite international warnings that the drugs can cause manic and homicidal behavior.
School shootings committed by individuals under the influence of psychiatric drugs include:
March 21, 2005: Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota: 16-year-old Native American Jeff Weise, reportedly under the influence of the antidepressant Prozac, went on a shooting rampage at home and at his school, killing nine people and wounding five before committing suicide.
April 10, 2001: Wahluke, Washington: 16-year-old Cory Baadsgaard took a rifle to his high school, and held 23 classmates and a teacher hostage while on a high dose of the antidepressant Effexor.
March 22, 2001: El Cajon, California: 18-year-old Jason Hoffman was on two antidepressants, Effexor and Celexa, when he opened fire at his California high school wounding five. Hoffman had also undergone an “anger management” program.
March 7, 2000: Williamsport, Pennsylvania: 14-year-old Elizabeth Bush was on the antidepressant Prozac when she blasted away at fellow students in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, wounding one.
May 20, 1999: Conyers, Georgia: 15-year-old T.J. Solomon was being treated with a mix of antidepressants when he opened fire on and wounded 6 of his classmates.
April 20, 1999: Columbine, Colorado: 18-year-old Eric Harris was on the antidepressant Luvox when he and his partner Dylan Klebold killed 12 classmates and a teacher and wounded 23 others before taking their own lives in the bloodiest school massacre in history. The coroner confirmed that the antidepressant was in his system through toxicology reports while Dylan Klebold’s autopsy was never made public. Harris and Klebold underwent "anger management" and "death education" classes.
April 16, 1999: Notus, Idaho: 15-year-old Shawn Cooper fired two shotgun rounds in his school narrowly missing students; he was taking a mix of antidepressants.
May 21, 1998: Springfield, Oregon: 15-year-old Kip Kinkel murdered his own parents and then proceeded to school where he opened fire on students in the cafeteria, killing two and wounding 22. Kinkel had been on Prozac. Kinkel also underwent "anger management" classes.
Read this report by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International to find out more about the dangerous connection between violence and psychiatric drugs. Or click here to read the Joint Resolution of Intergovernmental & Inter-tribal Affairs and Education & Training Policy Committees from the National Foundation of Women Legislators and tribal leaders.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights is an international psychiatric watchdog group co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, to investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights. Contact CCHR's Media Department at 800-869-2247 or humanrights@cchr.org.
