On May 21, 1998, 15-year-old freshman Kipland Kinkel opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle in the cafeteria of Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. This led to 2 students being killed and the wounding of 37 others. Kipland had killed his parents a day before the shooting happened, while also being suspended for being caught with a stolen firearm in his locker.
Kipland Phillip Kinkel was born on August 20, 1982, and is the second child of William and Faith Kinkel, who were both teachers and is the younger brother to his sister, Kristin. His family spent a year-long sabbatical in Spain where Kip was later enrolled in a Spanish kindergarten at 6 years old. His parents stated that he struggled with the curriculum. When they moved back to Oregon, he attended elementary school where he was held back a year as they felt that Kip lacked maturity and had slow emotional and physical development. He was later diagnosed with dyslexia and was placed in extensive special education by the beginning of second grade. He had an interest in firearms and later on, his dad enrolled him in safety courses, also giving him a 9mm Glock and a .22 caliber rifle when he was 15. He also had an interest in explosives and he would make bombs, which were mostly gasoline-based.
His classmates described him as strange, morbid, psychotic, and schizoid. He would often talk about committing acts of violence, telling his friends he wanted to join the U.S. Army to find out how it felt to kill someone. Kip’s parents enrolled him in anger management and got him evaluated by a psychologist, Jeffrey Hicks. He saw Hicks over a period of 6 months, in which he was then diagnosed with depression and began a prescription for Prozac. He did not refill his prescription when it ran out in 1997. He exhibited signs of paranoid schizophrenia and went to great lengths to hide any symptoms of fear of being labeled as abnormal or being institutionalized. He said he had been hearing voices in his head since he was 12. He eventually had paranoid delusions, in which he believed the government implanted a chip in his brain and the Chinese were going to invade the west coast. Kip was suspended from Thurston High School on May 20 after being found in possession of a stolen, loaded gun that was in his school locker. He was pending on expulsion and was arrested.
On May 20, 1998, Kip’s dad picked him up from the police station and he later killed both of his parents in their house. He went up to his dad who was at the kitchen counter drinking coffee, and shot him in the back of the head with a .22 rifle, dragged him to the bathroom, and covered him with a sheet. Once his mom got home, he met her in the garage where he told her that he loved her and shot her in the back of her head twice, three times in her face, and once in her heart. He dragged her body across the garage and covered her body with a sheet as well.
The following day Kip went to his high school and walked towards the cafeteria. He wore a trench coat that hid the five weapons he carried with him; two hunting knives, a rifle, a 9x19mm Glock 19 pistol, and a .22-caliber Ruger MK II pistol. He was carrying 1,127 rounds of ammunition on him. He fired two shots which fatally wounded 16-year-old Ben Walker and wounded another student. Once he was in the cafeteria, he fired the remaining 48 rounds in his rifle, which shot 25 students, and killed 17-year-old Mikeal Nickolauson.
While Kip was reloading his rifle, a group of 7 students including wounded student Jacob Ryder tackled him. Kip drew his glock and fired one shot which injured Ryder again as well as another student. The students were able to detain him while the police arrived. While in custody, Kip grabbed one of the knives that was secured on his leg and attacked a police officer, begging to be shot. The officer subdued him by spraying him with pepper spray.
The shooting made national news; over 200 counselors volunteered and over $400,000 of aid money was given. On September 24, 1999, three days before jury selection, Kip pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder, and was sentenced to 111 years in prison without the possibility of parole. He is currently incarcerated at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon.
