Could Mass Shootings Be Contagious? Research Says It's Possible

CYPRESS, TX — Could school shootings or making online threats to cause violence to classmates be contagious? One researcher thinks it could be.

Sherry Towers, an Arizona State University researcher, began studying the data in 2014 and with the help of her team found that past high-profile mass killings and school shootings in the U.S. fit a contagion model that helped inspire other shooters to carry out similar crimes.

This so-called contagion, which can infect numerous young minds, usually last about two weeks, according to Towers' research.

“I wondered if it was just a statistical fluke or if somehow through news media those events were sometimes planting unconscious ideation in vulnerable people for a short time after each event,” she said in an ASU interview.

It was 93 days between the shooting at Parkland, Florida, that killed 17, and the shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, on May 18.

However, there may be something Towers’ contagion theory.

In the days since 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis allegedly walked into Santa Fe High School and shot 23 people, killing 10, school districts all over the Houston area have seen a rash of threats made by students.

On the weekend after the shooting, school districts all over Houston announced there would be increases in security through the end of the school year, but the announcement seemed to have very little effect in thwarting the efforts of gun violence at schools.

On Monday, at least four students brought guns to school campuses or made veiled threats of violence to their fellow students.

On Wednesday, there were seven more threats, according to a KTRK report.

One threat in Wharton led to a lockdown on the campus, but there was more.

In Conroe ISD, there were rumors of a gun on campus and Snapchat threats resulting in policy changes at one junior high campus, and much the same happened at Cy-Lakes High School frightening teachers and students alike, and again at Cinco Ranch High School in Katy ISD.

In all cases, no credible threats were found.

Officials warn that threats like these are taken seriously and telling authorities that it was just a joke won’t keep that person from facing felony charges of making a terroristic threat.

RELATED STORIES:

• Texas School Shooting: Security Increased On Area Campuses
• La Marque Student Arrested After School Threat
• Huffman ISD Student Caught With Gun At School

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