Since the horrific April 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, which left 15 students dead (including the two teenaged gunman), the media has been flooded with stories of violence in schools.

In March 2001, two people were killed and 13 others were wounded when a student opened fire in a San Diego High School. Just a few weeks later, seven people were injured when a school shooting occurred a mere 6 miles away from the fatal San Diego incident. Furthermore, two 17-year-old students were arrested in Twentynine Palms, California when authorities found a hit list in one of their homes and a rifle in another, and Elizabeth Bush, a 14-year-old from Pennsylvania, shot one of her Catholic School classmates.

What is going on? Elizabeth Bush candidly spoke out about her act of violence to news reporter, Connie Chung. Apparently, Elizabeth suffered from depression as a result of being ostracized by her classmates. When Chung asked Elizabeth if all of the reports on school shootings had contributed to her violence, Elizabeth answered, “No, I had a choice to do this or not. I chose to do it.”

According to a study performed by the Secret Service, Elizabeth’s story is not at all uncommon. In fact, the one common thread that the Secret Service found throughout perpetrators of school shootings was depression.

The Secret Service investigated 37 incidents that involved 41 perpetrators and found:

• Prior to the incident, three-quarters of these perpetrators had either contemplated suicide or tried to kill themselves
• More than two-thirds felt bullied by someone at school
• More than half planned their attacks at least 2 days in advance
• More than three-quarters told someone of their plans