Incident Summary:

"12/07/2017: An assailant, identified as William Atchison, opened fire on students at Aztec High School in Aztec, New Mexico, United States. The assailant shot and killed two students and fired multiple shots at a locked classroom before shooting and killing himself. Statements Atchinson made in his suicide note and posted online reflect a fixation on mass shootings, as well as a misogynist and white supremacist narrative referenced in message forums where participants self-identify as "involuntarily celibate" (incel)."

Overview

GTD ID:
201712070037

When:
2017-12-07

Country:
United States

Region:
North America

Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
New Mexico

City:
Aztec

What

Attack Information
Type of Attack (more)	Armed Assault
Successful Attack? (more)	Yes

Target Information (more)
Target Type: Educational Institution
Name of Entity	Aztec High School
Specific Description	School
Nationality of Target	United States

Additional Information
Hostages	No
Property Damage	Yes
Extent of Property Damage	Minor (likely < $1 million)
Value of Property Damage	Unknown

How

Weapon Information
Type	Sub-type
Firearms	Handgun
Weapon Details
A 9-mm Glock handgun was used in the attack.

Additional Information
Suicide Attack?	Yes
Part of Multiple Incident?	No
Criterion 1 (more)	Yes
Criterion 2 (more)	Yes
Criterion 3 (more)	Yes
Doubt Terrorism Proper (more)	No
Additional Information	The victims included students Casey Jordan Marquez and Francisco Fernandez.

Who

Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name	Claimed Responsibility
White extremists	Yes (Confirmed: Unknown; Mode: Posted to website, blog, etc.)

Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators	1
Number of Captured Perpetrators	0

Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties	3 Fatalities / 0 Injured
Total Number of Fatalities	3
Number of U.S. Fatalities	3
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities	1
Total Number of Injured	0
Number of U.S. Injured	0
Number of Perpetrators Injured	0

Sources

Sources
"Racial motive disputed in New Mexico school shooting," The Associated Press, February 7, 2018."

"How Elliot Rodger went from misfit mass murderer to 'saint' for group of misogynists -- and suspected Toronto killer," Los Angeles Times, April 26, 2018."
"White man behind school shooting was obsessed with Trump and Hitler," Newsweek, December 15, 2017."