1995 Richland High School shooting

1995 criminal attack in Tennessee, US

1995 Richland High School shooting

Location| Lynnville, Tennessee, United States
Date| November 15, 1995 (CST)

Attack type

| School shooting, double-murder
Weapons| .22-caliber Remington Model 522 Viper semi-automatic rifle
Deaths| 2
Injured| 1
Perpetrator| James Ellison Rouse
Motive| Revenge for poor grades
Convicted| Rouse, Stephen Abbott
Verdict| Guilty on all counts
Convictions| Rouse:

* First-degree murder
* Second-degree murder
* Attempted first-degree murder

Abbott:
Criminal responsibility (4 counts)
Sentence| Rouse:
Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, plus 42 years
Abbott:
40 years in prison

The Richland High School shooting was a school shooting that occurred on Wednesday, November 15, 1995,[1] in Lynnville, Tennessee, a small community located in Giles County. Seventeen-year-old James Ellison "Jamie" Rouse, a senior student at the school, murdered one teacher and one student, and seriously wounded another teacher.[2]

## Shooting

[edit]

Rouse used a .22-calibre Remington Viper semi-automatic rifle,[3] which he hid behind bushes before driving to retrieve his friend. His friend Stephen Abbot drove Jamie Rouse the rest of the way to Richland High School. He parked the car outside the school, and Rouse entered through the north entrance hallway. Inside the hallway he confronted teachers Carolyn Yancey and Carolyn Foster.[4]

He then shot both teachers in the head in the view of over fifty students in the hallway. He then aimed his rifle at football coach Ron Shirey; however, he missed and fatally shot freshman Diane Collins in the throat. He was then tackled by a male student and an agriculture teacher, who forcibly took the rifle away from him. Carolyn Foster was killed by a gunshot wound to the head, while Carolyn Yancey survived in serious condition.[2]

## Trial

[edit]

Rouse was convicted as an adult of one count of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, and one count of first-degree attempted murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 42 years.[5] Stephen Abbott was convicted of criminal responsibility for second degree murder and criminal response for attempted first and second degree murder as a judge decided Abbott knew what Jamie Rouse was planning because Rouse had told him, "It's going to happen today." Abbott was sentenced to 40 years in prison.[6]

## Aftermath

[edit]

Rouse is currently imprisoned in the Turney Center Industrial Complex.[7][8][9][10][11] As of January 2016, he was up for resentencing due to the Supreme Court cases Miller v. Alabama and Montgomery v. Louisiana, which have banned juvenile offenders from getting a mandatory life without parole sentence and required those who were previously sentenced to life to be given a chance for a resentencing.[12][13]

## See also

[edit]

* List of school shootings in the United States (before 2000)
* List of school-related attacks

## References

[edit]

1. ^ LAURIE GOODSTEIN and WILLIAM GLABERSON (April 10, 2000). "The Well-Marked Roads to Homicidal Rage". New York Times.
2. ^ a b Meyer, Richrd E. (April 22, 2000). "When The Shooting Stops". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
3. ^ "School Killers — The List — Crime Library". March 10, 2014. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
4. ^ Rebecca Leung. "The mind of a school killer". 48 Hours. CBS News. Archived from the original on April 15, 2004.
5. ^ Violence Goes to School Archived October 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
6. ^ "When The Shooting Stops". Los Angeles Times. April 22, 2000.
7. ^ "U.S. Supreme Court rules on juvenile offenders". Columbia Daily Herald. January 25, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
8. ^ Mass Shootings in America: Understanding the Debates, Causes, and Responses. ABC-CLIO. May 25, 2018. ISBN 9781440856259.
9. ^ "Richland High School shooting. The Richland High School shooting was a school shooting that occurred on Wednesday, November 15, 1995, in Lynnville, Tennessee, A".
10. ^ "'Relearn school': Discipline amid pandemic dominates concerns at Maury County schools".
11. ^ "Detailed Results".
12. ^ "U.S. Supreme Court rules on juvenile offenders". The Daily Herald. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
13. ^ "James Ellison Rouse v. State of Tennessee | Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts". www.tncourts.gov. Retrieved December 4, 2020.

* v
* t
* e

School shootings in the United States

Prior to 2000
(full list)|

| 1760s|

* Enoch Brown school massacre (1764)

|

1960s|

* University of Texas (1966)
* Rose-Mar College of Beauty (1966)

1970s|

* Kent State University (1970)
* Jackson State University (1970)
* Olean High School (1974)
* Computer Learning Center (1976)
* California State University, Fullerton (1976)
* Cleveland Elementary School (1979)

1980s|

* 49th Street Elementary School (1984)
* Cokeville Elementary School (1986)
* Hubbard Woods Elementary School (1988)
* Oakland Elementary School (1988)
* Cleveland Elementary School (1989)

1990s|

* University of Iowa (1991)
* Lindhurst High School (1992)
* Bard College at Simon's Rock (1992)
* East Carter High School (1993)
* Wickliffe Middle School (1994)
* Blackville–Hilda High School (1995)
* Richland High School (1995)
* Frontier Middle School (1996)
* San Diego State University (1996)
* Bethel Regional High School (1997)
* Pearl High School (1997)
* Heath High School (1997)
* Westside Middle School (1998)
* Parker Middle School (1998)
* Thurston High School (1998)
* Columbine High School (1999)

2000 to present
(full list)|

| 2000s|

* Buell Elementary School (2000)
* University of Arkansas (2000)
* Santana High School (2001)
* Appalachian School of Law (2002)
* John McDonogh High School (2003)
* Case Western Reserve University (2003)
* Rocori High School (2003)
* Red Lake Senior High School (2005)
* Campbell County High School (2005)
* Pine Middle School (2006)
* Platte Canyon High School (2006)
* Weston High School (2006)
* West Nickel Mines School (2006)
* Virginia Tech (2007)
* Delaware State University (2007)
* SuccessTech Academy (2007)
* Northern Illinois University (2008)
* E.O. Junior High School (2008)
* University of Central Arkansas (2008)

|

2010s|

* University of Alabama in Huntsville (2010)
* Chardon High School (2012)
* Oikos University (2012)
* Sandy Hook Elementary School (2012)
* Santa Monica College (2013)
* Sparks Middle School (2013)
* Marysville Pilchuck High School (2014)
* Umpqua Community College (2015)
* Northern Arizona University (2015)
* University of California, Los Angeles (2016)
* El Centro College (2016)
* Townville Elementary School (2016)
* North Park Elementary School (2017)
* Rancho Tehama Elementary School (2017)
* Aztec High School (2017)
* Marshall County High School (2018)
* Stoneman Douglas High School (2018)
* Santa Fe High School (2018)
* Noblesville West Middle School (2018)
* University of North Carolina at Charlotte (2019)
* STEM School Highlands Ranch (2019)
* Saugus High School (2019)

2020s|

* Oxford High School (2021)
* Liberty Point International Middle School (2022)
* East High School (2022)
* Robb Elementary School (2022)
* Rusdale High School (2022)
* Central Visual and Performing Arts High School (2022)
* University of Virginia (2022)
* Juarez Community Academy (2022)
* Richneck Elementary School (2023)
* Michigan State University (2023)
* Covenant School (2023)
* Virginia Commonwealth University (2023)
* University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2023)
* University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2023)
* Perry High School (2024)
* Apalachee High School (2024)

In media|

| Film and
television|

* The Deadly Tower (1975)
* Detention: The Siege at Johnson High (1997)
* Duck! The Carbine High Massacre (1999)
* Bang Bang You're Dead (2002)
* Bowling for Columbine (2002)
* Heart of America (2002)
* Home Room (2002)
* "Jimmy" (2002)
* Elephant (2003)
* Zero Day (2003)
* American Yearbook (2004)
* "Time Stands Still" (2004)
* The Only Way (2004)
* Dawn Anna (2005)
* All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)
* American Gun (2006)
* State's Evidence (2006)
* The Life Before Her Eyes (2007)
* April Showers (2009)
* Beautiful Boy (2010)
* We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
* Hello Herman (2012)
* Rudderless (2014)
* Sins of Our Youth (2014)
* The Cokeville Miracle (2015)
* I'm Not Ashamed (2016)
* "Dead Kids" (2018)
* Vox Lux (2018)
* Safety (2019)
* If Anything Happens I Love You (2020)
* Run Hide Fight (2020)
* The Fallout (2021)
* Mass (2021)
* Eric Larue (2023)
* The Graduates (2023)
* The Truth vs. Alex Jones (2024)

|

Literature|

* Give a Boy a Gun (2000)
* Nobody Left to Hate (2001)
* No Easy Answers (2002)
* After (2003)
* Columbine (2009)
* Hate List (2009)
* "'No Way to Prevent This', Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens" (2014—)
* A Mother's Reckoning (2016)

Other|

* Pico's School (1999)
* Lullaby for Columbine (1999)
* Shoot (Hellblazer) (1999/2010)
* "The Nobodies" (2000)
* columbinus (2005)
* Super Columbine Massacre RPG! (2005)
* "Valentine's Day" (2013)
* The Library (2014)

Related terms
and topics|

* Active shooter
* Columbine effect
* Gun violence in the United States
* List of school shootings in the United States by death toll
* Mass shootings in the United States
* Thoughts and prayers
* School shooting
* School violence

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