1997 Bethel Regional High School shooting

Mass shooting in Bethel, Alaska December 2025 April 2024 1997 Bethel Regional High School shooting Alaska infobox center 250 Location of Bethel Regional High School 60.8021 -161.7705 Bethel, Alaska, U.S. 60.8021 -161.7705 region:US-AL Students and staff at Bethel Regional High School February 19, 1997 School shooting, mass shooting 2 2 Evan Ramsey Mossberg 500 12-gauge shotgun * Retaliation for school bullying Psychological trauma On February 19, 1997, a school shooting occurred at Bethel Regional High School in Bethel, Alaska. Two people, including the school principal, were killed and two others were injured before the perpetrator, 16-year-old student Evan Ramsey, surrendered to police. Prior events Reports say in the two weeks before the incident, more than 15 students knew of Ramsey's intention to commit a school shooting, and two assisted him. One student, James Randall, taught him how to load and fire a shotgun. Another student, Matthew Charles, told him of the infamy that would come. Reports say that several students brought cameras to school on the day of the shooting and that many students were watching the shooting from a library balcony overlooking the student commons area.http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/ntac/chicago_sun/evan16.htm School shooters usually tell friends their plans 2014-05-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20100103000215/http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/ntac/chicago_sun/evan16.htm 2010-01-03 dead Shooting On February 19, 1997, Ramsey armed himself with a Mossberg 500 12-gauge shotgun and arrived at Bethel Regional High School by school bus. He approached the student commons area, brandishing the shotgun, and shot 15-year-old Josh Palacios, who had argued and fought with Ramsey two years prior, in the abdomen. Palacios later died after emergency surgery. The same shotgun blast wounded two other students. Reyne Athanas, an art teacher, entered the commons area after hearing the gunshots, and saw Ramsey firing at the ceiling. Athanas said she tried and failed to convince Ramsey to surrender. He then entered the main lobby, where he shot principal Ron Edwards twice; in the back and shoulder, killing him. Ramsey then retreated to the commons area, shooting once at police. An officer returned fire, but Ramsey was uninjured.Baxter Jenn 2021-05-10 Evan Ramsey: Alaska's First School Shooter https://medium.com/@jennbaxter_69070/evan-ramsey-ebc566cceccd 2021-08-21 Medium en Ramsey later placed the shotgun barrel under his chin, but then reportedly said, "I don't want to die," laid the shotgun on the ground, and surrendered without further incident.RAMSEY v. STATE (2002) https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ak-court-of-appeals/1377891.html https://archive.today/20250703144259/https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ak-court-of-appeals/1377891.html July 3, 2025 2025-07-03 Findlaw en-US Motives Ramsey was believed to be frequently bullied at school.Bethel remembers and reflects on school shooting anniversary March 2019 InternetArchiveBot yes https://www.time.com/time/nation/article /0,8599,127231,00.html Young Voices from the Cell Time 2013-06-11 July 2021 medicmedichttp://ktuu.com/global/story.asp?s=6117416 Bethel works to prevent bullying 2014-05-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20090516012309/http://ktuu.com/global/story.asp?s=6117416 2009-05-16 dead According to his friends, Ramsey complained of being harassed and teased by other students, who he claimed only addressed him as "Screech", a character from the NBC TV series Saved by the Bell. In addition to being picked on by peers, Ramsey had a long history of abuse. His mother lived with a series of violent men who abused Ramsey and his brothers. He also was physically and sexually abused by an older boy in one of his foster homes.Langman, Peter. Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Pages 113-114. Perpetrator Evan Ramsey 1981 2 8 Anchorage, Alaska, U.S. 210 years imprisonment; commuted to 198 years imprisonment Incarcerated; Eligible for parole in 2066 First degree murder (2 counts) Third degree assault (15 counts) Evan Ramsey was born to Don and Carol Ramsey on February 8, 1981. When he was five years old, his father was imprisoned for ten years after a police standoff, and his mother developed alcoholism. Ramsey and his family soon after were forced to relocate to the Anchorage area after their house was set on fire. When he was seven, the Anchorage Department of Youth and Family Services removed Ramsey and his two brothers from his mother's custody and placed them in foster care. He was soon separated from his older brother and lived in eleven different foster homes in the three years between 1988 and 1991. Ramsey and his younger brother were allegedly abused by several foster parents. His younger brother claimed that their foster brothers would pay other children to beat Ramsey for their amusement.April 2019 At age 10, Ramsey and his brothers settled in Bethel, Alaska, with their foster mother, who later became their legal guardian.https://medium.com/@jennbaxter_69070/evan-ramsey-ebc566cceccd Evan Ramsey: Alaska's First School Shooter 10 May 2021 Ramsey suffered from depression since early childhood and attempted suicide when he was ten years old.March 7, 2001 Rage: A Look At A Teen Killer https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rage-a-look-at-a-teen-killer/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20030220042848/https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/08/17/60II/main58625.shtml February 20, 2003 April 16, 2024 CBS Family Ramsey was not the first in his family to take a firearm into a public place. In October 1986, his father, Don Ramsey, went to the Anchorage Times newspaper office armed with an Armalite AR-18 rifle, a revolver, and more than 210 rounds of ammunition. While inside the building, Don Ramsey began taking hostages and was involved in a brief standoff with police until he surrendered. His motive was that he was angered that the Times refused to publish a political letter he had written. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and was paroled several weeks before his son perpetrated the school shooting. A week before the school shooting, Ramsey's older brother was arrested for armed robbery.Langman, Peter. Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Page 115. Aftermath Following his arrest, Ramsey claimed he did not understand his actions would kill anyone.https://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5040342&page=1 School shooter: "I didn't realize they would die" Abcnews.go.com 2008-06-11 2013-06-11 His trial was delayed as prosecutors discussed whether Ramsey should be tried as a juvenile or as an adult. Prosecutors decided to try Ramsey as an adult in Anchorage. On December 2, 1998, Ramsey was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of first-degree attempted murder, and fifteen counts of third-degree assault. Judge Mark Isaac Wood sentenced him to 210 years in prison. On appeal, his sentence was reduced to two 99-year prison sentences.http://www.law.state.ak.us/pdf/press/ramsey_resentencing_062104.pdf Microsoft Word - Ramsey Resentencing 062104_1.doc 2013-06-11 He was initially imprisoned at the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward before being moved to the Wildwood Correctional Complex around 2017. He will be eligible for parole in 2066 when he is 85 years old.https://www.alaskapublic.org/2017/02/22/20-years-after-the-bethel-school-shooting/ Twenty years after the Bethel School shooting Alaska Public Media 23 February 2017 Within the first 3 years of being a convict in prison, Ramsey gambled with another prisoner and won, after which the other prisoner owed Ramsey four candy bars. When the prisoner refused to pay his debt, Ramsey filled a sock with batteries and attacked the prisoner with it, which led to Ramsey being sent to Solitary confinement for a period of 6 months.Bower Timothy Roche and Amanda 2001-05-20 Young Voices From The Cell https://time.com/archive/6919908/young-voices-from-the-cell/ https://archive.today/20250703161535/https://time.com/archive/6919908/young-voices-from-the-cell/ July 3, 2025 2025-07-03 TIME en On February 15, 2006, Ramsey participated in an interview with Anderson Cooper titled In the Mind of a Killer, in which his father, Don Ramsey, blamed the video game Doom for the shooting.http://salsa.net/peace/videoviolence.html Video games cause school shootings Salsa.net 2013-06-11 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120223223710/http://salsa.net/peace/videoviolence.html 2012-02-23 His crime was also profiled on the Court TV series Anatomy of a Crime. Ramsey's actions were also covered in the program Kids Who Kill which also featured interviews with Ramsey.April 2019 See also List of school shootings in the United States by death toll List of school shootings in the United States (before 2000) References External links Violence goes to School Young lives at risk Court case of Evan E. Ramsey Portrait Of A High School Killer Category:1997 in Alaska Category:1997 murders in the United States Category:1997 mass shootings in the United States Category:Attacks on schools in 1997 Category:Bethel, Alaska Category:Crimes in Alaska Category:Deaths by firearm in Alaska Category:February 1997 crimes in the United States Category:Mass shootings in Alaska Category:Murder in Alaska Category:High school killings in the United States Category:High school shootings in the United States Category:School shootings committed by pupils Category:School shootings motivated by bullying Category:School shootings in the United States Category:Mass shootings involving shotguns in the United States Category:Mass shootings in schools