A shooting last April at Iowa Western Community College was one of a 100 such incidents since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in late 2012, according to a national advocacy group.
The Daily NonPareil says “Everytown for Gun Safety,” a group backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, released a report this week analyzing 100 cases where a firearm was discharged at a school or on a campus – as documented through press or law enforcement reports, excluding three instances of self-defense – since the Dec. 14, 2012, murders in Newtown, Conn.

One of those was a shooting on April 16th, 2014, at Iowa Western in Council Bluffs,  where a 19-year-old student was struck in the upper arm following what he described to police as a Craigslist deal gone wrong. According to police, the shooting took place near the Reiver Village dormitories when a student and his friend drove to meet someone to sell an item. Two men arrived and got into the back seat of the car, where one of them drew a gun and demanded their wallets. The student attempted to grab the gun, believing it was fake, causing a struggle for the gun. He was shot in the upper left arm and shoulder, and the two men fled and drove away. The victim, Dalton Crosser, was treated and released from an area hospital.

On May 5, Council Bluffs police arrested Richard L. Dawson, 19, of Omaha, in connection to the crime. Dawson was initially charged with attempted murder, first-degree robbery and willful injury causing serious injury. The Omaha man is currently in prison after pleading guilty.

The Everytown report also included a shooting at North High School in Des Moines on Jan. 31st, 2014, as well as a shooting at Algona High/Middle School on Nov. 1st, 2013, where a man died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The final analysis in the report said “Regardless of the individuals involved in a shooting or the circumstances that gave rise to it, gunfire in our schools shatters the sense of security that these institutions are meant to foster. Everyone should agree that even one school shooting is one too many.”

A copy of the report can be found at everytown.org/article/schoolshootings.