The Waikino school shooting took place on 19 October 1923 at Waikino School in Waikino, near Waihi, in the Waikato district of New Zealand's North Island. It claimed the lives of two students – Kelvin McLean, aged 13, and Charles Stewart, aged 9 – and injured six others. The gunman, John Christopher Higgins, was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment on the grounds of insanity. It is the first and only school shooting in New Zealand history.
Background and perpetrator
John Christopher Higgins, born in Canada, had arrived in New Zealand 15 years prior to the shooting. He was a firewood dealer. and lived in Waitāwheta, across the river from Waikino.
After a series of personal problems - his chickens died, bees were stolen from his hives, and other people's cattle grazed on his land after his fences were cut - he blamed his neighbors. Two days before the shooting, he found his horse dead, and claimed someone had killed it. He again blamed his neighbors.
He had previously had conflict with the Waikino School, built 15 years earlier, after a truancy officer had visited him and fined him for keeping his children home and locking them in the house to watch over the property.
Shooting
On 19 October 1923, at 10 a.m., Higgins arrived at the school with a .32 calibre Colt automatic revolver, saying he had "come for revenge" and rambling about being persecuted. Robert Theodore Reid, the headmaster, noticed Higgins, and brought him into the study. Higgins then pulled out a gun.Reid tried to convince him to leave. Higgins told him he wanted revenge on the children of people who had wronged him, and when Reid suggested he go to the battery and target the men who had wronged him, he refused. After he realized Higgins would not listen, he tried to warn the teachers and children and tried to physically stop him, before Higgins shot him through the jaw.
Onlookers noted he seemed to be looking for specific people. Some students jumped out the windows to escape, while others hid behind desks and cupboards. Teachers led students to safety. Higgins walked up to Kelvin McLean, aged 13, who pleaded for his life, having helped Higgins before. Higgins shot him twice at close range. Charles Stewart, aged 9, was also shot at close range, in the head. Six others were injured. Reid pretended to be dead while Higgins barricaded himself inside the study.
Higgins fired at civilians through the window. Policemen and doctors soon arrived, and police told him to throw the gun out of the window, but instead he opened fire, shooting one of the police after the officer aimed his gun at him through a gap in the door. Higgins eventually did threw his gun out of the window, and was arrested. After his arrest, he was punched in face by one of the locals. After he was arrested, he was found with a knife and three sticks of explosive gelignite, which would have been enough to destroy the school entirely.
Aftermath
Higgins appeared in court the next day after spending the night in jail. After his court appearance he was sent on a train to Mount Eden jail in Auckland. He claimed he "did not know why" he did it, saying that he "could not help doing it." Higgins was charged with two counts of murder and four of attempted murder on 14 December 1923.
His trial began two months later, and Higgins pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Details of Higgins' past behavior were shared during the trial: he built trapdoors on his property so he could escape if approached, watched his neighbors through telescopes and holes he had cut in his walls, and often locked his son in the house or kept him in the stable with the horse overnight to keep watch. He was ultimately found guilty on 15 February 1924 and sentenced to death. The Crown prosecutor argued that even though Higgins was insane, his insanity did not prevent him from understanding the morality of his actions. He was noted to show no emotion his final day of court, and had no comment after the jury gave its verdict. The court commuted his sentence to life imprisonment less than a month later, after it was decided that he suffered from "chronic delusional insanity".