Luke Woodham

Luke Woodham was a high-school student in Pearl, Mississippi, whose violence on October 1, 1997, moved from his home to the school where he attacked fellow students. The episode ended with two girls dead and two other students wounded, but the book presents it as more than a single outburst: a diary revealed earlier violence, and police connected Woodham to a group whose plans reached beyond the school.

Identity and Setting

Woodham lived in a small Bible Belt town. Early on the morning of October 1, 1997, he killed his 50-year-old mother. At 7:55 that morning, he arrived at the Commons Room of the town high school carrying a .30-30 rifle. The sequence made the school attack part of a wider chain of violence that had begun at home.

The School Attack

In the Commons Room, Woodham shot at the students gathered there, killing two girls and wounding two others. After leaving the building, he was tackled outside by assistant principal Joel Myrick. When Myrick asked why he had done it, Woodham referred to a recent occasion when he had delivered pizza and given Myrick a discount. The ordinary familiarity of that detail stood in sharp contrast to the attack.

Woodham later said that he felt the world had wronged him and that he could no longer bear it. The account records this as his explanation, not as a complete account of what drove the violence. Police subsequently found evidence of earlier acts and of a group setting in which destructive plans had been discussed.

Earlier Violence and the Group

A diary or manifesto found after the attack described an earlier killing: the previous week, Woodham and another accomplice had killed his dog, Sparkle. The diary’s account makes clear that the school shooting was not his first act of violence, even though he had been regarded as quiet and introverted.

Police discovered that Woodham belonged to a group of boys led by 18-year-old Grant Boyette, whom the others called Father. Boyette allegedly prayed to Satan and admired Adolf Hitler and Friedrich Nietzsche. Allen Shaw, another boy associated with the group, claimed that its members worshipped demons and tried to summon them. The group reportedly had seven members, described as outcasts, and its stated ambitions included acquiring money and power.

The plans attributed to the group were extensive: they discussed cutting telephone lines, using homemade napalm to set the high school on fire, and escaping through Louisiana and Mexico to Cuba after killing their enemies. The account presents these as plans, not as actions Woodham carried out during the October 1 attack. Their existence nevertheless places his violence within a group context rather than leaving it as an isolated school incident.

Aftermath and Interpretation

The killings and the discovery of the group left Pearl’s residents searching for an explanation. With no clear rationale for the boys’ behavior, the predominantly Christian community could turn to supernatural accounts of evil. The book records that response as part of the aftermath: the town’s effort to make sense of the violence, rather than a demonstrated explanation for Woodham’s actions.