Charlie Decker shoots Mrs. Underwood

The shooting of Jean Underwood is the catalytic event of the novel, transforming Charlie Decker's internal rage into an irreversible public act. It is the moment when the suppressed violence of his childhood and adolescence erupts into the classroom, shattering the ordinary routine of a May morning and establishing the terms of the hostage standoff that follows. The killing is both a spontaneous explosion and a calculated step in Decker's self-described process of "getting it on."

The Act and Its Immediate Context

After a tense confrontation with Principal Thomas Denver in the administration office, during which Decker verbally humiliates the principal and is expelled, he returns to the first-floor hallway. He sets the contents of his locker on fire, retrieves a pistol from his jacket—a gun he had taken from his father's desk drawer—and loads it with shells. He then walks to Room 16, where his Algebra II class is in session. Mrs. Underwood is at the blackboard, explaining that "the axioms themselves never change." When she looks up and asks, "Do you have an office pass, Mr. Decker?" Decker replies "Yes," draws the pistol from his belt, and shoots her in the head. The bullet kills her instantly; she falls sideways onto her desk and then rolls onto the floor, her expectant expression frozen on her face. The shot is heard throughout the building, and the fire alarm, triggered by Decker's burning locker, begins to blare.

Decker's State of Mind and Motivation

Decker describes the shooting as the culmination of a long process of psychological deterioration. He had been carrying a pipe wrench to school for months, and had already severely beaten his chemistry teacher, Mr. Carlson, with it. The shooting of Mrs. Underwood is presented not as a calculated plan but as an inevitable release. In the moments before pulling the trigger, Decker experiences a familiar detachment: his hands stop shaking, his stomach flutters subside, and he feels "cool and calm," as if floating outside himself. He later reflects that he "had to" kill her, that "it came down to that," though he cannot articulate a rational reason. The act is framed as a response to a lifetime of accumulated trauma—the memory of his father's violent threats on a hunting trip, the humiliation of being beaten by a bully at a birthday party, the failure of his first sexual encounter, and the constant pressure of his father's contempt. The shooting is the point at which his private pain becomes a public catastrophe.

Consequences and Aftermath

Mrs. Underwood's death is the first of two murders Decker commits that morning; he also shoots and kills history teacher John Downes Vance when Vance opens the classroom door to investigate the fire alarm. The killing of Mrs. Underwood immediately transforms the classroom into a hostage situation. Decker takes control of the room, ordering the students to sit down, locking the door, and using the intercom to negotiate with the authorities. The body of Mrs. Underwood lies on the floor throughout the three-hour standoff, a constant, silent presence that Decker occasionally kicks or looks at with a mixture of disgust and detachment. The event also serves as the catalyst for the psychological unraveling of the other characters: it triggers the students' own confessions and acts of cruelty, most notably their brutal attack on Ted Jones. In the legal aftermath, Decker is found not guilty by reason of insanity and remanded to Augusta State Hospital. The shooting of Mrs. Underwood is the irreversible act that defines his fate, the point of no return from which the rest of the narrative unfolds.