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For the first time, A Safe Place: How to Prevent the Next School Shooting and The Ultimate U.S. School Shooting Reference Guide, two companion pieces, will serve as the most comprehensive study on every school shooting in the United States from 1990-2020. These books are for parents, students, and teachers concerned about preventing the next school shooting. In essence, these books offer community-centered solutions that do not require an act of Congress in order to take action now. 

As a research librarian, I’ve uncovered more school shooting events in a 30-year period than any report by CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NPR, Education Week, FBI, Congress, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Center for Homeland Defense and Security, and even Wikipedia.

These books are dedicated to the countless victims of gun violence in schools – those who are no longer with us and those of us who still suffer daily from the wake of its rippling effect.

 Luis Aponte is a librarian, U.S. Air Force veteran and author. 

Luis' research has been published in the December 2022 issue of EDUCATION, a peer-reviewed education journal published continually for more than 142 years. He has also been published in Florida Libraries, the official journal of the Florida Library Association and self-published several technology-based eBooks on Smashwords.com.  Sign up for his newsletter on www.ASafePlaceBook.com and subscribe to his podcast by searching for “A Safe Place with Luis Aponte” on Buzzsprout, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music/Audible, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and Deezer.

In 1992-1993, Luis was a student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where he had to drop out during his junior year due to the threat of gun violence on campus. Some 25 years later, the same school experienced one of the worst school shootings in the history of the United States. Since then, Luis has dedicated his research skills as a librarian in order to help find patterns in 1,204 U.S. school shooting incidents in 30 years that could help save the lives of children.  

Originally from Savannah; Georgia, Luis received his master’s degree in Library and Information Science at the University of South Florida; bachelor’s degree in Communications – Film & Video from Florida Atlantic University, and associate’s degree in Computer Science from Broward College, all with honors.  Whenever Luis is not writing his next book, he enjoys working on films and training with masters of Olympic-style Taekwondo. He currently lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Eileen, where they have recently adopted a four-year-old orange and white tabby cat named Ellie into their family from a local animal shelter. 

It is Luis' hope that this book will help bring the country together, as one people, in order to help save lives. Our brave children, teachers, and resource officers deserve to feel safe from gun violence in schools.