WC_052418

6 | May 24, 2018 | The winnetka Current news
winnetkacurrent.com
Three decades of remembering a local tragedy
May 20 marked
30 years since
Hubbard Woods
School shooting
Jacqueline Glosniak, Editor
This past Sunday
marked a big anniversary
for Winnetka.
However, the day is one
that neither Winnetkans
wish they had to be reminded
of nor one which
should have even happened
in the first place —
not in a town as quaint and
community-oriented as
Winnetka, not anywhere.
May 20 marked 30
years since Laurie Dann
— a Glencoe native and
New Trier alumna with
a history of mental illness
— strolled into Hubbard
Woods School armed
with two handguns, shot
at multiple students and
killed Nicholas Corwin.
While the event’s anniversary
has sparked local
media attention, particularly
through an ABC 7
news special aired Thursday,
May 17, Winnetka
Public Schools District 36
is not planning on having
any public recognition.
“The Winnetka Public
Schools does not plan to
have a formal recognition
of the 1988 incident as we
feel it is not developmentally
appropriate and may
be alarming for our students,”
said Kate Hughes,
communications and
community relations coordinator
for District 36,
visit us online at WINNETKACURRENT.com
“While our hearts are with all who were impacted
by the events of May 20, 1988, we know that day
does not define Hubbard Woods School.”
Kate Hughes — Winnetka Public Schools District 36 communications
and community relations coordinator on the 30th anniversary of the
shooting at Hubbard Woods School
in a press release. “Rather,
it is our hope that we can
collectively appreciate the
resilience and beauty of
the school community we
share at Hubbard Woods.”
Early in the morning on
May 20, 1988, Dann diluted
arsenic in rice snacks
and juice boxes and
mailed them to a former
acquaintance, former babysitting
clients, her psychiatrist,
her ex-husband
and fraternity houses at
Northwestern University.
Because the foods tasted
bad, few of them ended up
eaten and the arsenic was
so heavily diluted that no
one became very sick.
Soon after, she arrived
at the home of former
babysitting clients in Winnetka
and picked up two
young children. Instead of
taking them on a promised
trip, she drove them to Ravinia
Elementary School
in Highland Park, where
she thought her two former
sisters-in-laws children
attended, and tried
to detonate a fire bomb,
starting a fire that was
quickly put out. She then
drove to a local day care
where the daughters of her
ex-sisters-in-law went and
tried to enter with a plastic
gasoline can before being
stopped by faculty.
Immediately after,
Dann drove the children
back to their Winnetka
home and offered them
milk with arsenic, lured
them downstairs and used
gasoline to set the house
on fire, but the mother
and children were able to
escape.
Then, she headed to
Hubbard Woods School.
Inside, she pushed a boy
into a washroom and
shot him, attempted to
shoot two boys walking
by and then walked into
a second-grade classroom
where she opened fire,
shooting five students
and killing 8-year-old
Corwin.
Minutes later, she fled
to a nearby home, telling
a mother and her 20-yearold
son, Philip Andrew,
that she was raped and
shot her assailant. While
Andrew was able to
take one gun away from
Dann, she kept him hostage
and shot him in the
chest. Once police and
paramedics arrived, he
was taken to Highland
Park Hospital, where he
survived.
Following a police
standoff, Dann died in the
home from a self-inflicted
gunshot wound.
However, in the years
before the Hubbard
Woods shooting, Dann
exhibited behaviors that
were alarming, including
reports by her ex-husband
that she stabbed him with
an ice pick in his sleep,
complaints from families
of the children she babysat
that she damaged furniture
and stole belongings,
reports of her riding
up and down elevators
while subletting a university
apartment in Evanston
and instances of her
leaving meat to rot in sofa
cushions.
Widespread disbelief
and debate followed the
horrors, both in the North
Shore and nationwide.
News stories were shared
from coast to coast and
conversations were held
among school districts,
municipalities and medical
professionals about
school safety, gun rights
and mental health awareness.
In the District 36 release,
Hughes wrote,
“These past three decades,
our educators, alumni
and Village have courageously
moved forward
from the tragic events that
took place at Hubbard
Woods School on May 20,
1988.”
Hughes added that over
the last three decades,
District 36 has remained
“grateful for a supportive
community that has
helped us move forward
from the tragedy and
flourish decades later.
“While our hearts are
with all who were impacted
by the events of
May 20, 1988, we know
that day does not define
Hubbard Woods School,”
Hughes continued. “Our
shared commitment to
our children, families
and greater community
is what defines Hubbard
Woods School and helps
us thrive 30 years later.”
Coincidentally, the
Winnetka school shooting
anniversary fell two
days after 10 people were
killed and several others
were injured in a shooting
at a high school on
Friday, May 18, in Santa
Fe, Texas.