This case has mystified me. I was curious about what has motivated other college-related stabbings in the US, so I Googled and put together a quick list in case anyone else was interested. (This is not meant to be a comprehensive list, and sadly, I’m sure there are more.)
2009 - Daniel Willyam, who attended Dallas Art Institute, stabbed his roommate’s girlfriend, Samantha Nance, 42 times, killing her. “Authorities believe Willyam was increasingly obsessed with his roommate, Nathan Shuck, who was dating Nance. He grew enraged that Shuck was spending so much time alone with the first girlfriend he had ever had.”
Daniel Willyam stabbed Samantha "Shelley" Nance 42 times; prosecutors say he was jealous of her relationship with her boyfriend.
www.dallasnews.com
2013 - Dylan Andrew Quick, 20, injured 14 people during an attack with a knife at Lone Star Community College System's Cy-Fair campus in Cypress, Texas. "According to the statement the suspect voluntarily gave investigators, he has had fantasies of stabbing people to death since he was in elementary school. He also indicated that he has been planning this incident for some time.”
Texas College Stabbing Spree Suspect Planned Attack, Police Say
“…the sketchy narrative emerging from court records about Quick…reveals a young man obsessed with serial killers, someone who fantasized about cutting off people's faces and wearing them as masks since he was 8 years old.”
College stabbing attack case gets stranger
2014 - Elliott Rodger, 22, a Santa Barbara City College student stabbed his three roommates before shooting four other people. Seven people were killed, including Rodger, who killed himself. A total of 13 people were injured in the attack. In a manifesto, Rodger called the killings a “retribution” and was described, “as a loner who had trouble making friends.”
A 137-page document was discovered detailing his motive for the killings. "It would be a day in which I exact my ultimate retribution and revenge on all of the hedonistic scum who enjoyed lives of pleasure that they don't deserve. If I can't have it, I will destroy it. I will destroy all women because I can never have them."
Isla Vista massacre: 7 killed, 13 injured
2015 - At the University of California, Faisal Mohammad, 18, stabbed four people with a hunting knife. Two of the victims were students and none suffered life-threatening injuries. It is believed Mohammed carried out the attack because he was kicked out of a study group. He was shot and killed by police.
Coroner finds manifesto on UC Merced stabbing suspect
2017 - Kendrick White stabbed four other students at the University of Texas, killing Harrison Brown. He had been recently committed and was found not guilty due to insanity. “White said he'd ‘had a dream’ of walking around campus with a knife and accepted that he may have committed the assaults, though he didn't remember it.”
Judge accepts insanity defense for former UT-Austin student charged in fatal campus stabbing
2022- In October, Perdue University student, Ji Min Sha, 22, said he used a knife to kill his roommate, Varun Manish Chheda, 20. The police chief called the attack, “unprovoked and senseless.”
Purdue University student told police he fatally stabbed roommate, prosecutors say
2022 - In November, Los Angeles City College’s campus was closed after a man stabbed another man, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim, a homeless veteran, was 64-year-old Delbert Ray Collett, and was not a student at the college. Video was captured of the suspect but he has yet to be identified.
Search continues for man who fatally stabbed homeless veteran at Los Angeles City College