The recognition and management of students who exhibit warning behaviors (WBs) is an important prerequisite for the prevention of severe targeted acts of violence at schools (STSV). In the present study, the temporal occurrence of proximal WBs was retroactively examined in 11 German cases. The WBs were plotted chronologically, starting from the initial WB up to the day of the STSV. Only the behavior perceived at the time was evaluated, without including information that only became known after the STSV. A prototypical temporal order of initial perception was identified. In each case, WBs were already perceived before the first Leakage or Directly communicated threat. WBs can usually only be recognized as such in a wider psychosocial context (e.g. including information about current psycho-social crises). The findings highlight the need to establish structures at schools in cooperation with other institutions as part of a threat assessment and management for indicated prevention.
