Luke Woodham is a 29-year-old Mississippian who spends much of his time teaching and preaching the word of God.

The difference between Woodham and the average young Southern preacher is that Woodham’s is a tier church at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, where for 12 years he has been housed in Unit 32 with the state’s most violent and serious criminals.

Woodham was 16 and a sophomore at Pearl High School on Oct. 1, 1997, when he took a .30-06 hunting rifle to school and opened fire in an area crowded with students gathering before the start of school.

He killed two girls, including his former girlfriend, Christina Menefee, who was 16. Seven others were injured in the attack. It was later learned that Woodham had stabbed and bludgeoned his mother to death before setting off for the school that day in her car.

Then-Pearl Public Schools Superintendent Dr. William Dodson has visited Woodham twice at Parchman as he has researched and written a book about the shooting, “If Only I Had Known: A True Story,” published in October by International Focus Press.

Dodson told the Vicksburg Rotary Club about his book Thursday. “We remember 9/11 in America, but in Pearl we remember 10/1,” he said.

A chapter on Woodham is just one of 14 that include details of the shooting, stories from witnesses and survivors and the results of Dodson’s research into identifying and intervening in the lives of what he calls “random actors.”

While the FBI and Secret Service say it’s impossible to identify the student who is a potential danger, Dodson disagrees, claiming that more than 20,000 school administrators and police investigators have prevented thousands of violent acts since 1997.

“There are things that can be done and things that should be done to prevent this kind of tragedy,” Dodson said.

The Pearl school shooting was not the first in the nation, Dodson told the Rotarians, “but was the one that started the trend.” Within about two years, shootings followed in Paducah, Ky., Jonesboro, Ark., Springfield, Ore., and perhaps most famously, Columbine, Colo.

“It was like being run over by a truck,” Dodson said. “For two years I just tried to recover.”

Then he began to attend and speak at conferences and hearings — whatever his school board would allow him to attend.

Pearl had a good school system, Woodham had never been in trouble, and yet the attack had occurred. “I had some obligation to find out why,” he said.

Before leaving for school that day, Woodham had written a note, which he passed to another student just before he opened fire. “I am not insane,” he wrote. “I am angry. I killed because people like me are mistreated every day. I did this to show society, push us and we will push back.”

Jurors at two separate trials rejected the insanity defense presented by Woodham’s attorney. He was found guilty and sentenced to three consecutive life sentences plus 20 years each for seven counts of aggravated assault. He will be eligible for parole in 2046, when he is 65 years old.

Woodham became a Christian after being jailed, Dodson said, and besides prison ministry has written to his victims and their family members, expressing remorse.

“He has an amazing story there,” Dodson said.

Dodson first served as coach and history teacher at schools including the former H.V. Cooper High School in Vicksburg. He was an administrator in the Greenville Public Schools in the 1970s before becoming superintendent in Pearl, where schools under his leadership received many state and national honors including National Blue Ribbon School Awards.

Since his retirement in 2000 he has been an educational consultant and has lectured nationally on school safety and leadership. He has testified before the U.S. Senate, written for professional journals and appeared on many different television and radio talk shows.

Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com