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Between 1982 and December 2023, 80 out of the 149 mass shootings in the United States were carried out by White shooters. By comparison, the perpetrator was African American in 26 mass...
- Guns Used in Mass Shootings U.S. 2023
Mass shootings in the U.S. by shooter’s by race/ethnicity as...
- Mass Shootings in The U.S. 1982-2023, by State
The worst mass shooting in the U.S. was the Las Vegas Strip...
- Murder Victims by Weapon Used in The U.S. 2021
Mass shootings in the U.S. by shooter’s by race/ethnicity as...
- Shooters by Gender 2023
U.S. mass shooting victims, by fatalities and injuries...
- U.S. Population
The statistic shows the share of U.S. population, by race...
- Guns Used in Mass Shootings U.S. 2023
- A Troubling Upward Trend
- The Study Design
- Other Key Findings and Applicability
- Mass Shooting Demographics
- Interviews
- Other Limitations
- About This Article
The research examined an era of marked increase in the number and deadly effect of mass shootings in the United States. To summarize that trend: 1. The project spanned mass shootings over more than 50 years, yet 20% of the 167 mass shootings in that period occurred in the last five years of the study period. 2. More than half occurred after 2000, o...
The research adopted a mixed method approach combining objective, or readily quantified, data, to populate the database and the interviews of the small sample of persons in prison who had committed mass shootings. The database, as well as a detailed study methodology and research codebook, are available at www.theviolenceproject.org(link is externa...
Trauma, Suicidality, and Crisis
Suicidality was found to be a strong predictor of perpetration of mass shootings. Of all mass shooters in the The Violence Project database, 30% were suicidal prior to the shooting. An additional 39% were suicidal during the shooting. Those numbers were significantly higher for younger shooters, with K-12 students who engaged in mass shootings found to be suicidal in 92% of instances and college/university students who engaged in mass shooting suicidal 100% of the time. In terms of past traum...
Crisis / Mental Illness
In public discourse, mass shootings are often blamed on mental illness. But the research indicates the role of mental illness in mass shootings is complicated, not clear-cut. Mental health issues were common among those who engaged in mass shootings, with psychosis playing a minor role in nearly one third of the cases, but a primary role 10% of the time. The data indicate, however, that nearly all persons who engage in mass shootings were in state of crisis in the days or weeks preceding the...
Warning Signs — Leakage
Nearly half of individuals who engaged in mass shootings (48%) leaked their plans in advance to others, including family members, friends, and colleagues, as well as strangers and law enforcement officers. Legacy tokens, such as manifestos, were left behind by 23.4% of those who committed mass shootings. About 70% of individuals who perpetrated mass shooting knew at least some of their victims. In particular, K-12 school and workplace shooters were “insiders” — current or former students and...
Of the 172 individuals who engaged in public mass shootings covered in the database, 97.7% were male. Ages ranged from 11 to 70, with a mean age of 34.1. Those shooting were 52.3% White, 20.9% Black, 8.1% Latino, 6.4% Asian, 4.2% Middle Eastern, and 1.8% Native American. Most individuals who perpetrated mass shootings had a prior criminal record (6...
The research team cautioned that the qualitative data, from five interviews, did not lend themselves to generalization, because each individual’s story is unique. There was no single profile of a person who engaged in a mass shooting, but the interviewed mass shooters shared the following traits: 1. Early childhood trauma and exposure to violence. ...
The database used open source data, leaving room for bias, the researchers noted, because the source data were originally gathered for different purposes. Media outlets have their own biases, in terms of coverage of different mass shootings. Generally, the report noted, certain categories of mass shootings tended to attract the most coverage. They ...
The research described in this article was funded by NIJ award 2018-75-CX-0023, awarded to Hamline University. This article is based on the grantee report “A Multi-Level, Multi-Method Investigation of the Psycho-Social Life Histories of Mass Shooters,” September 2021, by project’s Principal Investigator, Jillian Peterson. The Co-Principal Investiga...
Jan 11, 2024 · The U.S. has had more mass shootings than any other country, with disturbing reports of mass killings occurring in schools, supermarkets, churches, parks, and many other places where...
Dec 31, 2023 · 2023 has endured the second-highest number of mass shootings on record, falling only behind 2021, which saw 689 mass shootings. The total increased slightly from 646 in 2022. The mass shootings in 2023 killed 712 people and injured at least 2,692 others.
Oct 19, 2023 · This report provides provisional firearm homicide data for 2022, stratified by race and ethnicity, presented both annually and by month (or quarter) to document subannual changes.
Feb 9, 2024 · On average, our data shows that five people die in a mass killing of any kind, compared with seven in a fatal public mass shooting.
May 27, 2021 · There is no official definition of “mass shooting”, but this database tracks incidents in which at least four people are shot or killed, not including the shooter. This list includes the...
