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Mass Casualty Shootings
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Mass casualty events—mass shootings, bombings, or other crimes with multiple fatalities—receive extensive media
and policy attention due to the number of victims and the impact on their communities. While many agencies and
organizations record and publish information on mass casualty events, measuring and reporting on these crimes is
complicated by the absence of a commonly recognized definition. Mass casualty events continue to increase in both
number and scope.

DEFINING MASS CASUALTY SHOOTINGS

In the United States, mass shootings are the most common and most closely tracked type of mass casualty event. The
Congressional Research Service (CRS) defines mass shootings as events where more than four people are killed with a firearm
“within one event, and in one or more locations in close proximity.” Congress uses the term “mass killings” and describes
these events as “three or more killings in a single incident.” The FBI uses the term “Active Shooter,” which it defines as “an
individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” Non-governmental organizations,
including Mother Jones, USA Today, and the Stanford Mass Shootings in America (MSA) data project, use various
combinations of these definitions.

The decision to include gang- or drug-related incidents, the accidental discharge of a firearm, or family- and intimate partner-
related shootings further complicates the definition of a mass shooting. Mother Jones, the FBI, CRS, the MSA, and Congress
do not include these incidents in their definitions, while USA Today does.1

CRIME TRENDS Mass Shooting Events by Year

Since 1990, there have been 87 recorded mass shootings in
20
the United States. This count from Mother Jones defines a
Mass Shooting Events
mass shooting as: (1990 - 2017)
12
11
• a shooting incident occurring in a public place with a 10

firearm, 8

6
• where the motive “appeared to be indiscriminate
4
killing,” and 2
1
• where a lone shooter took the lives of at least three 0
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017
1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 2011 2014 2017
people (not including the shooter).2

The number of mass shootings occurring in the past Mass Shootings by Decade
ten years is 2.4x greater than the decade prior (1998 to 75%
2007). In fact, more than half (57%) of all recorded mass
51
shootings occurred within the past 10 years.

21
18

1988–1997 1998–2007 2008–2017

2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Resource Guide: Crime and Victimization Fact Sheets
CURRENT DATA ON MASS SHOOTINGS

There were 11 mass shootings in 2017, more than in any other year in recorded history. Of all recorded shootings occurring in
2017, there were 117 fatalities and 587 casualties. Almost 50% of all fatalities and more than 90% of casualties occurred on
October 1, 2017, at a music festival in Las Vegas where a gunman opened fire on the crowd. Below is a brief timeline of each
shooting that occurred in 2017.

NOV 5
JUN 14 Sutherland Springs, TX
San Francisco, CA (Workplace) (House of worship)
Fatalities 3 / Injured 2 Fatalities 26 / Injured 20

JAN 6 MAY 12 OCT 18

Fort Lauderdale, FL (Airport) Kirksville, OH (Workplace) Edgewood, MD (Workplace)
Fatalities 5 / Injured 6 Fatalities 3 / Injured 0 Fatalities 3 / Injured 3

APR 18 JUN 5 OCT 1

Fresno, CA (Public street) Orlando, FL (Workplace) Las Vegas, NV (Concert)
Fatalities 3 / Injured 0 Fatalities 5 / Injured 0 Fatalities 58 / Injured 546

JUN 7 NOV 1
Tunkhannock, PA (Workplace) Thorton, CO (Department store)
Fatalities 3 / Injured 0 Fatalities 3 / Injured 0

NOV 14
Rancho Tehama, CA (School/home)
Fatalities 5 / Injured 10

DID YOU KNOW?
For more information on the methodologies and data
collection methods for mass shootings or active shooter
events, please see these additional resources:
NOTES
1 How mass shootings are defined greatly influences the number tracked.
For example, USA Today recorded more than 350 mass shootings between
2006 and 2017, while Mother Jones has recorded 95 since 1982. This fact
sheet presents data published by Mother Jones, as it is kept current and
most closely follows the federal agency definitions.
2 Until 2013, the fatality threshold was 4 or greater.

• The Congressional Research Service recorded 66 mass SOURCES

public shootings between 1999 and 2013.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation Active Shooting
database recorded 220 active shooter incidents between
2000 and 2016.
• The Mass Shootings in America project by Stanford
University recorded 279 mass shootings between 1990
and April 29, 2016.
• “Behind the Bloodshed, The Untold Story of America’s
Mass Killings” by USA Today recorded 58 mass public
shootings between 2006 and 2017.
A J. Pete Blair and Katherine W. Schweit, A Study of Active Shooter Incidents,
2000-2013, (Texas State University, FBI, 2014), www.fbi.gov/file-repository/
active-shooter-study-2000-2013-1.pdf/view
B Katherine W. Schweit, Active Shooter Incidents in the United
States in 2014 and 2015, (FBI, 2016), www.fbi.gov/file-repository/
activeshooterincidentsus_2014-2015.pdf/view
C Everytown for Gun Safety, Analysis of Recent Mass Shootings, (2016),
https://everytownresearch.org/documents/2015/09/analysis-
mass-shootings.pdf; Appendix, http://everytownresearch.org/
documents/2015/10/mass-shootings-analysis-appendix.pdf
D Mother Jones, “U.S. Mass Shootings, 1982-2016,” (2016), www.
motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-
data
E Melissa Jeltsen, “We’re Missing the Big Picture on Mass Shootings.”
Huffington Post (Sept. 15, 2015), www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mass-
shootings-domestic-violence-women_us_55d3806ce4b07addcb44542a