Written by: Robin Hattersley-Gray, May 26, 2022
Last year active shooter attacks increased 52.5% compared to the previous year and 103.3% compared to 2018 and 2019, according to new FBI statistics.
In 2021, 61 active shooter incidents were recorded, while in 2020, 40 were recorded. In 2018 and 2019, there were 30 active shooter incidents per year, and in 2017, there were 31 attacks.
The FBI defines an active shooter as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people with a firearm in a populated area.
The number of victims either killed or wounded by active shooters last year increased by more than 48% compared to the previous year, from 164 (38 killed and 126 wounded) in 2020 to 243 (103 killed and 140 wounded) in 2021.
Twelve of the active shooter incidents last year were considered “mass killings,” compared to five in 2020.
The shooters last year (and every year) were overwhelmingly male: 60 out of 61 in 2021, and of those who died, 14 were killed by law enforcement, 11 committed suicide, and four were killed by a citizen.
The 2021 active shooter incidents happened in the following states:
- California: 6
- Georgia: 5
- Texas: 5
- Colorado: 4
- Florida: 4
- Indiana: 3
- Michigan: 3
- North Carolina: 3
- Tennessee: 3
- Alabama: 2
- Arizona: 2
- Illinois: 2
- Maryland: 2
- Nevada: 2
- South Carolina: 2
- One incident each occurred in Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin
The mass shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan was the active shooter event with the fourth most casualties in 2021 (11), while the FedEx Ground Plainfield Operations Center attack in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Kroger Grocery Store attack in Collierville, Tennessee had the highest number of casualties at 15 per incident.
Article reprinted with permission from Campus Safety Magazine (http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/). To sign up for their eNewsletter, visit https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/newsletter-subscription/
