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Since 2006, there has been a database tracking the mass shootings across America. And shockingly, 2023 saw the second most mass killings in a single year since this tracking began. It also had the most number of mass shootings and the most public mass shootings.
Given this information, Devastating Disasters wants to know… What is this happening? And will it get any worse?
The most deadly mass shooting ever to occur in the US remains the Las Vegas shooting in 2017, when 64 year old Stephen Paddock opened fire on a huge crowd attending a music festival.
The victim count was 60, with Paddock being found dead in his hotel room later from a self-inflicted gunshot. Gun Violence Archive broadly describes a mass shooting to mean four or more people shot at roughly the exact location and time, regardless of motives or fatalities.
So you probably won’t hear about many of them, unless they’re school shootings. On that note, continue reading as we reveal the most recent mass shootings to have happened this year in the US so far.
Casualties: 14
On April 10th, Five people were killed, and seven others were injured, two of which were police officers, after a man named Connor Sturgeon, 25 years old, opened fire at a bank in Louisville. In the exchange of fire with the police, a bank worker was killed in the process.
Casualties: 5
The date was April 28th, and 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza went on the run after he killed five of his neighbors in their rural Cleveland town. He was found later under a pile of laundry approximately 20 miles from where the incident occurred.
The attacks in this recent mass shooting took place after his neighbors apparently asked him to stop firing off rounds in his yard late at night because a baby was trying to sleep.
Casualties: 8
On January 23rd, Seven people died, and one was injured after two mass shootings took place a few miles apart in the small Californian coastal city.
Police apprehended 67-year-old Chunli Zhao after three individuals were killed at a trucking business and another four at a farm. The victims included Latino and Chinese farmworkers.
He later confessed to police that he carried out the shootings after his boss demanded he pay $100 to fix a damaged forklift truck.
Casualties: 6
At the beginning of the year on January 16th, a young mother and her 10-month-old baby were fatally shot “assassination style” in the head in an attack that ended up leaving six people dead in central California.
Authorities are looking into whether or not a drug cartel or gang targeted the family and are on the hunt for two suspects. As of now, no one has been charged in this case.
Casualties: 8
On the date of March 27th, three students and three adults were killed during a shooting by a former student named Audrey Hale at a private Christian school in Nashville after the one-time pupil opened fire.
It was later discovered that Hale had detailed maps and a manifesto of the school and entered the school by shooting through its doors.
Casualties: 21
On January 21st, a man named Huu Can Tran, who was 72 years of age, killed eleven people and injured nine during a Chinese New Year celebration in Monterey Park at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio.
Tran was found lifeless in his car after he fled the scene after attempting a second shooting.
Casualties: 5
As May 2nd rolled around, a man named Al Joseph Stenson, 38 years old, killed a mother and her three kids at a motel in the middle of Florida. Stenson ended up dead after an hours-long stand-off with police.
The children were aged 11, 17, and 21, and while police confirmed they were known to each other, they haven’t released their names or relationships to the killer.
Casualties: 16
On May 6th of this year, a gunman stepped out of his car and started firing outside a Premium Outlets mall in a suburb of Dallas, sending hundreds of shoppers running for their lives in panic.
The gunman, who’s believed to have acted alone, was shot down by a police officer at the scene, authorities declared.
Casualties: 7
The date was May 1st, when an Oklahoma predator who had gotten out of prison early fatally shot his wife, her three children, and their two friends before committing suicide.
The slayings raised questions over why Jesse McFadden, aged 39, was released early in the first place.
It turns out, McFadden had been sentenced to 20 years in prison back in 2003 for first-degree assault of a 17-year-old. He was released three years early, in 2020, for good behavior.
Casualties: 8
As the new year began, on January 4th, 42-year-old Michael Haight killed his wife, mother-in-law, and five children before turning the gun on himself.
He shot his wife Tausha, 40, a few weeks after she filed for divorce. Police had previously been called to the property over reports of a domestic disturbance.
What are your thoughts on these recent mass shootings in the US? Should the ATF have stricter rules on obtaining a gun license? Please feel free to leave a comment in the section below. And if you found this post interesting, we also recommend reading: Gun Control: Ranking Your Right to Bear Arms by 10 States
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