The mass killing Saturday at an outlet mall in the Dallas suburb of Allen, Tex., that left at least eight dead was the second-deadliest in the United States in 2023 — a year on pace to set a modern record.
This is more than double the number of mass killings recorded by this point last year, which was eight. In all of 2022, there were a total of 36 mass killings by gunfire in the United States, which resulted in at least 186 deaths, according to the database. This was the highest number recorded since 2006, when data on such incidents started being tracked.
Deadliest mass killings
in the U.S. in 2023
As of Saturday
Location
Date
Number killed
Monterey Park,
Calif.
Allen,
Tex.
Half Moon Bay,
Calif.
Enoch,
Utah
Henryetta,
Okla.
Arkabutla,
Miss.
Goshen,
Calif.
Cleveland,
Tex.
Jan. 21
May 6
Jan. 23
Jan. 4
April 30
Mar. 27
Feb. 17
Jan. 16
April 28
April 10
11
8
7
7
6
Nashville
6
6
6
5
Louisville
5
Sources: Associated Press, USA Today
and Northeastern University
THE WASHINGTON POST
Deadliest mass killings in the U.S. in 2023
As of Saturday
Location
Date
Number killed
Jan. 21
May 6
Jan. 23
Jan. 4
April 30
Mar. 27
Feb. 17
Jan. 16
April 28
April 10
11
Monterey Park, Calif.
Allen, Tex.
Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Enoch, Utah
Henryetta, Okla.
Nashville
Arkabutla, Miss.
Goshen, Calif.
Cleveland, Tex.
Louisville
8
7
7
6
6
6
6
5
5
Sources: Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University
THE WASHINGTON POST
Deadliest mass killings in the U.S. in 2023
As of Saturday
Location
Date
Number killed
11
Monterey Park, Calif.
Allen, Tex.
Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Enoch, Utah
Henryetta, Okla.
Nashville
Arkabutla, Miss.
Goshen, Calif.
Cleveland, Tex.
Louisville
Jan. 21
May 6
Jan. 23
Jan. 4
April 30
Mar. 27
Feb. 17
Jan. 16
April 28
April 10
8
7
7
6
6
6
6
5
5
Sources: Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University
THE WASHINGTON POST
The Washington Post defines a mass killing as an event in which four or more people, not including the shooter, have been killed by gunfire. The death counts do not include the shooter.
James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology at Northeastern University and one of the experts behind the database tracking mass killings, said that 2023 is “the worst that we’ve seen at least since 2006.”
“And probably ever,” he said. “I’ve been studying this topic for 40 years, and this is worse.”
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End of carouselWhen is something a mass killing?
The Washington Post uses the term mass killing to describe any event in which four or more people, excluding the shooter, are killed by gunfire.
The Post generally only uses the term mass shooting when we’re citing an organization such as the Gun Violence Archive whose definition differs from ours. The GVA defines a mass shooting as an event in which four or more people, excluding the shooter, are injured or killed by gunfire, including events with no fatalities.
Are these events becoming more common?
In 2022, there were 647 mass shootings (here are the events in 2023 so far.). In 2021, 2020 and 2019, there were 690, 610 and 417, respectively. Before that, the Gun Violence Archive tracked fewer than 400 a year since 2014. Most gun deaths continue to be from suicides and homicides, with men making up the majority of both perpetrators and victims.
How to stay safe in a mass shooting
Every situation is different, but experts advise that you try to stay down, small and out of sight; move away from the gunfire as quickly as is safe; and hide behind a wall if possible.
Where to find support
News of mass killings can be upsetting, especially if you are dealing with violence-related trauma. But help is available. You can call or text 988 for the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline if you’re experiencing any kind of crisis (it’s not only for suicidal thoughts). Here are more resources.
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Still, Fox cautioned that it was not yet certain that 2023 would set a record. “Even though we feel that way, [mass killings are a] rare event, and you can get fooled by clusters,” he said. “But one thing that is certain is we, on average, we have six public mass killings a year,” he added. “We’ve already had six this year. So we’ve already raised the average.”
Katherine Schweit, a retired FBI agent who started the agency’s active shooter program after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn., said that while the numbers are alarming, they don’t tell the whole story.
“Oftentimes, we’re very wrapped up in the ‘highest’ and the ‘most’ and the ‘biggest,’ cause maybe that’s the way we see things in America,” Schweit said. “But if you plow through the numbers, and see what type of gun violence it is — and that takes time to do — I think that’s more helpful and valuable to us.”
Schweit said she doesn’t want to disregard the number of mass killings in the country, but said she wants Americans “to look beyond the numbers as a country, as a population and say: ‘What am I doing in my neighborhood that might be helping reduce these numbers,’ or, you know, ‘What is happening in my town?’”
She argued that many Americans don’t feel safe or are otherwise on edge — which, in turn, increases the risk of more gun violence.
“That’s the challenge — when the numbers are the headline all the time, then the challenge is that everybody thinks that we are living in the Wild West and you have to have a gun to go to the grocery store, or you have to have a gun to, you know, take your kid to school or to the park,” Schweit said. People “who don’t have any past experience with weapons are now buying firearms and carrying them everywhere.”
On Saturday, a gunman opened fire at Allen Premium Outlets, killing at least eight, including children, and injuring at least seven others before being fatally shot by a police officer. The incident became the sixth mass killing in the country this year that occurred in a public location, such as a business.
The shooting in Allen is the third mass killing recorded in Texas so far this year. In 2022, Texas recorded six mass killings by gun — the most of any single state.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who has long been a defender of gun rights, told Fox News on Sunday that his priority in response to mass killings has been to address mental health crises rather than to tighten gun restrictions. Gun safety advocates have cited research showing that stricter gun laws could lessen the severity of mass killings and may decrease overall gun violence.
Just a little over a week ago, on April 28, a man killed five people, including a 9-year-old boy, with an AR-15-style weapon in Cleveland, Tex. Of the 22 mass killings so far this year, 15 have been in residences. While that’s not particularly unusual — last year 23 of the 36 mass killings were in residences — it highlights the fact that most of the recorded mass killings have not been indiscriminate public events.
Fox noted that many Americans worry about shootings in public settings, despite the fact that public mass killings remain “relatively rare.”
“I don’t want to minimize the pain or the suffering from these victims,” Fox said. “But it is still rare.”
John Harden contributed to this report.