62 People Have Been Killed in Mass Shootings in 2019
Washington DC Aug 7 2019
America is reeling after two mass shootings resulted in 31 fatalities in two states over a span of less than 24 hours.
Twenty people were killed in a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday and nine victims shot dead in Dayton, Ohio, in the early hours of Sunday.
These are not the first mass shooting in the U.S. this year, either. Over the previous months, other mass shootings have rocked the nation––from Sebring, Fla., to Gilroy, Calif. In 2019 alone, at least 62 people have been killed in mass shootings.
The definition varies, but for the purposes of this list, TIME is defining a mass shooting as a shooting a public place in which at least three victims were killed.
The total does not reflect several high-profile shootings this year, including the late-July shootings that killed two people at a Southaven, Miss. Walmart, or the shooting at Poway, Calif. Synagogue in April in which 60-year-old Lori Kaye was killed and three others were wounded.
And the total does not reflect mass killings that took place this year outside the U.S., like the shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March that left 51 dead.
The El Paso is the deadliest since the November 2017 Sutherland Springs, Texas church shooting. It is deadlier than the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018, which left 17 students and staff members dead.
The 2017 Las Vegas shootings, which killed 58 people, remains the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Here’s an accounting of the mass shootings of 2019:
Jan. 23: Sebring, Fla. – 5 dead
In January, a gunman shot and killed five people at the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, Florida. The suspect, Zephen Xaver, 21, then barricaded himself inside.
Xavier, a former prison guard trainee, surrendered to a SWAT team from the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office.
Karl Hoglund, the Sebring Police Chief, called the suspect “senseless criminal doing a senseless crime.”
Jan. 24: State College, Pa. – 3 dead, 1 wounded
That same month, another shooter killed three people and wounded one before turning his gun on himself near Penn State University’s campus.
Police identified the suspected shooter as Jordan Witmer, 21. The shootings began in a restaurant in a Ramada hotel before the suspect broke into a home and killed another person before he fatally shot himself.
Feb. 15: Aurora, Ill. – 5 dead, 6 wounded
Five people were killed in February in a shooting at a warehouse in Aurora, Ill. near Chicago.
The shooter was identified as Gary Martin, a 45-year-old former employee who had been fired shortly before the shooting took place. All five victims were warehouse employees.
Five police police officers were shot and injured as they confronted the gunman. Another employee was wounded but survived.
May 31: Virginia Beach, Va. – 12 dead, 4 wounded
Twelve people were killed and four more injured after a gunman went on a rampage in a Virginia Beach municipal center in late May. The suspect, DeWayne Craddock, was a 15-year public utilities engineer and a city employee at the time of the shooting
Following a protracted gun battle, police shot and killed the suspect. Mayor Bobby Dyer, called it “the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach.”
June 23: Abbeville, S.C. – 3 dead, 1 wounded
Three people were killed and and another wounded after a shooting at an Abbeville, S.C. apartment. Authorities arrested a teenage suspect, Elijah Tyrez Head, 19, and charged him with three counts of murder, one attempted murder, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to FOX Carolina.
Police also arrested two other teens in connection with the killings, Ta’Zaria Idejah Curry, 19, and DaiJeanne Lee Hamilton, 18. Both women were charged with accessory after the fact of murder.
July 28: Gilroy, Calif. – 3 dead, 15 wounded
Just days before the most recent shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, a gunman armed with an AK-47-style assault rifle opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California, killing two children and a young man, and injuring 15 others.
The shooter, identified as Santino William Legan, 19, had purchased his assault rifle legally earlier in July. Legan was a Gilroy resident at the time of the shooting.
Police officers responded quickly, engaging Legan and fatally shooting him in less than a minute. Authorities believe that Legan cut through a fence to get past the festival’s security.
Aug. 3: El Paso, Tex. – 22 killed, 24 wounded
Those accumulated tragedies in the U.S. this year have been recently joined by the pair of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, this weekend.
On Aug. 3, a gunman opened fire at an El Paso Walmart, killing 22 people and leaving 25 more wounded. The suspected shooter, Patrick Crusius, 21, was taken into police custody, and the shooting is being investigated as a case of domestic terrorism, according to the U.S. Attorney in El Paso.
Police are also investigating a hate-filled manifesto that may have come from the suspect and could indicate the Walmart shooting was a hate crime.
The initial death toll was 20, but on Monday, Aug. 5, police and Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso announced that two additional victims had died at the hospital.
Aug. 4: Dayton, Ohio – 9 dead, 14 wounded
In the most recent of these tragedies, a gunman, opened fire in the early hours of Sunday, Aug. 4 in the lively Oregon District in Dayton.
The suspected gunman, Connor Betts, 24, was armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle fitted with a 100-round drum magazine. The shooter killed nine people including his sister, 22-year-old Megan Betts, and wounded at least 14 others, before he was shot dead after just 32 seconds by nearby police. Up to 37 people were injured, many of them while fleeing the shooter, police said.
Those officers’ quick actions may have saved many more lives that night, as the shooter was stopped by a hail of police bullets just before he was able to enter a bar crowded with Dayton residents seeking shelter.
“Had this individual made it through the doorway of Ned Peppers with that level of weaponry there would have catastrophic injuries and loss of life,” Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said in a Sunday briefing.
TIME Magazine
