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On Wednesday, arsenic students proceed to instrumentality to schools this week aft the summertime break, a antheral equipped with 3 guns fired dozens of rounds into a schoolhouse wide astatine Annunciation Catholic Church successful Minneapolis, Minnesota, sidesplitting 2 children and injuring 17 others.
The shooting ended erstwhile the suspect, 23-year-old Robin Westman, “took his ain life” astatine the rear of the church, Minneapolis constabulary main Brian O’Hara said, and authorities are inactive investigating the motive.
School shootings person go a grim reality, occurring acold excessively often successful the United States, yet efforts to enforce stricter weapon ownership laws proceed to look beardown absorption from blimpish groups and politicians.
Counting these incidents is not ever straightforward, and totals tin disagree depending connected however shootings are defined, whether injuries oregon deaths occurred, and which database is used. Al Jazeera breaks it each down for you.
School shootings: Why the numbers vary
Like mass shootings, schoolhouse shootings are tracked by aggregate databases that usage antithetic criteria. Some use wide definitions, portion others see lone the astir terrible incidents.
Broadest explanation – 146 incidents
The K-12 School Shooting Database has the broadest definition.
It records each incidental connected K-12 schoolhouse spot wherever a weapon was fired, brandished with intent, oregon a slug struck schoolhouse property, careless of whether anyone was injured oregon killed. This includes pack shootings, incidents of home violence, shootings astatine sports games oregon after-school events, suicides, fights that escalate into gunfire, and accidental discharges.
According to this definition, determination person been 146 incidents of weapon unit this year.
Moderate explanation – 91 incidents
Another source, Everytown for Gun Safety, uses information from the K-12 School Shooting Database to representation and analyse firearm discharge incidents connected schoolhouse grounds.
Everytown tracks weapon incidents that resulted successful a idiosyncratic being killed oregon wounded, arsenic good arsenic those successful which a weapon was discharged and nary 1 was shot. Incidents successful which guns were brought into schools but not discharged are not included.
According to this definition, determination person been 91 incidents of gunfire connected schoolhouse grounds this year.
Strictest explanation – 8 incidents
A 3rd database, Education Week, employs the strictest definition.
It counts lone shootings causing injuries oregon deaths connected schoolhouse spot oregon buses during schoolhouse hours oregon events.
According to this definition, determination person been 8 schoolhouse shootings this twelvemonth that resulted successful casualties.
School shootings highest successful the US
Regardless of which measurement is used, the US overwhelmingly has the highest fig of schoolhouse shootings successful the world.
Other countries bash acquisition schoolhouse shootings, but these hap rarely. One specified incidental from this twelvemonth was astatine a schoolhouse successful Graz, Austria, on June 10, erstwhile a erstwhile pupil opened fire, sidesplitting 10 radical and injuring 11 others. This incidental was the worst schoolhouse shooting successful Austria’s history.
School shootings with casualties successful 2025
Wednesday’s shooting is the deadliest schoolhouse shooting this twelvemonth and the azygous incidental with the highest fig of victims since the Robb Elementary School shooting successful Uvalde, Texas, successful 2022, successful which a antheral fatally changeable 19 students and 2 teachers, and injured 17 others.
According to Education Week, determination person been 229 schoolhouse shootings with injuries oregon deaths since 2018, including 24 each successful 2018 and 2019, 10 successful 2020, 35 successful 2021, 51 successful 2022, 38 successful 2023, and 39 successful 2024.
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