Shootings in El Paso and Dayton bring number of mass killings to at least 31 in 2019
Shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas raised the number of mass killings to at least 31 in 2019, the Gun Violence Archive says.
The U.S. Department of Justice defines a mass killing as “three or more killings in a single incident.” Based on that definition, data from the Gun Violence Archive shows that there have been 31 incidents of mass killings so far in 2019, including those in El Paso and Dayton.
But there are discrepancies on that number, depending on definitions and sources.
The New York Times, using the same definition, reported that there have been 32 mass killings this year and, according to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 253 incidents of “mass shootings” in 2019.
There is no legal definition of a “mass shooting,” according to The New York Times. But the GVA included, in its list of mass shootings, incidents that killed less than three people and incidents that were not fatal but that injured multiple people.
The shooting in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday was the most deadly mass killing incident in 2019 to date, claiming 20 lives and injuring 26, according to GVA.
The Dayton, Ohio, shooting was the third deadliest, killing 10 including the gunman and injuring 16, according to GVA.
Based on the Justice Department’s definition and data from the GVA, 156 people have died in mass killings since the start of the year.
The Gun Violence Archive is an “independent data collection and research group” that uses data from law enforcement, media and the government for an “online archive of gun violence incidents,” according to its website.
This story was originally published August 4, 2019 at 2:40 PM with the headline "Shootings in El Paso and Dayton bring number of mass killings to at least 31 in 2019."
