CNN recently published a sobering
list of the deadliest single day mass shootings in U.S. history from 1949 to
the present. If you arrange the list chronologically, instead of by the number
of deaths, it tells a story of increasing gun violence:
2011—Present 6
2001-2010 9
1991-2000 5
1981-1990 7
1971-1980 0
1961-1970 1
1951-1960 0
1949-1950 1
Here is the CNN list. It is a
disturbing look back at violence in this country.
(If the shooter was killed or committed suicide during the
incident, CNN did not include the shooter’s death in the total.)
Events
Beginning in 1949:
1.
13 killed - September 5, 1949 - In Camden, New Jersey, 28-year-old
Howard Unruh, a veteran of World War II, shoots and kills 13 people as he walks
down Camden's 32nd Street. His weapon of choice is a German-crafted Luger
pistol. He is found insane and is committed to a state mental institution. He
dies at the age of 88.
2.
18 killed - August 1, 1966 - In Austin, Texas, Charles Joseph Whitman, a
former U.S. Marine, kills 16 and wounds at least 30 while shooting from a
University of Texas tower. Police officers Ramiro Martinez and Houston McCoy
shoot and kill Whitman in the tower. Whitman had also killed his mother and
wife earlier in the day.
3.
8 killed - August 20, 1982 - In Miami, 51-year-old history teacher Carl
Robert Brown, angry about a repair bill and armed with a shotgun, kills eight
people at a machine shop. He flees by bicycle, but is shot in the back by a
witness who pursued him. He was on leave from school for psychological
treatment.
4. 13 killed - September 25, 1982 -
In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 40-year-old George Banks, a prison guard, kills
13 people including five of his own children. In September 2011, the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturns his death sentence stating that Banks is
mentally incompetent.
5. 13 killed - February 18, 1983 -
Three men enter the Wah Mee gambling and social club in Seattle, rob the 14
occupants and then shoot each in the head, killing 13. Two of the men, Kwan Fai
Mak and Benjamin Ng, are convicted of murder in August 1983. Both are serving
life in prison. The third, Wai-Chiu "Tony" Ng, after years on the run
in Canada, is eventually convicted of first-degree robbery and second-degree
assault. He is deported to Hong Kong in 2014.
6. 21 killed - July 18, 1984 - In San
Ysidro, California, 41-year-old James Huberty, armed with a long-barreled Uzi,
a pump-action shotgun and a handgun shoots and kills 21 adults and children at
a local McDonalds. A police sharpshooter kills Huberty one hour after the
rampage begins.
7. 14 killed - August 20, 1986 -
Edmond, Oklahoma, part-time mail carrier, Patrick Henry Sherrill, armed with
three handguns kills 14 postal workers in 10 minutes and then takes his own
life with a bullet to the head.
8.
8 killed - September 14, 1989 - In Louisville, Kentucky, 47-year-old
Joseph Wesbecker armed with a AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle, two MAC-11
semiautomatic pistols, a .38 caliber handgun, a 9-millimeter semiautomatic
pistol and a bayonet kills eight co-workers at Standard Gravure Corporation and
then kills himself. He had been placed on disability leave from his job due to
mental problems.
9. 9 killed - June 18, 1990 - In
Jacksonville, Florida, 42-year-old James Pough, angry about his car being
repossessed, opens fire at a General Motors Acceptance Corp. office, killing
nine people. Pough takes his own life.
10. 9 killed - August 10, 1991 - Six
monks, a nun, a monk in training and a temple worker are found shot to death at
Wat Promkunaram, a Buddhist temple in Waddell, Arizona.
Johnathan Doody, 17, and Alessandro Garcia,
16, are later convicted of the crime and receive multiple life sentences.
11. 23 killed - October 16, 1991 - In
Killeen, Texas, 35-year-old George Hennard crashes his pickup truck through the
wall of a Lubys Cafeteria. After exiting the truck, Hennard shoots and kills 23
people. He then commits suicide.
12.
8 killed - July 1, 1993 - In San Francisco, 55-year-old Gian Luigi Ferri
kills eight people in a law office and then kills himself.
13. 13 killed - April 20, 1999 -
Columbine High School - Littleton, Colorado. 18-year-old Eric Harris and
17-year-old Dylan Klebold kill 12 fellow students and one teacher before
committing suicide in the school library.
14. 12 killed - July 29, 1999 - In
Atlanta, 44-year-old Mark Barton kills his wife and two children at his home.
He then opens fire in two different brokerage houses killing nine people and
wounding 12. He later kills himself.
15. 9 killed - March 21, 2005 - Red Lake High
School, Red Lake, Minnesota. 16-year-old Jeff Weise kills his grandfather and
another adult, five students, a teacher and a security officer. He then kills
himself.
16. 32 killed - April 16, 2007 -
Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. A gunman, 23-year-old student Seung-Hui
Cho, goes on a shooting spree killing 32 people in two locations and wounds an
undetermined number of others on campus. The shooter, Seung-Hui Cho then
commits suicide.
17. 8 killed - December 5, 2007 - In
Omaha, Nebraska, 19-year-old Robert Hawkins goes to an area mall and kills
eight shoppers before killing himself.
18. 10 killed - March 10, 2009 - In
Alabama, Michael
McLendon of Kinston, kills 10 and himself. The dead include his mother,
grandparents, aunt and uncle.
19. 8 killed - March 29, 2009 - In
Carthage, North Carolina, 45-year-old Robert Stewart kills a nurse and seven
elderly patients at a nursing home. In May, the Moore County district attorney
announces she will seek the death penalty. On September 3, 2011, a jury finds
Stewart guilty of second-degree murder. Stewart is sentenced to 141 to 179
years in prison.
20. 13 killed - April 3, 2009 - In
Binghamton, New York, Jiverly Wong kills 13 people and injures four during a
shooting at an immigrant community center. He then kills himself.
21. 13 killed - November 5, 2009 - Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan kills 13 people and injures 32
at Fort Hood, Texas, during a
shooting rampage. He is convicted and sentenced to death
22. 8 killed - January 19, 2010 -
Christopher Speight, 39, kills eight people at a house in Appomattox, Virginia.
He surrenders to police at the scene the next morning. February 2013, he is
sentenced to five life terms plus 18 years.
23. 8 killed - August 3, 2010 -
Manchester, Connecticut - Omar Thornton kills eight co-workers at Hartford
Distributors before turning the gun on himself. Thornton had been asked to
resign for stealing and selling alcoholic beverages
24. 12 killed - July 20, 2012 -
Twelve people are killed and 58 are wounded in a shooting at an Aurora,
Colorado, movie theater screening of the new Batman film. James E. Holmes, 24,
is taken into custody outside of the movie theater. The gunman, dressed
head-to-toe in protective tactical gear, set off two devices of some kind
before spraying the theater with bullets from an AR-15 rifle, a 12-gauge
shotgun and at least one of two .40-caliber handguns police recovered at the
scene.
25. 27 killed - December 14, 2012 - Sandy Hook Elementary School - Newtown, Connecticut. Adam Lanza, 20, guns down 20 children,
ages six and seven, and six adults, school staff and faculty, before turning
the gun on himself. Investigating police later find Nancy Lanza, Adam's mother,
dead from a gunshot wound. The final count is 28 dead, including the shooter.
26. 12 killed - September 16, 2013 -
Shots are fired inside the Washington Navy Yard killing 12. The shooter,
identified as Aaron Alexis, 34, is also killed.
27. 9 killed - June 17, 2015 - Dylann
Roof, 21, shoots and kills nine people inside the historic Emanuel African
Methodist Episcopal Church, in Charleston, South Carolina. Eight die at the
scene; a ninth dies at a hospital. Roof is arrested the following day;
according to police, he confesses and tells investigators he wanted to start a
race war.
28.
9 killed - October 1, 2015 - Gunman Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer shoots and kills nine
people, injuring another nine, at Umpqua
Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. The shooter dies after a gun battle with
police at the college. Six weapons were recovered at the school; another seven
were recovered at Harper-Mercer's home
8 killed - October 12, 2011 - Eight
people are killed during a shooting at the Salon Meritage in Seal Beach,
California. The suspect, Scott Evans Dekraai, 41, of Huntington Beach, is
arrested without incident as he is trying to leave the scene. The eight dead
include Dekraai's ex-wife, Michelle Fournier, 48. He was armed with three guns
-- a 9 mm Springfield, a Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum, and a Heckler &
Koch .45 -- and was wearing body armor during the shooting rampage.
29. 14 killed - December 2, 2015 -
Married couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik open fire on an employee
gathering taking place at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, killing 14 people.
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