The number of active shooter incidents across the United States rose more than 50% in 2021 compared to the year prior, according to a new report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

What You Need To Know

  • The number of active shooter incidents across the United States rose more than 50% in 2021 compared to the year prior, per a new FBI report

  • The United States saw 61 active shooter incidents across 30 states in 2021, which led to 103 deaths and 140 injuries

  • Each incident recorded in 2021 was carried out by a separate, single individual, 60 of whom were male

The United States saw 61 active shooter incidents across 30 states in 2021, which led to 103 deaths and 140 injuries, the perpetrators not included. The total incident numbers represent a 52.5% increase from 2020, when there were 40 active shooting events across 19 states, leading to a combined 164 deaths or injuries; casualties also increased by 48% between 2020 and 2021.

Each incident recorded in 2021 was carried out by a separate, single individual, 60 of whom were male. The perpetrators ranged in age from 12 years old to 67 years old.  

The FBI has a number of metrics when classifying an act of violence as an “active shooter,” which the agency defines as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” Qualifying criteria include shooting that took place in public locations or at more than one location, those where the shooting was not the result of another criminal act, shootings resulting in mass deaths, targeted shootings and more. 

The report excludes certain kinds of gun-related violence such as instances of self defense, gang or drug related violence, domestic disputes, hostage situations, accidental crossfire or actions that did not put others into peril.

“For 2021, the FBI observed an emerging trend involving roving active shooters; specifically, shooters who shoot in multiple locations, either in one day or in various locations over several days,” the FBI wrote in Monday’s release. 

The highest-casualty event recorded last year was the FedEx Operations Center shooting in Indianapolis, Indiana, where eight people were killed and seven others injured when a lone gunman opened fire on April 15. The incident with the highest death toll was that in King Soopers Grocery Store in Boulder, Colorado, where 10 people were killed on March 22. 

Last year also saw the third-highest casualty count from active shooter events in the past five years. The Route 91 Harvest Festival Shooting in 2017 – where 56 were killed and 489 wounded – put that year’s total casualty toll at 734, hundreds higher than the years before and after. 

Though the casualties from active shooter incidents were higher in 2017, the 2021 active shooting events represent a 96% increase from the amount of incidents recorded in 2017. 

Of the 61 active shooting events recorded by the FBI last year, a dozen fit the federal criteria for mass killings, which is defined as an incident where at least four people are killed with a gun in the same location or locations near each other.