🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 62 (from laksa081)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa062.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016/The-motive-and-aftermath\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016/The-motive-and-aftermath\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016\/The-motive-and-aftermath","crawl_time":1775418048,"first_indexed_time":1562840103,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,britannica!www,\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016\/The-motive-and-aftermath s443","src_root_hash":"5455945239613777662","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Orlando shooting of 2016 - Pulse Nightclub, Gun Violence, Aftermath | Britannica","meta_descriptions":["Orlando shooting of 2016 - Pulse Nightclub, Gun Violence, Aftermath: In the days following the attack, numerous people stated that they had recognized Mateen from various gay dating Web sites and apps, but the FBI was not able to substantiate those claims through forensic examination of his phone, his computer, or online account records. There was no evidence that he had been directed to make the attack by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also called ISIS), and the declaration of allegiance that he made to ISIL in his 911 phone call was just the latest in a series of contradictory statements along such lines made by"],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"News\n•\nmass shooting\n,  as defined by the\nU.S.\nFederal Bureau of Investigation\n(FBI), an event in which one or more individuals are “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.\nImplicit\nin this definition is the shooter’s use of a\nfirearm\n.” The FBI has not set a minimum number of casualties to qualify an event as a mass shooting, but U.S. statute (the\nInvestigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012\n) defines a “mass killing” as “3 or more killings in a single incident.” For the purposes of this article, both sets of\ncriteria\nwill be applied to the term\nmass shooting\n, with the distinction that the shooter or shooters are not included in any fatality statistics.\nMass shootings have exacted a deadly toll on\ncommunities\nacross the\nUnited States\n. According to\nstatistics compiled by\nMother Jones\nmagazine, more than a thousand people have been killed in such attacks since 1982. American society is deeply divided on the issue of\ngun control\n, however, and these events have only intensified the debate. In the wake of the\nSandy Hook Elementary School shooting\nin 2012, some, including Pres.\nBarack Obama\n, called for a renewed ban on\nassault weapons\nand for tighter background checks. Others, chief among them the\nNational Rifle Association\n, resisted any gun restrictions as an unacceptable infringement on the\nSecond Amendment\n.\nMass shootings in the United States\nThis is a partial list of mass shootings in the United States. Of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, half took place in Texas.\nUniversity of Texas clock tower shooting\n(August 1, 1966)\nCharles Whitman\n, a former\nU.S. Marine\nwho had distinguished himself as an expert marksman, murdered his mother and then his wife before gathering a small\narsenal\nand making his way to the\nUniversity of Texas\nclock tower. He killed three people in the tower and established a secure sniper’s nest on the observation deck, some 230 feet (70 meters) above the ground. From there he rained rifle fire onto the surrounding area for some 90 minutes. Whitman’s rampage killed 14 people and wounded more than 30; it led to the creation of active shooter response teams in police forces around the country.\nSan Ysidro McDonald’s shooting (July 18, 1984)\nAn event widely regarded as the first modern mass shooting in the U.S. began when James Huberty left his house after telling his wife that he was “hunting humans.” Armed with a shotgun, a\nsemiautomatic pistol\n, and a semiautomatic\nvariant\nof the\nUzi submachine gun\n, Huberty killed 21 people in and around a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, California. Although police responded to the shooting almost immediately, they were not able to enter the restaurant or neutralize the shooter for more than an hour.\nLuby’s Cafeteria shooting (October 16, 1991)\nDriven by paranoia and an intense hatred of women, George Hennard crashed his pickup truck through the window of Luby’s Cafeteria in\nKilleen\n, Texas, during the restaurant’s busy lunch rush. Wielding a pair of semiautomatic pistols, Hennard shot 43 people, killing 23. The majority of his victims were women. The Luby’s massacre would be the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. for a generation.\nColumbine High School shooting\n(April 20, 1999)\nEric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two students at Columbine High School in\nLittleton\n, Colorado, carried out an attack that became the\narchetype\nfor\nschool shootings\naround the world. The names and images of the killers were\nubiquitous\nin the media, and in the 20 years following Columbine, more than three dozen shooters would cite Harris and Klebold as inspiration for their own actions. The Columbine shooters killed 14 people, one of whom died decades later from complications related to her wounds, the overwhelming majority of whom were fellow students.\nVirginia Tech shooting\n(April 16, 2007)\nVirginia Tech\nstudent Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed two people in a campus dormitory room. Several hours passed, during which time Cho gathered ammunition and mailed a\nmanifesto\nto NBC News in\nNew York\n. Campus police, thinking that the initial shooting was an isolated incident, did not take steps to notify the broader student body. Roughly two and a half hours after the dormitory murders, Cho, armed with a pair of semiautomatic pistols, entered Norris Hall, an engineering classroom building. There he killed 30 people and wounded 17 others.\nSandy Hook Elementary School shooting\n(December 14, 2012)\nAdam Lanza murdered his mother while she slept in the house they shared in Newtown, Connecticut. He then gathered several firearms that she had purchased, and he drove her car to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, a public school for kindergarten through fourth grade. Lanza shot his way through a window to enter the school, where he killed 6 adults and 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7. The attack\nprovoked\npublic outrage, but no significant federal gun-control legislation was passed in the wake of Sandy Hook.\nPulse nightclub shooting\n(June 12, 2016)\nOmar Mateen was investigated by the\nFBI\nin 2013 over professed ties to\nal-Qaeda\nand\nHezbollah\n, but no evidence was uncovered that actually linked him to those groups. Although his name had appeared on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (the so-called “terrorist watch list”) for a time, this would not have prevented Mateen from legally buying a firearm. Armed with a semiautomatic rifle and a semiautomatic handgun, Mateen entered Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and killed 49 people and\nwounded\nmore than 50 others. It was the deadliest single incident targeting the\nLGBTQ+ community\nin U.S. history.\nLas Vegas Strip\nshooting (October 1, 2017)\nStephen Paddock was a high-stakes gambler and a regular presence at the casinos on the\nLas Vegas Strip\n, so employees at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino did not hesitate to allow him to use the service elevator to move several large cases up to his complimentary suite on the hotel’s 32nd floor. From there Paddock had a clear view of the 22,000\ncountry music\nfans attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival across the street. In his suite and an adjoining room, Paddock gathered an arsenal of some two dozen weapons. The majority of these belonged to the\nAR\nfamily of semiautomatic rifles, and many of them were modified with “bump stocks,” which allowed the shooter to approximate fully automatic fire. Over the course of 11 minutes, Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds into the crowd, killing 58 and wounding as many as 850. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.\nSutherland Springs church shooting (November 5, 2017)\nDevin Kelley was\ncourt-martialed\nin 2012 and received a bad conduct discharge from the\nU.S. Air Force\nafter brutally assaulting his wife and toddler stepson. The\nconviction\nshould have prevented Kelley from purchasing firearms, but the Air Force failed to submit his name and fingerprints to the proper FBI database. That is why Kelley was able to legally purchase the\nAR-style\nsemiautomatic rifle and high-capacity magazines that he used in an attack on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The church was filled with congregants attending Sunday services, and Kelley fired some 700 rounds over roughly 11 minutes. He killed 26 people and wounded 20 more; nearly half of the victims were children.\nMarjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting\n(February 14, 2018)\nNikolas Cruz was expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for disciplinary issues, and in September 2017 he commented on YouTube that he\naspired\nto be “a professional school shooter.” That post sparked an FBI investigation that yielded no leads, and Cruz was able to legally purchase an AR-15-style rifle. On Valentine’s Day the 19-year-old returned to his former school about dismissal time. He killed 17 people and wounded 17 more.\nEl Paso Walmart shooting (August 3, 2019)\nPatrick Crusius traveled 11 hours from a\nDallas\nsuburb to\nEl Paso\n, Texas, to carry out a terrorist attack against that city’s Hispanic population. Minutes before the attack, Crusius is believed to have posted a racist manifesto to the website\n8chan\n, where he professed his belief in the “\ngreat replacement\n”\nconspiracy theory\n. Shortly after 10:00\nam\n, Crusius entered a crowded\nWalmart\nstore armed with an\nAK-47\n. He killed 23 people and wounded dozens more. Crusius told arresting officers, “I’m the shooter,” and claimed that he had intentionally targeted “Mexicans.” In 2023 Crusius plead guilty to all federal charges against him, and he received 90 consecutive life sentences.\nRobb Elementary School shooting\n(May 24, 2022)\nSalvador Ramos was fascinated by school shootings, and, on his 18th birthday—the first day upon which he could legally purchase a long gun in Texas—he bought an AR-15-style rifle from a\nUvalde\n, Texas, gun store and more than 1,700 rounds of ammunition from an online retailer. Just more than a week later, he shot his grandmother in the face, seriously wounding her, and stole her pickup truck. He drove a short distance to Robb Elementary School, where he murdered 19 children and 2 adults. Although police arrived on the scene almost immediately, they failed to confront the shooter for 77 minutes. During that time students still trapped in the school made desperate calls to 911, and parents outside had to be restrained from entering the school themselves.\nMass shootings around the world\nWhile mass shootings are most common in the United States, there have been notable incidents in countries around the world. In many cases governments have responded to these attacks by introducing significant\ngun-control\nmeasures.\nÉcole Polytechnique\nmassacre\n(December 6, 1989)\nIrrationally blaming his life’s troubles on\nfeminism\n, Marc Lépine took a semiautomatic rifle to Montreal’s\nÉcole Polytechnique\nengineering school. There he killed 14 women (sparing all the men in a classroom) and wounded 13 more people. The incident sparked a lengthy debate about gun control in\nCanada\n.\nDunblane school massacre\n(March 13, 1996)\nArmed with four\nhandguns\n, Thomas Hamilton entered the gymnasium at the\nprimary school\nin the small town of Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire on a class of five- and six-year-olds. He killed 17 people, almost all of whom were small children, and wounded 15 more. In 1997\nParliament\nbanned the private ownership of handguns in the United Kingdom.\nPort Arthur massacre\n(April 28–29, 1996)\nMartin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded some 18 others in a mass shooting in and around a popular tourist site at\nPort Arthur\n,\nTasmania\n. Tasmania had some of the loosest gun laws in\nAustralia\nat the time, and the state had long resisted stricter firearm-control measures at the federal level. Prime Minister\nJohn Howard\nresponded to the worst\nmass murder\nin Australia’s history by crafting the National Firearms Agreement. It\nimplemented\na 28-day waiting period for gun sales and banned all fully automatic or semiautomatic weapons, except when potential buyers could provide a compelling reason—which did not include self-defense—for owning such a firearm. The federal government also instituted a gun-buyback scheme, which resulted in the removal of some 700,000 firearms from circulation.\nOslo and Utøya attacks\n(July 22, 2011)\nWhite supremacist\nAnders Behring Breivik\ncarried out the deadliest attack on Norwegian soil since\nWorld War II\nwhen he detonated a car bomb in downtown\nOslo\nand shot scores of people on the island of Utøya. Breivik’s actions were unquestionably acts of politically motivated\nterrorism\n; he targeted the Norwegian Labour Party, which was hosting 600 young people at a camp on the island. The bombing killed 8 people, and Breivik, who had disguised himself as a police officer, killed 69 and wounded more than 100 in the mass shooting on Utøya. The overwhelming majority of the victims were children. Norway, which already had some of the world’s strictest gun laws, banned all semiautomatic weapons in 2021.\nKerch Polytechnic College massacre (October 17, 2018)\nVladislav Roslyakov, a student at Kerch Polytechnic College in Russian-occupied\nCrimea\n, killed 20 people and wounded dozens more in a\nschool shooting\nthat was clearly inspired by the\nColumbine massacre\n. Roslyakov had expressed admiration for the Columbine shooters, and his weapons, methods, and appearance all seemed calculated to emulate them.\nChristchurch mosque shootings\n(March 15, 2019)\nBrenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, traveled to\nNew Zealand\nexplicitly for the purpose of carrying out a\nterrorist attack\nagainst that country’s Muslim\ncommunity\n. The shooter killed 51 people and wounded dozens more as they gathered for Friday prayers at a pair of mosques in Christchurch. The government of Prime Minister\nJacinda Ardern\nresponded by banning military-style semiautomatic rifles, tightening laws on gun dealers, and creating a national firearms registry.\nNakhon Ratchasima massacre (February 8–9, 2020)\nJakraphanth Thomma, a soldier in the Thai army, killed his commanding officer in a dispute over a property deal. He then stole an\nassault rifle\nand ammunition from his military base before launching an attack on a\nshopping centre\nin\nNakhon Ratchasima\n. The shooter killed 29 people and wounded scores in an attack that shook public faith in the Thai army.\nBondi Beach shooting\n(December 14, 2025)\nTwo gunmen—identified by Australian authorities as a father and son—targeted a crowd of hundreds at a gathering of Sydney’s\nJewish\ncommunity on the first night of\nHanukkah\n. They killed 15 people and wounded more than 40. It was Australia’s worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur Massacre and the deadliest\nterrorist\nincident in the country’s history.","attrs_markdown":"[![Encyclopedia Britannica](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/mendel\/eb-logo\/MendelNewThistleLogo.png)](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/)\n\n[![Encyclopedia Britannica](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/mendel\/eb-logo\/MendelNewThistleLogo.png)](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/)\n\n[SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/premium.britannica.com\/premium-membership\/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=global-nav&utm_campaign=blue-evergreen)\n\n[SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/premium.britannica.com\/premium-membership\/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=global-nav-mobile&utm_campaign=blue-evergreen)\n\nLogin\n\nhttps:\/\/premium.britannica.com\/premium-membership\/?utm\\_source=premium\\&utm\\_medium=nav-login-box\\&utm\\_campaign=evergreen\n\n[SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/premium.britannica.com\/premium-membership\/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=hamburger-menu&utm_campaign=blue)\n\n[Ask the Chatbot](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/chatbot)\n\n[Games & Quizzes](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/quiz\/browse) [History & Society](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/History-Society) [Science & Tech](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/Science-Tech) [Biographies](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/Biographies) [Animals & Nature](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/Animals-Nature) [Geography & Travel](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/Geography-Travel) [Arts & Culture](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/Arts-Culture) [ProCon](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/procon) [Money](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money) [Videos](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/videos)\n\n[Orlando shooting of 2016](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016)\n\n- [Introduction](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016)\n- [The shooter](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016#ref335044)\n- [The shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016#ref335045)\n- [The motive and aftermath](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016\/The-motive-and-aftermath)\n\n[References & Edit History](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016\/additional-info)  [Quick Facts & Related Topics](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/facts\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016)\n\n[Images](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016\/images-videos)\n\n[![Orlando shooting of 2016](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/27\/193227-004-FE913F92\/nightclub-friends-police-officers-relatives-patrons-crime-June-12-2016.jpg)](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/27\/193227-050-1D81C006\/nightclub-friends-police-officers-relatives-patrons-crime-June-12-2016.jpg)  [![Mass shooting](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/28\/234628-049-2036C8E5\/mass-shootings-United-States-interactive.jpg)](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016\/The-motive-and-aftermath)  [![Orlando shooting of 2016](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/26\/193226-004-130D89CD\/Members-public-respects-memorial-nightclub-Pulse-street-June-21-2016.jpg)](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/26\/193226-050-E7E6D48C\/Members-public-respects-memorial-nightclub-Pulse-street-June-21-2016.jpg)  [![On This Day: June 12](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/11\/217011-003-5AA92460\/On-this-day-historical-noteworthy-events-June-12.jpg)](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016\/The-motive-and-aftermath)\n\n![Britannica AI Icon](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/mendel-resources\/3-178\/images\/chatbot\/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5)\n\nContents\n\nAsk Anything\n\n[Politics, Law & Government](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Politics-Law-Government)    [Law, Crime & Punishment](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Law-Crime-Punishment)    [Crime & Anti-Crime](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Crime-Terrorism)\n\nCITE\n\nShare\n\nFeedback\n\nExternal Websites\n\n# The motive and aftermath\nin\n\n# [Orlando shooting of 2016](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016)\n\nHomework Help\n\nAlso known as: Pulse nightclub shooting\n\nWritten by\n\n[Michael Ray Michael Ray is an assistant managing editor who has worked at Britannica since 2003. In addition to leading the Geography and History team, he oversees coverage of European history and military affairs....](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/editor\/Michael-Ray\/6392)\n\nMichael Ray\n\nFact-checked by\n\n[Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/editor\/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica\/4419)\n\nBritannica Editors\n\nLast updated\n\nFeb. 13, 2026\n\n•[History](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016\/additional-info#history)\n\n![Britannica AI Icon](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/mendel-resources\/3-178\/images\/chatbot\/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5) Britannica AI\n\nAsk Anything\n\nTable of Contents\n\nTable of Contents\n\nAsk Anything\n\nIn the days following the attack, numerous people stated that they had recognized Mateen from various gay dating Web sites and apps, but the [FBI](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Federal-Bureau-of-Investigation) was not able to [substantiate](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/substantiate) those claims through [forensic](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/forensic) examination of his phone, his computer, or online account records. There was no evidence that he had been directed to make the attack by the [Islamic State](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Islamic-State-in-Iraq-and-the-Levant) in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also called ISIS), and the declaration of [allegiance](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/allegiance) that he made to ISIL in his 911 phone call was just the latest in a series of contradictory statements along such lines made by Mateen. At various times, he had claimed solidarity with [Hezbollah](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Hezbollah) (a Lebanese Shīʿite militia allied with Syrian Pres. [Bashar al-Assad](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Bashar-al-Assad)), the Nusrah Front (a Syrian [al-Qaeda](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/al-Qaeda) client engaging in open warfare with Assad), and ISIL (which was fighting both of the previous groups). Mateen’s seeming inability to distinguish between these competing [ideologies](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/ideologies) made his apparent self-radicalization no less dangerous, and it emphasized the threat posed by so-called “lone wolf” terrorists.\n\nPrior to the October 2017 [mass shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-shooting) on the [Las Vegas Strip](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Las-Vegas-Strip), the Pulse attack was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, a milestone made problematic by the uncertain definition of such an event. Some 120 settlers were killed by a Mormon militia at [Mountain Meadows](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Mountain-Meadows-massacre) in September 1857, and more than 200 [Sioux](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Oceti-Sakowin) men, women, and children were massacred by federal troops at [Wounded Knee](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Wounded-Knee) on December 29, 1890. As these two mass killings were carried out by organized military or paramilitary groups and not individuals, they are typically not included in a survey of mass shootings. Similarly, as many as 300 people may have been killed in the [Tulsa race riot of 1921](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Tulsa-race-massacre-of-1921), but this is event could be more accurately [characterized](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/characterized) as a deadly mob action or even a [lynching](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/lynching) writ large. Using the most widely accepted criterion—the targeting of people in a public place for reasons unrelated to another crime—the deadliest mass shooting prior to June 12, 2016, had occurred at [Virginia Tech](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Virginia-Tech-shooting), in Blacksburg, Virginia, on April 16, 2007, when a gunman killed 32 people and wounded 17 others.\n\n[![Orlando shooting of 2016](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/26\/193226-050-E7E6D48C\/Members-public-respects-memorial-nightclub-Pulse-street-June-21-2016.jpg?w=300)](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/26\/193226-050-E7E6D48C\/Members-public-respects-memorial-nightclub-Pulse-street-June-21-2016.jpg)\n\n[Orlando shooting of 2016](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/26\/193226-050-E7E6D48C\/Members-public-respects-memorial-nightclub-Pulse-street-June-21-2016.jpg)A memorial outside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, following a mass shooting that left 49 people dead, June 2016.\n\n(more)\n\nThe shootings at Pulse also represented the deadliest single incident targeting the [LGBTQ community](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/LGTBQ-community) in U.S. history, eclipsing the June 24, 1973, [arson](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/arson) attack on the UpStairs Lounge in [New Orleans](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/New-Orleans-Louisiana). That fire claimed the lives of 32 people, among them the congregants of a pro-LGBT Christian church who were meeting at the bar after the conclusion of services. That fire was the deadliest in New Orleans history, but public officials largely ignored the event, with neither the mayor nor Louisiana’s governor issuing a statement, and local churches refused to host funerals for the dead. The response to the Pulse attack could not have been more different. Tens of thousands attended public vigils and observances around the world, and landmarks such as [One World Trade Center](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/World-Trade-Center) and the [Eiffel Tower](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Eiffel-Tower-Paris-France) were [illuminated](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/illuminated) in the rainbow colours of [Gay Pride](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Pride-Month). U.S. Pres. [Barack Obama](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Barack-Obama) and Vice Pres. [Joe Biden](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Joe-Biden) met with survivors and the families of victims in [Orlando](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Orlando-Florida), and Obama renewed his call for a [legislative response to gun violence](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/gun-control). He described the attack as both an act of [terrorism](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/terrorism) and a [hate crime](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/hate-crime), stressing that “attacks on any American—regardless of race, [ethnicity](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/ethnicity), religion, or sexual orientation—\\[are attacks\\] on all of us and on the fundamental values of equality and dignity that define us as a country.”\n\n[Michael Ray](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/editor\/Michael-Ray\/6392)\n\n![Britannica AI Icon](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/mendel-resources\/3-178\/images\/chatbot\/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5)Britannica AI\n\n*chevron\\_right*\n\nOrlando shooting of 2016 - Pulse Nightclub, Gun Violence, Aftermath\n\n*close*\n\n[AI-generated answers](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/about-britannica-ai) from Britannica articles. AI makes mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.\n\n[mass shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-shooting)\n\n- [Introduction](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-shooting)\n- [Mass shootings in the United States](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-shooting#ref354133)\n- [Mass shootings around the world](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-shooting#ref354134)\n\n[References & Edit History](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-shooting\/additional-info)  [Quick Facts & Related Topics](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/facts\/mass-shooting)\n\n[Images, Videos & Interactives](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-shooting\/images-videos)\n\n[![The 2015 Umpqua Community College shooting](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/51\/261151-004-C5A960B8\/heidi-wickersham-consoles-sister-gwnedolyn-grieving-for-slain-lawrence-levine-a-victim-of-the-umpqua-community-college-shooting-october-3-2015.jpg)](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/51\/261151-050-2A7AD257\/heidi-wickersham-consoles-sister-gwnedolyn-grieving-for-slain-lawrence-levine-a-victim-of-the-umpqua-community-college-shooting-october-3-2015.jpg)  [![Mass shooting](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/28\/234628-049-2036C8E5\/mass-shootings-United-States-interactive.jpg)](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016\/The-motive-and-aftermath)\n\n[![Behind the scenes of reporting the 1966 Texas Tower shooting](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/48\/190948-138-FC90917F\/Neal-Spelce-shooting-radio-Texas-Tower-television-1966.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/video\/Neal-Spelce-shooting-radio-Texas-Tower-television-1966\/-211893)\n\n[![The first mass school shooting in U.S. history](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/52\/190952-138-D0403EC6\/Neal-Spelce-shooting-response-Texas-Tower-event-1966.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/video\/Neal-Spelce-shooting-response-Texas-Tower-event-1966\/-212313)\n\n![Britannica AI Icon](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/mendel-resources\/3-178\/images\/chatbot\/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5)\n\nContents\n\nAsk Anything\n\n[Politics, Law & Government](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Politics-Law-Government)    [Law, Crime & Punishment](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/browse\/Law-Crime-Punishment)\n\nCITE\n\nShare\n\nFeedback\n\nExternal Websites\n\n[![The 2015 Umpqua Community College shooting](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/51\/261151-050-2A7AD257\/heidi-wickersham-consoles-sister-gwnedolyn-grieving-for-slain-lawrence-levine-a-victim-of-the-umpqua-community-college-shooting-october-3-2015.jpg?w=400&h=300&c=crop)](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/51\/261151-050-2A7AD257\/heidi-wickersham-consoles-sister-gwnedolyn-grieving-for-slain-lawrence-levine-a-victim-of-the-umpqua-community-college-shooting-october-3-2015.jpg)\n\n[The 2015 Umpqua Community College shooting](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/51\/261151-050-2A7AD257\/heidi-wickersham-consoles-sister-gwnedolyn-grieving-for-slain-lawrence-levine-a-victim-of-the-umpqua-community-college-shooting-october-3-2015.jpg) A candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Oregon, October 2015; Chris Harper-Mercer, a student at the school, fatally shot nine people before taking his own life.\n\n(more)\n\n# mass shooting\nHomework Help\n\nAlso known as: active shooter incident\n\nWritten by\n\n[Michael Ray Michael Ray is an assistant managing editor who has worked at Britannica since 2003. In addition to leading the Geography and History team, he oversees coverage of European history and military affairs....](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/editor\/Michael-Ray\/6392)\n\nMichael Ray[All](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-shooting\/additional-info#contributors)\n\nFact-checked by\n\n[Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/editor\/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica\/4419)\n\nBritannica Editors\n\n[History](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-shooting\/additional-info#history)\n\n![Britannica AI Icon](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/mendel-resources\/3-178\/images\/chatbot\/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5) Britannica AI\n\nAsk Anything\n\nTable of Contents\n\nTable of Contents\n\nAsk Anything\n\n## News •\n[Pulse nightclub is demolished to make way for a memorial to the 2016 mass shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/news\/1910518\/76d3ca26a6eda488bef53b1d8f0aa046)\n\n• Mar. 18, 2026, 5:29 PM ET (AP)\n\n...(Show more)\n\n[Family sues ChatGPT-maker OpenAI over school shooting in Canada](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/news\/1910518\/de6c2b89cea94bde3b1c288b0e1581ca)  • Mar. 9, 2026, 9:53 PM ET (AP)\n\n[Videos from officers show terrifying moments during Texas mass shooting that left 3 dead](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/news\/1910518\/eefc1edc2a4e28598b5495b4214ee071)  • Mar. 5, 2026, 7:00 PM ET (AP)\n\nShow less\n\n**mass shooting**, as defined by the [U.S.](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/United-States) [Federal Bureau of Investigation](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Federal-Bureau-of-Investigation) (FBI), an event in which one or more individuals are “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. [Implicit](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/Implicit) in this definition is the shooter’s use of a [firearm](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/small-arm).” The FBI has not set a minimum number of casualties to qualify an event as a mass shooting, but U.S. statute (the [Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012](https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/112\/plaws\/publ265\/PLAW-112publ265.pdf)) defines a “mass killing” as “3 or more killings in a single incident.” For the purposes of this article, both sets of [criteria](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/criteria) will be applied to the term *mass shooting*, with the distinction that the shooter or shooters are not included in any fatality statistics.\n\nMass shootings have exacted a deadly toll on [communities](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/communities) across the [United States](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/United-States). According to [statistics compiled by *Mother Jones*](https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2012\/12\/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data\/) magazine, more than a thousand people have been killed in such attacks since 1982. American society is deeply divided on the issue of [gun control](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/gun-control), however, and these events have only intensified the debate. In the wake of the [Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Sandy-Hook-Elementary-School-shooting) in 2012, some, including Pres. [Barack Obama](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Barack-Obama), called for a renewed ban on [assault weapons](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/assault-rifle) and for tighter background checks. Others, chief among them the [National Rifle Association](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/National-Rifle-Association-of-America), resisted any gun restrictions as an unacceptable infringement on the [Second Amendment](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Second-Amendment).\n\n## Mass shootings in the United States\nThis is a partial list of mass shootings in the United States. Of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, half took place in Texas.\n\n- [University of Texas clock tower shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Texas-Tower-shooting-of-1966) (August 1, 1966)\n  \n  [Charles Whitman](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Charles-Whitman), a former [U.S. Marine](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/United-States-Marine-Corps) who had distinguished himself as an expert marksman, murdered his mother and then his wife before gathering a small [arsenal](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/arsenal) and making his way to the [University of Texas](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/University-of-Texas) clock tower. He killed three people in the tower and established a secure sniper’s nest on the observation deck, some 230 feet (70 meters) above the ground. From there he rained rifle fire onto the surrounding area for some 90 minutes. Whitman’s rampage killed 14 people and wounded more than 30; it led to the creation of active shooter response teams in police forces around the country.\n- San Ysidro McDonald’s shooting (July 18, 1984)\n  \n  An event widely regarded as the first modern mass shooting in the U.S. began when James Huberty left his house after telling his wife that he was “hunting humans.” Armed with a shotgun, a [semiautomatic pistol](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/semiautomatic-pistol), and a semiautomatic [variant](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/variant) of the [Uzi submachine gun](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/Uzi-submachine-gun), Huberty killed 21 people in and around a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, California. Although police responded to the shooting almost immediately, they were not able to enter the restaurant or neutralize the shooter for more than an hour.\n- Luby’s Cafeteria shooting (October 16, 1991)\n  \n  Driven by paranoia and an intense hatred of women, George Hennard crashed his pickup truck through the window of Luby’s Cafeteria in [Killeen](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Killeen), Texas, during the restaurant’s busy lunch rush. Wielding a pair of semiautomatic pistols, Hennard shot 43 people, killing 23. The majority of his victims were women. The Luby’s massacre would be the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. for a generation.\n- [Columbine High School shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Columbine-High-School-shootings) (April 20, 1999)\n  \n  Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two students at Columbine High School in [Littleton](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Littleton-Colorado), Colorado, carried out an attack that became the [archetype](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/archetype) for [school shootings](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/school-shooting) around the world. The names and images of the killers were [ubiquitous](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/ubiquitous) in the media, and in the 20 years following Columbine, more than three dozen shooters would cite Harris and Klebold as inspiration for their own actions. The Columbine shooters killed 14 people, one of whom died decades later from complications related to her wounds, the overwhelming majority of whom were fellow students.\n- [Virginia Tech shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Virginia-Tech-shooting) (April 16, 2007)\n  \n  [Virginia Tech](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Virginia-Tech) student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed two people in a campus dormitory room. Several hours passed, during which time Cho gathered ammunition and mailed a [manifesto](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/manifesto) to NBC News in [New York](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/New-York-state). Campus police, thinking that the initial shooting was an isolated incident, did not take steps to notify the broader student body. Roughly two and a half hours after the dormitory murders, Cho, armed with a pair of semiautomatic pistols, entered Norris Hall, an engineering classroom building. There he killed 30 people and wounded 17 others.\n- [Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Sandy-Hook-Elementary-School-shooting) (December 14, 2012)\n  \n  Adam Lanza murdered his mother while she slept in the house they shared in Newtown, Connecticut. He then gathered several firearms that she had purchased, and he drove her car to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, a public school for kindergarten through fourth grade. Lanza shot his way through a window to enter the school, where he killed 6 adults and 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7. The attack [provoked](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/provoked) public outrage, but no significant federal gun-control legislation was passed in the wake of Sandy Hook.\n- [Pulse nightclub shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016) (June 12, 2016)\n  \n  Omar Mateen was investigated by the [FBI](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Federal-Bureau-of-Investigation) in 2013 over professed ties to [al-Qaeda](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/al-Qaeda) and [Hezbollah](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Hezbollah), but no evidence was uncovered that actually linked him to those groups. Although his name had appeared on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (the so-called “terrorist watch list”) for a time, this would not have prevented Mateen from legally buying a firearm. Armed with a semiautomatic rifle and a semiautomatic handgun, Mateen entered Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and killed 49 people and [wounded](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/wounded) more than 50 others. It was the deadliest single incident targeting the [LGBTQ+ community](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/LGTBQ-community) in U.S. history.\n- [Las Vegas Strip](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Las-Vegas-Strip) shooting (October 1, 2017)\n  \n  Stephen Paddock was a high-stakes gambler and a regular presence at the casinos on the [Las Vegas Strip](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Las-Vegas-Nevada), so employees at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino did not hesitate to allow him to use the service elevator to move several large cases up to his complimentary suite on the hotel’s 32nd floor. From there Paddock had a clear view of the 22,000 [country music](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/art\/country-music) fans attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival across the street. In his suite and an adjoining room, Paddock gathered an arsenal of some two dozen weapons. The majority of these belonged to the [AR](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/ArmaLite-rifle) family of semiautomatic rifles, and many of them were modified with “bump stocks,” which allowed the shooter to approximate fully automatic fire. Over the course of 11 minutes, Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds into the crowd, killing 58 and wounding as many as 850. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.\n- Sutherland Springs church shooting (November 5, 2017)\n  \n  Devin Kelley was [court-martialed](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/court-martial-military-law) in 2012 and received a bad conduct discharge from the [U.S. Air Force](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/The-United-States-Air-Force) after brutally assaulting his wife and toddler stepson. The [conviction](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/conviction) should have prevented Kelley from purchasing firearms, but the Air Force failed to submit his name and fingerprints to the proper FBI database. That is why Kelley was able to legally purchase the [AR-style](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/ArmaLite-rifle) semiautomatic rifle and high-capacity magazines that he used in an attack on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The church was filled with congregants attending Sunday services, and Kelley fired some 700 rounds over roughly 11 minutes. He killed 26 people and wounded 20 more; nearly half of the victims were children.\n- [Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Parkland-High-School-Shooting) (February 14, 2018)\n  \n  Nikolas Cruz was expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for disciplinary issues, and in September 2017 he commented on YouTube that he [aspired](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/aspired) to be “a professional school shooter.” That post sparked an FBI investigation that yielded no leads, and Cruz was able to legally purchase an AR-15-style rifle. On Valentine’s Day the 19-year-old returned to his former school about dismissal time. He killed 17 people and wounded 17 more.\n- El Paso Walmart shooting (August 3, 2019)\n  \n  Patrick Crusius traveled 11 hours from a [Dallas](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Dallas) suburb to [El Paso](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/El-Paso-Texas), Texas, to carry out a terrorist attack against that city’s Hispanic population. Minutes before the attack, Crusius is believed to have posted a racist manifesto to the website [8chan](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/4chan), where he professed his belief in the “[great replacement](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/replacement-theory)” [conspiracy theory](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/conspiracy-theory). Shortly after 10:00 am, Crusius entered a crowded [Walmart](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Walmart) store armed with an [AK-47](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/AK-47). He killed 23 people and wounded dozens more. Crusius told arresting officers, “I’m the shooter,” and claimed that he had intentionally targeted “Mexicans.” In 2023 Crusius plead guilty to all federal charges against him, and he received 90 consecutive life sentences.\n- [Robb Elementary School shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Uvalde-school-shooting) (May 24, 2022)\n  \n  Salvador Ramos was fascinated by school shootings, and, on his 18th birthday—the first day upon which he could legally purchase a long gun in Texas—he bought an AR-15-style rifle from a [Uvalde](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Uvalde), Texas, gun store and more than 1,700 rounds of ammunition from an online retailer. Just more than a week later, he shot his grandmother in the face, seriously wounding her, and stole her pickup truck. He drove a short distance to Robb Elementary School, where he murdered 19 children and 2 adults. Although police arrived on the scene almost immediately, they failed to confront the shooter for 77 minutes. During that time students still trapped in the school made desperate calls to 911, and parents outside had to be restrained from entering the school themselves.\n\n## Mass shootings around the world\nWhile mass shootings are most common in the United States, there have been notable incidents in countries around the world. In many cases governments have responded to these attacks by introducing significant [gun-control](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/gun-control) measures.\n\n- École Polytechnique [massacre](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/massacre) (December 6, 1989)\n  \n  Irrationally blaming his life’s troubles on [feminism](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/feminism), Marc Lépine took a semiautomatic rifle to Montreal’s [École Polytechnique](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Ecole-Polytechnique) engineering school. There he killed 14 women (sparing all the men in a classroom) and wounded 13 more people. The incident sparked a lengthy debate about gun control in [Canada](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Canada).\n- [Dunblane school massacre](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Dunblane-school-massacre) (March 13, 1996)\n  \n  Armed with four [handguns](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/handgun), Thomas Hamilton entered the gymnasium at the [primary school](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/primary-school) in the small town of Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire on a class of five- and six-year-olds. He killed 17 people, almost all of whom were small children, and wounded 15 more. In 1997 [Parliament](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Parliament) banned the private ownership of handguns in the United Kingdom.\n- [Port Arthur massacre](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Port-Arthur-Massacre) (April 28–29, 1996)\n  \n  Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded some 18 others in a mass shooting in and around a popular tourist site at [Port Arthur](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Port-Arthur-inlet-Tasmania-Australia), [Tasmania](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Tasmania). Tasmania had some of the loosest gun laws in [Australia](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Australia) at the time, and the state had long resisted stricter firearm-control measures at the federal level. Prime Minister [John Howard](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/John-Winston-Howard) responded to the worst [mass murder](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-murder) in Australia’s history by crafting the National Firearms Agreement. It [implemented](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/implemented) a 28-day waiting period for gun sales and banned all fully automatic or semiautomatic weapons, except when potential buyers could provide a compelling reason—which did not include self-defense—for owning such a firearm. The federal government also instituted a gun-buyback scheme, which resulted in the removal of some 700,000 firearms from circulation.\n- [Oslo and Utøya attacks](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Oslo-and-Utoya-attacks-of-2011) (July 22, 2011)\n  \n  [White supremacist](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/white-supremacy) [Anders Behring Breivik](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Anders-Behring-Breivik) carried out the deadliest attack on Norwegian soil since [World War II](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/World-War-II) when he detonated a car bomb in downtown [Oslo](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Oslo) and shot scores of people on the island of Utøya. Breivik’s actions were unquestionably acts of politically motivated [terrorism](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/terrorism); he targeted the Norwegian Labour Party, which was hosting 600 young people at a camp on the island. The bombing killed 8 people, and Breivik, who had disguised himself as a police officer, killed 69 and wounded more than 100 in the mass shooting on Utøya. The overwhelming majority of the victims were children. Norway, which already had some of the world’s strictest gun laws, banned all semiautomatic weapons in 2021.\n- Kerch Polytechnic College massacre (October 17, 2018)\n  \n  Vladislav Roslyakov, a student at Kerch Polytechnic College in Russian-occupied [Crimea](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Crimea), killed 20 people and wounded dozens more in a [school shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/school-shooting) that was clearly inspired by the [Columbine massacre](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Columbine-High-School-shootings). Roslyakov had expressed admiration for the Columbine shooters, and his weapons, methods, and appearance all seemed calculated to emulate them.\n- [Christchurch mosque shootings](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Jacinda-Ardern\/The-2017-election#ref342367) (March 15, 2019)\n  \n  Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, traveled to [New Zealand](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/New-Zealand) explicitly for the purpose of carrying out a [terrorist attack](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/terrorism) against that country’s Muslim [community](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/community). The shooter killed 51 people and wounded dozens more as they gathered for Friday prayers at a pair of mosques in Christchurch. The government of Prime Minister [Jacinda Ardern](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Jacinda-Ardern) responded by banning military-style semiautomatic rifles, tightening laws on gun dealers, and creating a national firearms registry.\n- Nakhon Ratchasima massacre (February 8–9, 2020)\n  \n  Jakraphanth Thomma, a soldier in the Thai army, killed his commanding officer in a dispute over a property deal. He then stole an [assault rifle](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/assault-rifle) and ammunition from his military base before launching an attack on a [shopping centre](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/shopping-centre) in [Nakhon Ratchasima](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Nakhon-Ratchasima). The shooter killed 29 people and wounded scores in an attack that shook public faith in the Thai army.\n- [Bondi Beach shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/2025-Bondi-Beach-shooting) (December 14, 2025)\n  \n  Two gunmen—identified by Australian authorities as a father and son—targeted a crowd of hundreds at a gathering of Sydney’s [Jewish](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Judaism) community on the first night of [Hanukkah](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Hanukkah). They killed 15 people and wounded more than 40. It was Australia’s worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur Massacre and the deadliest [terrorist](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/terrorism) incident in the country’s history.\n\n[Kenny Chmielewski](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/editor\/Kenny-Chmielewski\/9604404) [Michael Ray](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/editor\/Michael-Ray\/6392)\n\n![Britannica AI Icon](https:\/\/cdn.britannica.com\/mendel-resources\/3-178\/images\/chatbot\/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5)Britannica AI\n\n*chevron\\_right*\n\nMass shooting\n\n*close*\n\n[AI-generated answers](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/about-britannica-ai) from Britannica articles. AI makes mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.\n\nLoad Next Page\n\nFeedback\n\nThank you for your feedback\n\nOur editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.\n\n*print* Print\n\nPlease select which sections you would like to print:\n\n*verified*Cite\n\nWhile every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.\n\nSelect Citation Style\n\nRay, Michael. \"Orlando shooting of 2016\". *Encyclopedia Britannica*, 13 Feb. 2026, https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016. Accessed 5 April 2026.\n\nCopy Citation\n\nShare\n\nShare to social media\n\n[Facebook](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BRITANNICA\/) [X](https:\/\/x.com\/britannica)\n\nURL\n\n<https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016>\n\nExternal Websites\n\n- [University of Groningen - The impact of the Orlando mass shooting on fear of victimization and gun-purchasing intentions (PDF)](https:\/\/pure.rug.nl\/ws\/portalfiles\/portal\/58573617\/The_impact_of_the_Orlando_mass_shooting_on_fear_of_victimization_and_gun_purchasing_intentions.pdf)\n- [PBS News - 50 killed at Orlando nightclub in worst mass shooting in U.S. history](https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/nation\/many-dead-in-florida-nightclub-shooting)\n- [BBC News - Orlando nightclub shooting: How the attack unfolded](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-36511778)\n- [CNN - Orlando shooting: 49 killed, shooter pledged ISIS allegiance](https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2016\/06\/12\/us\/orlando-nightclub-shooting)\n- [NPR - Orlando Nightclub Shooting](https:\/\/www.npr.org\/series\/484406692\/npr-special-coverage-of-the-orlando-nightclub-shooting)\n- [ABC Listen - RN Drive - A world of questions after Orlando mass shooting](https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/listen\/programs\/radionational-drive\/a-world-of-questions-after-orlando-mass-shooting\/7506612)\n\nFeedback\n\nThank you for your feedback\n\nOur editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.\n\n*print* Print\n\nPlease select which sections you would like to print:\n\n*verified*Cite\n\nWhile every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.\n\nSelect Citation Style\n\nRay, Michael, Chmielewski, Kenny. \"mass shooting\". *Encyclopedia Britannica*, 17 Dec. 2025, https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-shooting. Accessed 5 April 2026.\n\nCopy Citation\n\nShare\n\nShare to social media\n\n[Facebook](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BRITANNICA\/) [X](https:\/\/x.com\/britannica)\n\nURL\n\n<https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-shooting>\n\nExternal Websites\n\n- [Congress.gov - How to Define Mass Shootings: Potential Policy Implications](https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/crs-product\/R48276)\n- [Psychology Today - Mass Shootings](https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/basics\/mass-shootings)","attrs_readable_markdown":"## News •\n**mass shooting**, as defined by the [U.S.](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/United-States) [Federal Bureau of Investigation](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Federal-Bureau-of-Investigation) (FBI), an event in which one or more individuals are “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. [Implicit](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/Implicit) in this definition is the shooter’s use of a [firearm](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/small-arm).” The FBI has not set a minimum number of casualties to qualify an event as a mass shooting, but U.S. statute (the [Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012](https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/112\/plaws\/publ265\/PLAW-112publ265.pdf)) defines a “mass killing” as “3 or more killings in a single incident.” For the purposes of this article, both sets of [criteria](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/criteria) will be applied to the term *mass shooting*, with the distinction that the shooter or shooters are not included in any fatality statistics.\n\nMass shootings have exacted a deadly toll on [communities](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/communities) across the [United States](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/United-States). According to [statistics compiled by *Mother Jones*](https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2012\/12\/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data\/) magazine, more than a thousand people have been killed in such attacks since 1982. American society is deeply divided on the issue of [gun control](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/gun-control), however, and these events have only intensified the debate. In the wake of the [Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Sandy-Hook-Elementary-School-shooting) in 2012, some, including Pres. [Barack Obama](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Barack-Obama), called for a renewed ban on [assault weapons](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/assault-rifle) and for tighter background checks. Others, chief among them the [National Rifle Association](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/National-Rifle-Association-of-America), resisted any gun restrictions as an unacceptable infringement on the [Second Amendment](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Second-Amendment).\n\n## Mass shootings in the United States\nThis is a partial list of mass shootings in the United States. Of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, half took place in Texas.\n\n- [University of Texas clock tower shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Texas-Tower-shooting-of-1966) (August 1, 1966)\n  \n  [Charles Whitman](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Charles-Whitman), a former [U.S. Marine](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/United-States-Marine-Corps) who had distinguished himself as an expert marksman, murdered his mother and then his wife before gathering a small [arsenal](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/arsenal) and making his way to the [University of Texas](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/University-of-Texas) clock tower. He killed three people in the tower and established a secure sniper’s nest on the observation deck, some 230 feet (70 meters) above the ground. From there he rained rifle fire onto the surrounding area for some 90 minutes. Whitman’s rampage killed 14 people and wounded more than 30; it led to the creation of active shooter response teams in police forces around the country.\n- San Ysidro McDonald’s shooting (July 18, 1984)\n  \n  An event widely regarded as the first modern mass shooting in the U.S. began when James Huberty left his house after telling his wife that he was “hunting humans.” Armed with a shotgun, a [semiautomatic pistol](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/semiautomatic-pistol), and a semiautomatic [variant](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/variant) of the [Uzi submachine gun](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/Uzi-submachine-gun), Huberty killed 21 people in and around a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, California. Although police responded to the shooting almost immediately, they were not able to enter the restaurant or neutralize the shooter for more than an hour.\n- Luby’s Cafeteria shooting (October 16, 1991)\n  \n  Driven by paranoia and an intense hatred of women, George Hennard crashed his pickup truck through the window of Luby’s Cafeteria in [Killeen](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Killeen), Texas, during the restaurant’s busy lunch rush. Wielding a pair of semiautomatic pistols, Hennard shot 43 people, killing 23. The majority of his victims were women. The Luby’s massacre would be the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. for a generation.\n- [Columbine High School shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Columbine-High-School-shootings) (April 20, 1999)\n  \n  Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two students at Columbine High School in [Littleton](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Littleton-Colorado), Colorado, carried out an attack that became the [archetype](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/archetype) for [school shootings](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/school-shooting) around the world. The names and images of the killers were [ubiquitous](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/ubiquitous) in the media, and in the 20 years following Columbine, more than three dozen shooters would cite Harris and Klebold as inspiration for their own actions. The Columbine shooters killed 14 people, one of whom died decades later from complications related to her wounds, the overwhelming majority of whom were fellow students.\n- [Virginia Tech shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Virginia-Tech-shooting) (April 16, 2007)\n  \n  [Virginia Tech](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Virginia-Tech) student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed two people in a campus dormitory room. Several hours passed, during which time Cho gathered ammunition and mailed a [manifesto](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/manifesto) to NBC News in [New York](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/New-York-state). Campus police, thinking that the initial shooting was an isolated incident, did not take steps to notify the broader student body. Roughly two and a half hours after the dormitory murders, Cho, armed with a pair of semiautomatic pistols, entered Norris Hall, an engineering classroom building. There he killed 30 people and wounded 17 others.\n- [Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Sandy-Hook-Elementary-School-shooting) (December 14, 2012)\n  \n  Adam Lanza murdered his mother while she slept in the house they shared in Newtown, Connecticut. He then gathered several firearms that she had purchased, and he drove her car to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, a public school for kindergarten through fourth grade. Lanza shot his way through a window to enter the school, where he killed 6 adults and 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7. The attack [provoked](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/provoked) public outrage, but no significant federal gun-control legislation was passed in the wake of Sandy Hook.\n- [Pulse nightclub shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Orlando-shooting-of-2016) (June 12, 2016)\n  \n  Omar Mateen was investigated by the [FBI](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Federal-Bureau-of-Investigation) in 2013 over professed ties to [al-Qaeda](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/al-Qaeda) and [Hezbollah](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Hezbollah), but no evidence was uncovered that actually linked him to those groups. Although his name had appeared on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (the so-called “terrorist watch list”) for a time, this would not have prevented Mateen from legally buying a firearm. Armed with a semiautomatic rifle and a semiautomatic handgun, Mateen entered Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and killed 49 people and [wounded](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/wounded) more than 50 others. It was the deadliest single incident targeting the [LGBTQ+ community](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/LGTBQ-community) in U.S. history.\n- [Las Vegas Strip](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Las-Vegas-Strip) shooting (October 1, 2017)\n  \n  Stephen Paddock was a high-stakes gambler and a regular presence at the casinos on the [Las Vegas Strip](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Las-Vegas-Nevada), so employees at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino did not hesitate to allow him to use the service elevator to move several large cases up to his complimentary suite on the hotel’s 32nd floor. From there Paddock had a clear view of the 22,000 [country music](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/art\/country-music) fans attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival across the street. In his suite and an adjoining room, Paddock gathered an arsenal of some two dozen weapons. The majority of these belonged to the [AR](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/ArmaLite-rifle) family of semiautomatic rifles, and many of them were modified with “bump stocks,” which allowed the shooter to approximate fully automatic fire. Over the course of 11 minutes, Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds into the crowd, killing 58 and wounding as many as 850. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.\n- Sutherland Springs church shooting (November 5, 2017)\n  \n  Devin Kelley was [court-martialed](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/court-martial-military-law) in 2012 and received a bad conduct discharge from the [U.S. Air Force](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/The-United-States-Air-Force) after brutally assaulting his wife and toddler stepson. The [conviction](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/conviction) should have prevented Kelley from purchasing firearms, but the Air Force failed to submit his name and fingerprints to the proper FBI database. That is why Kelley was able to legally purchase the [AR-style](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/ArmaLite-rifle) semiautomatic rifle and high-capacity magazines that he used in an attack on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The church was filled with congregants attending Sunday services, and Kelley fired some 700 rounds over roughly 11 minutes. He killed 26 people and wounded 20 more; nearly half of the victims were children.\n- [Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Parkland-High-School-Shooting) (February 14, 2018)\n  \n  Nikolas Cruz was expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for disciplinary issues, and in September 2017 he commented on YouTube that he [aspired](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/aspired) to be “a professional school shooter.” That post sparked an FBI investigation that yielded no leads, and Cruz was able to legally purchase an AR-15-style rifle. On Valentine’s Day the 19-year-old returned to his former school about dismissal time. He killed 17 people and wounded 17 more.\n- El Paso Walmart shooting (August 3, 2019)\n  \n  Patrick Crusius traveled 11 hours from a [Dallas](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Dallas) suburb to [El Paso](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/El-Paso-Texas), Texas, to carry out a terrorist attack against that city’s Hispanic population. Minutes before the attack, Crusius is believed to have posted a racist manifesto to the website [8chan](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/4chan), where he professed his belief in the “[great replacement](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/replacement-theory)” [conspiracy theory](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/conspiracy-theory). Shortly after 10:00 am, Crusius entered a crowded [Walmart](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/money\/Walmart) store armed with an [AK-47](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/AK-47). He killed 23 people and wounded dozens more. Crusius told arresting officers, “I’m the shooter,” and claimed that he had intentionally targeted “Mexicans.” In 2023 Crusius plead guilty to all federal charges against him, and he received 90 consecutive life sentences.\n- [Robb Elementary School shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Uvalde-school-shooting) (May 24, 2022)\n  \n  Salvador Ramos was fascinated by school shootings, and, on his 18th birthday—the first day upon which he could legally purchase a long gun in Texas—he bought an AR-15-style rifle from a [Uvalde](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Uvalde), Texas, gun store and more than 1,700 rounds of ammunition from an online retailer. Just more than a week later, he shot his grandmother in the face, seriously wounding her, and stole her pickup truck. He drove a short distance to Robb Elementary School, where he murdered 19 children and 2 adults. Although police arrived on the scene almost immediately, they failed to confront the shooter for 77 minutes. During that time students still trapped in the school made desperate calls to 911, and parents outside had to be restrained from entering the school themselves.\n\n## Mass shootings around the world\nWhile mass shootings are most common in the United States, there have been notable incidents in countries around the world. In many cases governments have responded to these attacks by introducing significant [gun-control](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/gun-control) measures.\n\n- École Polytechnique [massacre](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/massacre) (December 6, 1989)\n  \n  Irrationally blaming his life’s troubles on [feminism](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/feminism), Marc Lépine took a semiautomatic rifle to Montreal’s [École Polytechnique](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Ecole-Polytechnique) engineering school. There he killed 14 women (sparing all the men in a classroom) and wounded 13 more people. The incident sparked a lengthy debate about gun control in [Canada](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Canada).\n- [Dunblane school massacre](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Dunblane-school-massacre) (March 13, 1996)\n  \n  Armed with four [handguns](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/handgun), Thomas Hamilton entered the gymnasium at the [primary school](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/primary-school) in the small town of Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire on a class of five- and six-year-olds. He killed 17 people, almost all of whom were small children, and wounded 15 more. In 1997 [Parliament](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Parliament) banned the private ownership of handguns in the United Kingdom.\n- [Port Arthur massacre](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Port-Arthur-Massacre) (April 28–29, 1996)\n  \n  Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded some 18 others in a mass shooting in and around a popular tourist site at [Port Arthur](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Port-Arthur-inlet-Tasmania-Australia), [Tasmania](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Tasmania). Tasmania had some of the loosest gun laws in [Australia](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Australia) at the time, and the state had long resisted stricter firearm-control measures at the federal level. Prime Minister [John Howard](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/John-Winston-Howard) responded to the worst [mass murder](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/mass-murder) in Australia’s history by crafting the National Firearms Agreement. It [implemented](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/implemented) a 28-day waiting period for gun sales and banned all fully automatic or semiautomatic weapons, except when potential buyers could provide a compelling reason—which did not include self-defense—for owning such a firearm. The federal government also instituted a gun-buyback scheme, which resulted in the removal of some 700,000 firearms from circulation.\n- [Oslo and Utøya attacks](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Oslo-and-Utoya-attacks-of-2011) (July 22, 2011)\n  \n  [White supremacist](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/white-supremacy) [Anders Behring Breivik](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Anders-Behring-Breivik) carried out the deadliest attack on Norwegian soil since [World War II](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/World-War-II) when he detonated a car bomb in downtown [Oslo](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Oslo) and shot scores of people on the island of Utøya. Breivik’s actions were unquestionably acts of politically motivated [terrorism](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/terrorism); he targeted the Norwegian Labour Party, which was hosting 600 young people at a camp on the island. The bombing killed 8 people, and Breivik, who had disguised himself as a police officer, killed 69 and wounded more than 100 in the mass shooting on Utøya. The overwhelming majority of the victims were children. Norway, which already had some of the world’s strictest gun laws, banned all semiautomatic weapons in 2021.\n- Kerch Polytechnic College massacre (October 17, 2018)\n  \n  Vladislav Roslyakov, a student at Kerch Polytechnic College in Russian-occupied [Crimea](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Crimea), killed 20 people and wounded dozens more in a [school shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/school-shooting) that was clearly inspired by the [Columbine massacre](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Columbine-High-School-shootings). Roslyakov had expressed admiration for the Columbine shooters, and his weapons, methods, and appearance all seemed calculated to emulate them.\n- [Christchurch mosque shootings](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Jacinda-Ardern\/The-2017-election#ref342367) (March 15, 2019)\n  \n  Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, traveled to [New Zealand](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/New-Zealand) explicitly for the purpose of carrying out a [terrorist attack](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/terrorism) against that country’s Muslim [community](https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/community). The shooter killed 51 people and wounded dozens more as they gathered for Friday prayers at a pair of mosques in Christchurch. The government of Prime Minister [Jacinda Ardern](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Jacinda-Ardern) responded by banning military-style semiautomatic rifles, tightening laws on gun dealers, and creating a national firearms registry.\n- Nakhon Ratchasima massacre (February 8–9, 2020)\n  \n  Jakraphanth Thomma, a soldier in the Thai army, killed his commanding officer in a dispute over a property deal. He then stole an [assault rifle](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/assault-rifle) and ammunition from his military base before launching an attack on a [shopping centre](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/shopping-centre) in [Nakhon Ratchasima](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Nakhon-Ratchasima). The shooter killed 29 people and wounded scores in an attack that shook public faith in the Thai army.\n- [Bondi Beach shooting](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/2025-Bondi-Beach-shooting) (December 14, 2025)\n  \n  Two gunmen—identified by Australian authorities as a father and son—targeted a crowd of hundreds at a gathering of Sydney’s [Jewish](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Judaism) community on the first night of [Hanukkah](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Hanukkah). They killed 15 people and wounded more than 40. It was Australia’s worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur Massacre and the deadliest [terrorist](https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/terrorism) incident in the country’s history.","meta_canonical":null}

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Meta Description	Orlando shooting of 2016 - Pulse Nightclub, Gun Violence, Aftermath: In the days following the attack, numerous people stated that they had recognized Mateen from various gay dating Web sites and apps, but the FBI was not able to substantiate those claims through forensic examination of his phone, his computer, or online account records. There was no evidence that he had been directed to make the attack by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also called ISIS), and the declaration of allegiance that he made to ISIL in his 911 phone call was just the latest in a series of contradictory statements along such lines made by
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Boilerpipe Text	News • mass shooting , as defined by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), an event in which one or more individuals are “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. Implicit in this definition is the shooter’s use of a firearm .” The FBI has not set a minimum number of casualties to qualify an event as a mass shooting, but U.S. statute (the Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012 ) defines a “mass killing” as “3 or more killings in a single incident.” For the purposes of this article, both sets of criteria will be applied to the term mass shooting , with the distinction that the shooter or shooters are not included in any fatality statistics. Mass shootings have exacted a deadly toll on communities across the United States . According to statistics compiled by Mother Jones magazine, more than a thousand people have been killed in such attacks since 1982. American society is deeply divided on the issue of gun control , however, and these events have only intensified the debate. In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, some, including Pres. Barack Obama , called for a renewed ban on assault weapons and for tighter background checks. Others, chief among them the National Rifle Association , resisted any gun restrictions as an unacceptable infringement on the Second Amendment . Mass shootings in the United States This is a partial list of mass shootings in the United States. Of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, half took place in Texas. University of Texas clock tower shooting (August 1, 1966) Charles Whitman , a former U.S. Marine who had distinguished himself as an expert marksman, murdered his mother and then his wife before gathering a small arsenal and making his way to the University of Texas clock tower. He killed three people in the tower and established a secure sniper’s nest on the observation deck, some 230 feet (70 meters) above the ground. From there he rained rifle fire onto the surrounding area for some 90 minutes. Whitman’s rampage killed 14 people and wounded more than 30; it led to the creation of active shooter response teams in police forces around the country. San Ysidro McDonald’s shooting (July 18, 1984) An event widely regarded as the first modern mass shooting in the U.S. began when James Huberty left his house after telling his wife that he was “hunting humans.” Armed with a shotgun, a semiautomatic pistol , and a semiautomatic variant of the Uzi submachine gun , Huberty killed 21 people in and around a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, California. Although police responded to the shooting almost immediately, they were not able to enter the restaurant or neutralize the shooter for more than an hour. Luby’s Cafeteria shooting (October 16, 1991) Driven by paranoia and an intense hatred of women, George Hennard crashed his pickup truck through the window of Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen , Texas, during the restaurant’s busy lunch rush. Wielding a pair of semiautomatic pistols, Hennard shot 43 people, killing 23. The majority of his victims were women. The Luby’s massacre would be the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. for a generation. Columbine High School shooting (April 20, 1999) Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two students at Columbine High School in Littleton , Colorado, carried out an attack that became the archetype for school shootings around the world. The names and images of the killers were ubiquitous in the media, and in the 20 years following Columbine, more than three dozen shooters would cite Harris and Klebold as inspiration for their own actions. The Columbine shooters killed 14 people, one of whom died decades later from complications related to her wounds, the overwhelming majority of whom were fellow students. Virginia Tech shooting (April 16, 2007) Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed two people in a campus dormitory room. Several hours passed, during which time Cho gathered ammunition and mailed a manifesto to NBC News in New York . Campus police, thinking that the initial shooting was an isolated incident, did not take steps to notify the broader student body. Roughly two and a half hours after the dormitory murders, Cho, armed with a pair of semiautomatic pistols, entered Norris Hall, an engineering classroom building. There he killed 30 people and wounded 17 others. Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (December 14, 2012) Adam Lanza murdered his mother while she slept in the house they shared in Newtown, Connecticut. He then gathered several firearms that she had purchased, and he drove her car to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, a public school for kindergarten through fourth grade. Lanza shot his way through a window to enter the school, where he killed 6 adults and 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7. The attack provoked public outrage, but no significant federal gun-control legislation was passed in the wake of Sandy Hook. Pulse nightclub shooting (June 12, 2016) Omar Mateen was investigated by the FBI in 2013 over professed ties to al-Qaeda and Hezbollah , but no evidence was uncovered that actually linked him to those groups. Although his name had appeared on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (the so-called “terrorist watch list”) for a time, this would not have prevented Mateen from legally buying a firearm. Armed with a semiautomatic rifle and a semiautomatic handgun, Mateen entered Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and killed 49 people and wounded more than 50 others. It was the deadliest single incident targeting the LGBTQ+ community in U.S. history. Las Vegas Strip shooting (October 1, 2017) Stephen Paddock was a high-stakes gambler and a regular presence at the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip , so employees at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino did not hesitate to allow him to use the service elevator to move several large cases up to his complimentary suite on the hotel’s 32nd floor. From there Paddock had a clear view of the 22,000 country music fans attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival across the street. In his suite and an adjoining room, Paddock gathered an arsenal of some two dozen weapons. The majority of these belonged to the AR family of semiautomatic rifles, and many of them were modified with “bump stocks,” which allowed the shooter to approximate fully automatic fire. Over the course of 11 minutes, Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds into the crowd, killing 58 and wounding as many as 850. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Sutherland Springs church shooting (November 5, 2017) Devin Kelley was court-martialed in 2012 and received a bad conduct discharge from the U.S. Air Force after brutally assaulting his wife and toddler stepson. The conviction should have prevented Kelley from purchasing firearms, but the Air Force failed to submit his name and fingerprints to the proper FBI database. That is why Kelley was able to legally purchase the AR-style semiautomatic rifle and high-capacity magazines that he used in an attack on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The church was filled with congregants attending Sunday services, and Kelley fired some 700 rounds over roughly 11 minutes. He killed 26 people and wounded 20 more; nearly half of the victims were children. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting (February 14, 2018) Nikolas Cruz was expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for disciplinary issues, and in September 2017 he commented on YouTube that he aspired to be “a professional school shooter.” That post sparked an FBI investigation that yielded no leads, and Cruz was able to legally purchase an AR-15-style rifle. On Valentine’s Day the 19-year-old returned to his former school about dismissal time. He killed 17 people and wounded 17 more. El Paso Walmart shooting (August 3, 2019) Patrick Crusius traveled 11 hours from a Dallas suburb to El Paso , Texas, to carry out a terrorist attack against that city’s Hispanic population. Minutes before the attack, Crusius is believed to have posted a racist manifesto to the website 8chan , where he professed his belief in the “ great replacement ” conspiracy theory . Shortly after 10:00 am , Crusius entered a crowded Walmart store armed with an AK-47 . He killed 23 people and wounded dozens more. Crusius told arresting officers, “I’m the shooter,” and claimed that he had intentionally targeted “Mexicans.” In 2023 Crusius plead guilty to all federal charges against him, and he received 90 consecutive life sentences. Robb Elementary School shooting (May 24, 2022) Salvador Ramos was fascinated by school shootings, and, on his 18th birthday—the first day upon which he could legally purchase a long gun in Texas—he bought an AR-15-style rifle from a Uvalde , Texas, gun store and more than 1,700 rounds of ammunition from an online retailer. Just more than a week later, he shot his grandmother in the face, seriously wounding her, and stole her pickup truck. He drove a short distance to Robb Elementary School, where he murdered 19 children and 2 adults. Although police arrived on the scene almost immediately, they failed to confront the shooter for 77 minutes. During that time students still trapped in the school made desperate calls to 911, and parents outside had to be restrained from entering the school themselves. Mass shootings around the world While mass shootings are most common in the United States, there have been notable incidents in countries around the world. In many cases governments have responded to these attacks by introducing significant gun-control measures. École Polytechnique massacre (December 6, 1989) Irrationally blaming his life’s troubles on feminism , Marc Lépine took a semiautomatic rifle to Montreal’s École Polytechnique engineering school. There he killed 14 women (sparing all the men in a classroom) and wounded 13 more people. The incident sparked a lengthy debate about gun control in Canada . Dunblane school massacre (March 13, 1996) Armed with four handguns , Thomas Hamilton entered the gymnasium at the primary school in the small town of Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire on a class of five- and six-year-olds. He killed 17 people, almost all of whom were small children, and wounded 15 more. In 1997 Parliament banned the private ownership of handguns in the United Kingdom. Port Arthur massacre (April 28–29, 1996) Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded some 18 others in a mass shooting in and around a popular tourist site at Port Arthur , Tasmania . Tasmania had some of the loosest gun laws in Australia at the time, and the state had long resisted stricter firearm-control measures at the federal level. Prime Minister John Howard responded to the worst mass murder in Australia’s history by crafting the National Firearms Agreement. It implemented a 28-day waiting period for gun sales and banned all fully automatic or semiautomatic weapons, except when potential buyers could provide a compelling reason—which did not include self-defense—for owning such a firearm. The federal government also instituted a gun-buyback scheme, which resulted in the removal of some 700,000 firearms from circulation. Oslo and Utøya attacks (July 22, 2011) White supremacist Anders Behring Breivik carried out the deadliest attack on Norwegian soil since World War II when he detonated a car bomb in downtown Oslo and shot scores of people on the island of Utøya. Breivik’s actions were unquestionably acts of politically motivated terrorism ; he targeted the Norwegian Labour Party, which was hosting 600 young people at a camp on the island. The bombing killed 8 people, and Breivik, who had disguised himself as a police officer, killed 69 and wounded more than 100 in the mass shooting on Utøya. The overwhelming majority of the victims were children. Norway, which already had some of the world’s strictest gun laws, banned all semiautomatic weapons in 2021. Kerch Polytechnic College massacre (October 17, 2018) Vladislav Roslyakov, a student at Kerch Polytechnic College in Russian-occupied Crimea , killed 20 people and wounded dozens more in a school shooting that was clearly inspired by the Columbine massacre . Roslyakov had expressed admiration for the Columbine shooters, and his weapons, methods, and appearance all seemed calculated to emulate them. Christchurch mosque shootings (March 15, 2019) Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, traveled to New Zealand explicitly for the purpose of carrying out a terrorist attack against that country’s Muslim community . The shooter killed 51 people and wounded dozens more as they gathered for Friday prayers at a pair of mosques in Christchurch. The government of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responded by banning military-style semiautomatic rifles, tightening laws on gun dealers, and creating a national firearms registry. Nakhon Ratchasima massacre (February 8–9, 2020) Jakraphanth Thomma, a soldier in the Thai army, killed his commanding officer in a dispute over a property deal. He then stole an assault rifle and ammunition from his military base before launching an attack on a shopping centre in Nakhon Ratchasima . The shooter killed 29 people and wounded scores in an attack that shook public faith in the Thai army. Bondi Beach shooting (December 14, 2025) Two gunmen—identified by Australian authorities as a father and son—targeted a crowd of hundreds at a gathering of Sydney’s Jewish community on the first night of Hanukkah . They killed 15 people and wounded more than 40. It was Australia’s worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur Massacre and the deadliest terrorist incident in the country’s history.
Markdown	[![Encyclopedia Britannica](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel/eb-logo/MendelNewThistleLogo.png)](https://www.britannica.com/) [![Encyclopedia Britannica](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel/eb-logo/MendelNewThistleLogo.png)](https://www.britannica.com/) [SUBSCRIBE](https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=global-nav&utm_campaign=blue-evergreen) [SUBSCRIBE](https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=global-nav-mobile&utm_campaign=blue-evergreen) Login https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm\_source=premium\&utm\_medium=nav-login-box\&utm\_campaign=evergreen [SUBSCRIBE](https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=hamburger-menu&utm_campaign=blue) [Ask the Chatbot](https://www.britannica.com/chatbot) [Games & Quizzes](https://www.britannica.com/quiz/browse) [History & Society](https://www.britannica.com/History-Society) [Science & Tech](https://www.britannica.com/Science-Tech) [Biographies](https://www.britannica.com/Biographies) [Animals & Nature](https://www.britannica.com/Animals-Nature) [Geography & Travel](https://www.britannica.com/Geography-Travel) [Arts & Culture](https://www.britannica.com/Arts-Culture) [ProCon](https://www.britannica.com/procon) [Money](https://www.britannica.com/money) [Videos](https://www.britannica.com/videos) [Orlando shooting of 2016](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016) - [Introduction](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016) - [The shooter](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016#ref335044) - [The shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016#ref335045) - [The motive and aftermath](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016/The-motive-and-aftermath) [References & Edit History](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016/additional-info) [Quick Facts & Related Topics](https://www.britannica.com/facts/Orlando-shooting-of-2016) [Images](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016/images-videos) [![Orlando shooting of 2016](https://cdn.britannica.com/27/193227-004-FE913F92/nightclub-friends-police-officers-relatives-patrons-crime-June-12-2016.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/27/193227-050-1D81C006/nightclub-friends-police-officers-relatives-patrons-crime-June-12-2016.jpg) [![Mass shooting](https://cdn.britannica.com/28/234628-049-2036C8E5/mass-shootings-United-States-interactive.jpg)](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016/The-motive-and-aftermath) [![Orlando shooting of 2016](https://cdn.britannica.com/26/193226-004-130D89CD/Members-public-respects-memorial-nightclub-Pulse-street-June-21-2016.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/26/193226-050-E7E6D48C/Members-public-respects-memorial-nightclub-Pulse-street-June-21-2016.jpg) [![On This Day: June 12](https://cdn.britannica.com/11/217011-003-5AA92460/On-this-day-historical-noteworthy-events-June-12.jpg)](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016/The-motive-and-aftermath) ![Britannica AI Icon](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-178/images/chatbot/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5) Contents Ask Anything [Politics, Law & Government](https://www.britannica.com/browse/Politics-Law-Government) [Law, Crime & Punishment](https://www.britannica.com/browse/Law-Crime-Punishment) [Crime & Anti-Crime](https://www.britannica.com/browse/Crime-Terrorism) CITE Share Feedback External Websites # The motive and aftermath in # [Orlando shooting of 2016](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016) Homework Help Also known as: Pulse nightclub shooting Written by [Michael Ray Michael Ray is an assistant managing editor who has worked at Britannica since 2003. In addition to leading the Geography and History team, he oversees coverage of European history and military affairs....](https://www.britannica.com/editor/Michael-Ray/6392) Michael Ray Fact-checked by [Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....](https://www.britannica.com/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419) Britannica Editors Last updated Feb. 13, 2026 •[History](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016/additional-info#history) ![Britannica AI Icon](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-178/images/chatbot/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5) Britannica AI Ask Anything Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything In the days following the attack, numerous people stated that they had recognized Mateen from various gay dating Web sites and apps, but the [FBI](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Federal-Bureau-of-Investigation) was not able to [substantiate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/substantiate) those claims through [forensic](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forensic) examination of his phone, his computer, or online account records. There was no evidence that he had been directed to make the attack by the [Islamic State](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islamic-State-in-Iraq-and-the-Levant) in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also called ISIS), and the declaration of [allegiance](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/allegiance) that he made to ISIL in his 911 phone call was just the latest in a series of contradictory statements along such lines made by Mateen. At various times, he had claimed solidarity with [Hezbollah](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hezbollah) (a Lebanese Shīʿite militia allied with Syrian Pres. [Bashar al-Assad](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bashar-al-Assad)), the Nusrah Front (a Syrian [al-Qaeda](https://www.britannica.com/topic/al-Qaeda) client engaging in open warfare with Assad), and ISIL (which was fighting both of the previous groups). Mateen’s seeming inability to distinguish between these competing [ideologies](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideologies) made his apparent self-radicalization no less dangerous, and it emphasized the threat posed by so-called “lone wolf” terrorists. Prior to the October 2017 [mass shooting](https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting) on the [Las Vegas Strip](https://www.britannica.com/place/Las-Vegas-Strip), the Pulse attack was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, a milestone made problematic by the uncertain definition of such an event. Some 120 settlers were killed by a Mormon militia at [Mountain Meadows](https://www.britannica.com/event/Mountain-Meadows-massacre) in September 1857, and more than 200 [Sioux](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oceti-Sakowin) men, women, and children were massacred by federal troops at [Wounded Knee](https://www.britannica.com/place/Wounded-Knee) on December 29, 1890. As these two mass killings were carried out by organized military or paramilitary groups and not individuals, they are typically not included in a survey of mass shootings. Similarly, as many as 300 people may have been killed in the [Tulsa race riot of 1921](https://www.britannica.com/event/Tulsa-race-massacre-of-1921), but this is event could be more accurately [characterized](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/characterized) as a deadly mob action or even a [lynching](https://www.britannica.com/topic/lynching) writ large. Using the most widely accepted criterion—the targeting of people in a public place for reasons unrelated to another crime—the deadliest mass shooting prior to June 12, 2016, had occurred at [Virginia Tech](https://www.britannica.com/event/Virginia-Tech-shooting), in Blacksburg, Virginia, on April 16, 2007, when a gunman killed 32 people and wounded 17 others. [![Orlando shooting of 2016](https://cdn.britannica.com/26/193226-050-E7E6D48C/Members-public-respects-memorial-nightclub-Pulse-street-June-21-2016.jpg?w=300)](https://cdn.britannica.com/26/193226-050-E7E6D48C/Members-public-respects-memorial-nightclub-Pulse-street-June-21-2016.jpg) [Orlando shooting of 2016](https://cdn.britannica.com/26/193226-050-E7E6D48C/Members-public-respects-memorial-nightclub-Pulse-street-June-21-2016.jpg)A memorial outside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, following a mass shooting that left 49 people dead, June 2016. (more) The shootings at Pulse also represented the deadliest single incident targeting the [LGBTQ community](https://www.britannica.com/topic/LGTBQ-community) in U.S. history, eclipsing the June 24, 1973, [arson](https://www.britannica.com/topic/arson) attack on the UpStairs Lounge in [New Orleans](https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Orleans-Louisiana). That fire claimed the lives of 32 people, among them the congregants of a pro-LGBT Christian church who were meeting at the bar after the conclusion of services. That fire was the deadliest in New Orleans history, but public officials largely ignored the event, with neither the mayor nor Louisiana’s governor issuing a statement, and local churches refused to host funerals for the dead. The response to the Pulse attack could not have been more different. Tens of thousands attended public vigils and observances around the world, and landmarks such as [One World Trade Center](https://www.britannica.com/topic/World-Trade-Center) and the [Eiffel Tower](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eiffel-Tower-Paris-France) were [illuminated](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illuminated) in the rainbow colours of [Gay Pride](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pride-Month). U.S. Pres. [Barack Obama](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barack-Obama) and Vice Pres. [Joe Biden](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joe-Biden) met with survivors and the families of victims in [Orlando](https://www.britannica.com/place/Orlando-Florida), and Obama renewed his call for a [legislative response to gun violence](https://www.britannica.com/technology/gun-control). He described the attack as both an act of [terrorism](https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism) and a [hate crime](https://www.britannica.com/topic/hate-crime), stressing that “attacks on any American—regardless of race, [ethnicity](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethnicity), religion, or sexual orientation—\[are attacks\] on all of us and on the fundamental values of equality and dignity that define us as a country.” [Michael Ray](https://www.britannica.com/editor/Michael-Ray/6392) ![Britannica AI Icon](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-178/images/chatbot/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5)Britannica AI chevron\_right Orlando shooting of 2016 - Pulse Nightclub, Gun Violence, Aftermath close [AI-generated answers](https://www.britannica.com/about-britannica-ai) from Britannica articles. AI makes mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. [mass shooting](https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting) - [Introduction](https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting) - [Mass shootings in the United States](https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting#ref354133) - [Mass shootings around the world](https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting#ref354134) [References & Edit History](https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting/additional-info) [Quick Facts & Related Topics](https://www.britannica.com/facts/mass-shooting) [Images, Videos & Interactives](https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting/images-videos) [![The 2015 Umpqua Community College shooting](https://cdn.britannica.com/51/261151-004-C5A960B8/heidi-wickersham-consoles-sister-gwnedolyn-grieving-for-slain-lawrence-levine-a-victim-of-the-umpqua-community-college-shooting-october-3-2015.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/51/261151-050-2A7AD257/heidi-wickersham-consoles-sister-gwnedolyn-grieving-for-slain-lawrence-levine-a-victim-of-the-umpqua-community-college-shooting-october-3-2015.jpg) [![Mass shooting](https://cdn.britannica.com/28/234628-049-2036C8E5/mass-shootings-United-States-interactive.jpg)](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016/The-motive-and-aftermath) [![Behind the scenes of reporting the 1966 Texas Tower shooting](https://cdn.britannica.com/48/190948-138-FC90917F/Neal-Spelce-shooting-radio-Texas-Tower-television-1966.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)](https://www.britannica.com/video/Neal-Spelce-shooting-radio-Texas-Tower-television-1966/-211893) [![The first mass school shooting in U.S. history](https://cdn.britannica.com/52/190952-138-D0403EC6/Neal-Spelce-shooting-response-Texas-Tower-event-1966.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)](https://www.britannica.com/video/Neal-Spelce-shooting-response-Texas-Tower-event-1966/-212313) ![Britannica AI Icon](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-178/images/chatbot/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5) Contents Ask Anything [Politics, Law & Government](https://www.britannica.com/browse/Politics-Law-Government) [Law, Crime & Punishment](https://www.britannica.com/browse/Law-Crime-Punishment) CITE Share Feedback External Websites [![The 2015 Umpqua Community College shooting](https://cdn.britannica.com/51/261151-050-2A7AD257/heidi-wickersham-consoles-sister-gwnedolyn-grieving-for-slain-lawrence-levine-a-victim-of-the-umpqua-community-college-shooting-october-3-2015.jpg?w=400&h=300&c=crop)](https://cdn.britannica.com/51/261151-050-2A7AD257/heidi-wickersham-consoles-sister-gwnedolyn-grieving-for-slain-lawrence-levine-a-victim-of-the-umpqua-community-college-shooting-october-3-2015.jpg) [The 2015 Umpqua Community College shooting](https://cdn.britannica.com/51/261151-050-2A7AD257/heidi-wickersham-consoles-sister-gwnedolyn-grieving-for-slain-lawrence-levine-a-victim-of-the-umpqua-community-college-shooting-october-3-2015.jpg) A candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Oregon, October 2015; Chris Harper-Mercer, a student at the school, fatally shot nine people before taking his own life. (more) # mass shooting Homework Help Also known as: active shooter incident Written by [Michael Ray Michael Ray is an assistant managing editor who has worked at Britannica since 2003. In addition to leading the Geography and History team, he oversees coverage of European history and military affairs....](https://www.britannica.com/editor/Michael-Ray/6392) Michael Ray[All](https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting/additional-info#contributors) Fact-checked by [Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....](https://www.britannica.com/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419) Britannica Editors [History](https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting/additional-info#history) ![Britannica AI Icon](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-178/images/chatbot/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5) Britannica AI Ask Anything Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything ## News • [Pulse nightclub is demolished to make way for a memorial to the 2016 mass shooting](https://www.britannica.com/news/1910518/76d3ca26a6eda488bef53b1d8f0aa046) • Mar. 18, 2026, 5:29 PM ET (AP) ...(Show more) [Family sues ChatGPT-maker OpenAI over school shooting in Canada](https://www.britannica.com/news/1910518/de6c2b89cea94bde3b1c288b0e1581ca) • Mar. 9, 2026, 9:53 PM ET (AP) [Videos from officers show terrifying moments during Texas mass shooting that left 3 dead](https://www.britannica.com/news/1910518/eefc1edc2a4e28598b5495b4214ee071) • Mar. 5, 2026, 7:00 PM ET (AP) Show less mass shooting, as defined by the [U.S.](https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States) [Federal Bureau of Investigation](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Federal-Bureau-of-Investigation) (FBI), an event in which one or more individuals are “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. [Implicit](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Implicit) in this definition is the shooter’s use of a [firearm](https://www.britannica.com/technology/small-arm).” The FBI has not set a minimum number of casualties to qualify an event as a mass shooting, but U.S. statute (the [Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012](https://www.congress.gov/112/plaws/publ265/PLAW-112publ265.pdf)) defines a “mass killing” as “3 or more killings in a single incident.” For the purposes of this article, both sets of [criteria](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/criteria) will be applied to the term mass shooting, with the distinction that the shooter or shooters are not included in any fatality statistics. Mass shootings have exacted a deadly toll on [communities](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/communities) across the [United States](https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States). According to [statistics compiled by Mother Jones](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data/) magazine, more than a thousand people have been killed in such attacks since 1982. American society is deeply divided on the issue of [gun control](https://www.britannica.com/technology/gun-control), however, and these events have only intensified the debate. In the wake of the [Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Sandy-Hook-Elementary-School-shooting) in 2012, some, including Pres. [Barack Obama](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barack-Obama), called for a renewed ban on [assault weapons](https://www.britannica.com/technology/assault-rifle) and for tighter background checks. Others, chief among them the [National Rifle Association](https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Rifle-Association-of-America), resisted any gun restrictions as an unacceptable infringement on the [Second Amendment](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Second-Amendment). ## Mass shootings in the United States This is a partial list of mass shootings in the United States. Of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, half took place in Texas. - [University of Texas clock tower shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Texas-Tower-shooting-of-1966) (August 1, 1966) [Charles Whitman](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Whitman), a former [U.S. Marine](https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-States-Marine-Corps) who had distinguished himself as an expert marksman, murdered his mother and then his wife before gathering a small [arsenal](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/arsenal) and making his way to the [University of Texas](https://www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-Texas) clock tower. He killed three people in the tower and established a secure sniper’s nest on the observation deck, some 230 feet (70 meters) above the ground. From there he rained rifle fire onto the surrounding area for some 90 minutes. Whitman’s rampage killed 14 people and wounded more than 30; it led to the creation of active shooter response teams in police forces around the country. - San Ysidro McDonald’s shooting (July 18, 1984) An event widely regarded as the first modern mass shooting in the U.S. began when James Huberty left his house after telling his wife that he was “hunting humans.” Armed with a shotgun, a [semiautomatic pistol](https://www.britannica.com/technology/semiautomatic-pistol), and a semiautomatic [variant](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/variant) of the [Uzi submachine gun](https://www.britannica.com/technology/Uzi-submachine-gun), Huberty killed 21 people in and around a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, California. Although police responded to the shooting almost immediately, they were not able to enter the restaurant or neutralize the shooter for more than an hour. - Luby’s Cafeteria shooting (October 16, 1991) Driven by paranoia and an intense hatred of women, George Hennard crashed his pickup truck through the window of Luby’s Cafeteria in [Killeen](https://www.britannica.com/place/Killeen), Texas, during the restaurant’s busy lunch rush. Wielding a pair of semiautomatic pistols, Hennard shot 43 people, killing 23. The majority of his victims were women. The Luby’s massacre would be the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. for a generation. - [Columbine High School shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Columbine-High-School-shootings) (April 20, 1999) Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two students at Columbine High School in [Littleton](https://www.britannica.com/place/Littleton-Colorado), Colorado, carried out an attack that became the [archetype](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archetype) for [school shootings](https://www.britannica.com/topic/school-shooting) around the world. The names and images of the killers were [ubiquitous](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ubiquitous) in the media, and in the 20 years following Columbine, more than three dozen shooters would cite Harris and Klebold as inspiration for their own actions. The Columbine shooters killed 14 people, one of whom died decades later from complications related to her wounds, the overwhelming majority of whom were fellow students. - [Virginia Tech shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Virginia-Tech-shooting) (April 16, 2007) [Virginia Tech](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Virginia-Tech) student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed two people in a campus dormitory room. Several hours passed, during which time Cho gathered ammunition and mailed a [manifesto](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manifesto) to NBC News in [New York](https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-state). Campus police, thinking that the initial shooting was an isolated incident, did not take steps to notify the broader student body. Roughly two and a half hours after the dormitory murders, Cho, armed with a pair of semiautomatic pistols, entered Norris Hall, an engineering classroom building. There he killed 30 people and wounded 17 others. - [Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Sandy-Hook-Elementary-School-shooting) (December 14, 2012) Adam Lanza murdered his mother while she slept in the house they shared in Newtown, Connecticut. He then gathered several firearms that she had purchased, and he drove her car to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, a public school for kindergarten through fourth grade. Lanza shot his way through a window to enter the school, where he killed 6 adults and 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7. The attack [provoked](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/provoked) public outrage, but no significant federal gun-control legislation was passed in the wake of Sandy Hook. - [Pulse nightclub shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016) (June 12, 2016) Omar Mateen was investigated by the [FBI](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Federal-Bureau-of-Investigation) in 2013 over professed ties to [al-Qaeda](https://www.britannica.com/topic/al-Qaeda) and [Hezbollah](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hezbollah), but no evidence was uncovered that actually linked him to those groups. Although his name had appeared on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (the so-called “terrorist watch list”) for a time, this would not have prevented Mateen from legally buying a firearm. Armed with a semiautomatic rifle and a semiautomatic handgun, Mateen entered Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and killed 49 people and [wounded](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/wounded) more than 50 others. It was the deadliest single incident targeting the [LGBTQ+ community](https://www.britannica.com/topic/LGTBQ-community) in U.S. history. - [Las Vegas Strip](https://www.britannica.com/place/Las-Vegas-Strip) shooting (October 1, 2017) Stephen Paddock was a high-stakes gambler and a regular presence at the casinos on the [Las Vegas Strip](https://www.britannica.com/place/Las-Vegas-Nevada), so employees at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino did not hesitate to allow him to use the service elevator to move several large cases up to his complimentary suite on the hotel’s 32nd floor. From there Paddock had a clear view of the 22,000 [country music](https://www.britannica.com/art/country-music) fans attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival across the street. In his suite and an adjoining room, Paddock gathered an arsenal of some two dozen weapons. The majority of these belonged to the [AR](https://www.britannica.com/technology/ArmaLite-rifle) family of semiautomatic rifles, and many of them were modified with “bump stocks,” which allowed the shooter to approximate fully automatic fire. Over the course of 11 minutes, Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds into the crowd, killing 58 and wounding as many as 850. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. - Sutherland Springs church shooting (November 5, 2017) Devin Kelley was [court-martialed](https://www.britannica.com/topic/court-martial-military-law) in 2012 and received a bad conduct discharge from the [U.S. Air Force](https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-United-States-Air-Force) after brutally assaulting his wife and toddler stepson. The [conviction](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conviction) should have prevented Kelley from purchasing firearms, but the Air Force failed to submit his name and fingerprints to the proper FBI database. That is why Kelley was able to legally purchase the [AR-style](https://www.britannica.com/technology/ArmaLite-rifle) semiautomatic rifle and high-capacity magazines that he used in an attack on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The church was filled with congregants attending Sunday services, and Kelley fired some 700 rounds over roughly 11 minutes. He killed 26 people and wounded 20 more; nearly half of the victims were children. - [Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Parkland-High-School-Shooting) (February 14, 2018) Nikolas Cruz was expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for disciplinary issues, and in September 2017 he commented on YouTube that he [aspired](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/aspired) to be “a professional school shooter.” That post sparked an FBI investigation that yielded no leads, and Cruz was able to legally purchase an AR-15-style rifle. On Valentine’s Day the 19-year-old returned to his former school about dismissal time. He killed 17 people and wounded 17 more. - El Paso Walmart shooting (August 3, 2019) Patrick Crusius traveled 11 hours from a [Dallas](https://www.britannica.com/place/Dallas) suburb to [El Paso](https://www.britannica.com/place/El-Paso-Texas), Texas, to carry out a terrorist attack against that city’s Hispanic population. Minutes before the attack, Crusius is believed to have posted a racist manifesto to the website [8chan](https://www.britannica.com/topic/4chan), where he professed his belief in the “[great replacement](https://www.britannica.com/topic/replacement-theory)” [conspiracy theory](https://www.britannica.com/topic/conspiracy-theory). Shortly after 10:00 am, Crusius entered a crowded [Walmart](https://www.britannica.com/money/Walmart) store armed with an [AK-47](https://www.britannica.com/technology/AK-47). He killed 23 people and wounded dozens more. Crusius told arresting officers, “I’m the shooter,” and claimed that he had intentionally targeted “Mexicans.” In 2023 Crusius plead guilty to all federal charges against him, and he received 90 consecutive life sentences. - [Robb Elementary School shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Uvalde-school-shooting) (May 24, 2022) Salvador Ramos was fascinated by school shootings, and, on his 18th birthday—the first day upon which he could legally purchase a long gun in Texas—he bought an AR-15-style rifle from a [Uvalde](https://www.britannica.com/place/Uvalde), Texas, gun store and more than 1,700 rounds of ammunition from an online retailer. Just more than a week later, he shot his grandmother in the face, seriously wounding her, and stole her pickup truck. He drove a short distance to Robb Elementary School, where he murdered 19 children and 2 adults. Although police arrived on the scene almost immediately, they failed to confront the shooter for 77 minutes. During that time students still trapped in the school made desperate calls to 911, and parents outside had to be restrained from entering the school themselves. ## Mass shootings around the world While mass shootings are most common in the United States, there have been notable incidents in countries around the world. In many cases governments have responded to these attacks by introducing significant [gun-control](https://www.britannica.com/technology/gun-control) measures. - École Polytechnique [massacre](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/massacre) (December 6, 1989) Irrationally blaming his life’s troubles on [feminism](https://www.britannica.com/topic/feminism), Marc Lépine took a semiautomatic rifle to Montreal’s [École Polytechnique](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ecole-Polytechnique) engineering school. There he killed 14 women (sparing all the men in a classroom) and wounded 13 more people. The incident sparked a lengthy debate about gun control in [Canada](https://www.britannica.com/place/Canada). - [Dunblane school massacre](https://www.britannica.com/event/Dunblane-school-massacre) (March 13, 1996) Armed with four [handguns](https://www.britannica.com/technology/handgun), Thomas Hamilton entered the gymnasium at the [primary school](https://www.britannica.com/topic/primary-school) in the small town of Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire on a class of five- and six-year-olds. He killed 17 people, almost all of whom were small children, and wounded 15 more. In 1997 [Parliament](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Parliament) banned the private ownership of handguns in the United Kingdom. - [Port Arthur massacre](https://www.britannica.com/event/Port-Arthur-Massacre) (April 28–29, 1996) Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded some 18 others in a mass shooting in and around a popular tourist site at [Port Arthur](https://www.britannica.com/place/Port-Arthur-inlet-Tasmania-Australia), [Tasmania](https://www.britannica.com/place/Tasmania). Tasmania had some of the loosest gun laws in [Australia](https://www.britannica.com/place/Australia) at the time, and the state had long resisted stricter firearm-control measures at the federal level. Prime Minister [John Howard](https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Winston-Howard) responded to the worst [mass murder](https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-murder) in Australia’s history by crafting the National Firearms Agreement. It [implemented](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/implemented) a 28-day waiting period for gun sales and banned all fully automatic or semiautomatic weapons, except when potential buyers could provide a compelling reason—which did not include self-defense—for owning such a firearm. The federal government also instituted a gun-buyback scheme, which resulted in the removal of some 700,000 firearms from circulation. - [Oslo and Utøya attacks](https://www.britannica.com/event/Oslo-and-Utoya-attacks-of-2011) (July 22, 2011) [White supremacist](https://www.britannica.com/topic/white-supremacy) [Anders Behring Breivik](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anders-Behring-Breivik) carried out the deadliest attack on Norwegian soil since [World War II](https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II) when he detonated a car bomb in downtown [Oslo](https://www.britannica.com/place/Oslo) and shot scores of people on the island of Utøya. Breivik’s actions were unquestionably acts of politically motivated [terrorism](https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism); he targeted the Norwegian Labour Party, which was hosting 600 young people at a camp on the island. The bombing killed 8 people, and Breivik, who had disguised himself as a police officer, killed 69 and wounded more than 100 in the mass shooting on Utøya. The overwhelming majority of the victims were children. Norway, which already had some of the world’s strictest gun laws, banned all semiautomatic weapons in 2021. - Kerch Polytechnic College massacre (October 17, 2018) Vladislav Roslyakov, a student at Kerch Polytechnic College in Russian-occupied [Crimea](https://www.britannica.com/place/Crimea), killed 20 people and wounded dozens more in a [school shooting](https://www.britannica.com/topic/school-shooting) that was clearly inspired by the [Columbine massacre](https://www.britannica.com/event/Columbine-High-School-shootings). Roslyakov had expressed admiration for the Columbine shooters, and his weapons, methods, and appearance all seemed calculated to emulate them. - [Christchurch mosque shootings](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacinda-Ardern/The-2017-election#ref342367) (March 15, 2019) Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, traveled to [New Zealand](https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Zealand) explicitly for the purpose of carrying out a [terrorist attack](https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism) against that country’s Muslim [community](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community). The shooter killed 51 people and wounded dozens more as they gathered for Friday prayers at a pair of mosques in Christchurch. The government of Prime Minister [Jacinda Ardern](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacinda-Ardern) responded by banning military-style semiautomatic rifles, tightening laws on gun dealers, and creating a national firearms registry. - Nakhon Ratchasima massacre (February 8–9, 2020) Jakraphanth Thomma, a soldier in the Thai army, killed his commanding officer in a dispute over a property deal. He then stole an [assault rifle](https://www.britannica.com/technology/assault-rifle) and ammunition from his military base before launching an attack on a [shopping centre](https://www.britannica.com/topic/shopping-centre) in [Nakhon Ratchasima](https://www.britannica.com/place/Nakhon-Ratchasima). The shooter killed 29 people and wounded scores in an attack that shook public faith in the Thai army. - [Bondi Beach shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/2025-Bondi-Beach-shooting) (December 14, 2025) Two gunmen—identified by Australian authorities as a father and son—targeted a crowd of hundreds at a gathering of Sydney’s [Jewish](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism) community on the first night of [Hanukkah](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hanukkah). They killed 15 people and wounded more than 40. It was Australia’s worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur Massacre and the deadliest [terrorist](https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism) incident in the country’s history. [Kenny Chmielewski](https://www.britannica.com/editor/Kenny-Chmielewski/9604404) [Michael Ray](https://www.britannica.com/editor/Michael-Ray/6392) ![Britannica AI Icon](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-178/images/chatbot/star-ai.svg?v=3.178.5)Britannica AI chevron\_right Mass shooting close [AI-generated answers](https://www.britannica.com/about-britannica-ai) from Britannica articles. AI makes mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. Load Next Page Feedback Thank you for your feedback Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. print Print Please select which sections you would like to print: verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style Ray, Michael. "Orlando shooting of 2016". Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 Feb. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016. Accessed 5 April 2026. Copy Citation Share Share to social media [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/BRITANNICA/) [X](https://x.com/britannica) URL <https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016> External Websites - [University of Groningen - The impact of the Orlando mass shooting on fear of victimization and gun-purchasing intentions (PDF)](https://pure.rug.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/58573617/The_impact_of_the_Orlando_mass_shooting_on_fear_of_victimization_and_gun_purchasing_intentions.pdf) - [PBS News - 50 killed at Orlando nightclub in worst mass shooting in U.S. history](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/many-dead-in-florida-nightclub-shooting) - [BBC News - Orlando nightclub shooting: How the attack unfolded](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36511778) - [CNN - Orlando shooting: 49 killed, shooter pledged ISIS allegiance](https://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting) - [NPR - Orlando Nightclub Shooting](https://www.npr.org/series/484406692/npr-special-coverage-of-the-orlando-nightclub-shooting) - [ABC Listen - RN Drive - A world of questions after Orlando mass shooting](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-drive/a-world-of-questions-after-orlando-mass-shooting/7506612) Feedback Thank you for your feedback Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. print Print Please select which sections you would like to print: verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style Ray, Michael, Chmielewski, Kenny. "mass shooting". Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Dec. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting. Accessed 5 April 2026. Copy Citation Share Share to social media [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/BRITANNICA/) [X](https://x.com/britannica) URL <https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-shooting> External Websites - [Congress.gov - How to Define Mass Shootings: Potential Policy Implications](https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48276) - [Psychology Today - Mass Shootings](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/mass-shootings)
Readable Markdown	## News • mass shooting, as defined by the [U.S.](https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States) [Federal Bureau of Investigation](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Federal-Bureau-of-Investigation) (FBI), an event in which one or more individuals are “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. [Implicit](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Implicit) in this definition is the shooter’s use of a [firearm](https://www.britannica.com/technology/small-arm).” The FBI has not set a minimum number of casualties to qualify an event as a mass shooting, but U.S. statute (the [Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012](https://www.congress.gov/112/plaws/publ265/PLAW-112publ265.pdf)) defines a “mass killing” as “3 or more killings in a single incident.” For the purposes of this article, both sets of [criteria](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/criteria) will be applied to the term mass shooting, with the distinction that the shooter or shooters are not included in any fatality statistics. Mass shootings have exacted a deadly toll on [communities](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/communities) across the [United States](https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States). According to [statistics compiled by Mother Jones](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data/) magazine, more than a thousand people have been killed in such attacks since 1982. American society is deeply divided on the issue of [gun control](https://www.britannica.com/technology/gun-control), however, and these events have only intensified the debate. In the wake of the [Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Sandy-Hook-Elementary-School-shooting) in 2012, some, including Pres. [Barack Obama](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barack-Obama), called for a renewed ban on [assault weapons](https://www.britannica.com/technology/assault-rifle) and for tighter background checks. Others, chief among them the [National Rifle Association](https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Rifle-Association-of-America), resisted any gun restrictions as an unacceptable infringement on the [Second Amendment](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Second-Amendment). ## Mass shootings in the United States This is a partial list of mass shootings in the United States. Of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, half took place in Texas. - [University of Texas clock tower shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Texas-Tower-shooting-of-1966) (August 1, 1966) [Charles Whitman](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Whitman), a former [U.S. Marine](https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-States-Marine-Corps) who had distinguished himself as an expert marksman, murdered his mother and then his wife before gathering a small [arsenal](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/arsenal) and making his way to the [University of Texas](https://www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-Texas) clock tower. He killed three people in the tower and established a secure sniper’s nest on the observation deck, some 230 feet (70 meters) above the ground. From there he rained rifle fire onto the surrounding area for some 90 minutes. Whitman’s rampage killed 14 people and wounded more than 30; it led to the creation of active shooter response teams in police forces around the country. - San Ysidro McDonald’s shooting (July 18, 1984) An event widely regarded as the first modern mass shooting in the U.S. began when James Huberty left his house after telling his wife that he was “hunting humans.” Armed with a shotgun, a [semiautomatic pistol](https://www.britannica.com/technology/semiautomatic-pistol), and a semiautomatic [variant](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/variant) of the [Uzi submachine gun](https://www.britannica.com/technology/Uzi-submachine-gun), Huberty killed 21 people in and around a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, California. Although police responded to the shooting almost immediately, they were not able to enter the restaurant or neutralize the shooter for more than an hour. - Luby’s Cafeteria shooting (October 16, 1991) Driven by paranoia and an intense hatred of women, George Hennard crashed his pickup truck through the window of Luby’s Cafeteria in [Killeen](https://www.britannica.com/place/Killeen), Texas, during the restaurant’s busy lunch rush. Wielding a pair of semiautomatic pistols, Hennard shot 43 people, killing 23. The majority of his victims were women. The Luby’s massacre would be the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. for a generation. - [Columbine High School shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Columbine-High-School-shootings) (April 20, 1999) Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two students at Columbine High School in [Littleton](https://www.britannica.com/place/Littleton-Colorado), Colorado, carried out an attack that became the [archetype](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archetype) for [school shootings](https://www.britannica.com/topic/school-shooting) around the world. The names and images of the killers were [ubiquitous](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ubiquitous) in the media, and in the 20 years following Columbine, more than three dozen shooters would cite Harris and Klebold as inspiration for their own actions. The Columbine shooters killed 14 people, one of whom died decades later from complications related to her wounds, the overwhelming majority of whom were fellow students. - [Virginia Tech shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Virginia-Tech-shooting) (April 16, 2007) [Virginia Tech](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Virginia-Tech) student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed two people in a campus dormitory room. Several hours passed, during which time Cho gathered ammunition and mailed a [manifesto](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manifesto) to NBC News in [New York](https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-state). Campus police, thinking that the initial shooting was an isolated incident, did not take steps to notify the broader student body. Roughly two and a half hours after the dormitory murders, Cho, armed with a pair of semiautomatic pistols, entered Norris Hall, an engineering classroom building. There he killed 30 people and wounded 17 others. - [Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Sandy-Hook-Elementary-School-shooting) (December 14, 2012) Adam Lanza murdered his mother while she slept in the house they shared in Newtown, Connecticut. He then gathered several firearms that she had purchased, and he drove her car to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, a public school for kindergarten through fourth grade. Lanza shot his way through a window to enter the school, where he killed 6 adults and 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7. The attack [provoked](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/provoked) public outrage, but no significant federal gun-control legislation was passed in the wake of Sandy Hook. - [Pulse nightclub shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016) (June 12, 2016) Omar Mateen was investigated by the [FBI](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Federal-Bureau-of-Investigation) in 2013 over professed ties to [al-Qaeda](https://www.britannica.com/topic/al-Qaeda) and [Hezbollah](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hezbollah), but no evidence was uncovered that actually linked him to those groups. Although his name had appeared on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (the so-called “terrorist watch list”) for a time, this would not have prevented Mateen from legally buying a firearm. Armed with a semiautomatic rifle and a semiautomatic handgun, Mateen entered Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and killed 49 people and [wounded](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/wounded) more than 50 others. It was the deadliest single incident targeting the [LGBTQ+ community](https://www.britannica.com/topic/LGTBQ-community) in U.S. history. - [Las Vegas Strip](https://www.britannica.com/place/Las-Vegas-Strip) shooting (October 1, 2017) Stephen Paddock was a high-stakes gambler and a regular presence at the casinos on the [Las Vegas Strip](https://www.britannica.com/place/Las-Vegas-Nevada), so employees at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino did not hesitate to allow him to use the service elevator to move several large cases up to his complimentary suite on the hotel’s 32nd floor. From there Paddock had a clear view of the 22,000 [country music](https://www.britannica.com/art/country-music) fans attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival across the street. In his suite and an adjoining room, Paddock gathered an arsenal of some two dozen weapons. The majority of these belonged to the [AR](https://www.britannica.com/technology/ArmaLite-rifle) family of semiautomatic rifles, and many of them were modified with “bump stocks,” which allowed the shooter to approximate fully automatic fire. Over the course of 11 minutes, Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds into the crowd, killing 58 and wounding as many as 850. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. - Sutherland Springs church shooting (November 5, 2017) Devin Kelley was [court-martialed](https://www.britannica.com/topic/court-martial-military-law) in 2012 and received a bad conduct discharge from the [U.S. Air Force](https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-United-States-Air-Force) after brutally assaulting his wife and toddler stepson. The [conviction](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conviction) should have prevented Kelley from purchasing firearms, but the Air Force failed to submit his name and fingerprints to the proper FBI database. That is why Kelley was able to legally purchase the [AR-style](https://www.britannica.com/technology/ArmaLite-rifle) semiautomatic rifle and high-capacity magazines that he used in an attack on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The church was filled with congregants attending Sunday services, and Kelley fired some 700 rounds over roughly 11 minutes. He killed 26 people and wounded 20 more; nearly half of the victims were children. - [Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Parkland-High-School-Shooting) (February 14, 2018) Nikolas Cruz was expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for disciplinary issues, and in September 2017 he commented on YouTube that he [aspired](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/aspired) to be “a professional school shooter.” That post sparked an FBI investigation that yielded no leads, and Cruz was able to legally purchase an AR-15-style rifle. On Valentine’s Day the 19-year-old returned to his former school about dismissal time. He killed 17 people and wounded 17 more. - El Paso Walmart shooting (August 3, 2019) Patrick Crusius traveled 11 hours from a [Dallas](https://www.britannica.com/place/Dallas) suburb to [El Paso](https://www.britannica.com/place/El-Paso-Texas), Texas, to carry out a terrorist attack against that city’s Hispanic population. Minutes before the attack, Crusius is believed to have posted a racist manifesto to the website [8chan](https://www.britannica.com/topic/4chan), where he professed his belief in the “[great replacement](https://www.britannica.com/topic/replacement-theory)” [conspiracy theory](https://www.britannica.com/topic/conspiracy-theory). Shortly after 10:00 am, Crusius entered a crowded [Walmart](https://www.britannica.com/money/Walmart) store armed with an [AK-47](https://www.britannica.com/technology/AK-47). He killed 23 people and wounded dozens more. Crusius told arresting officers, “I’m the shooter,” and claimed that he had intentionally targeted “Mexicans.” In 2023 Crusius plead guilty to all federal charges against him, and he received 90 consecutive life sentences. - [Robb Elementary School shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/Uvalde-school-shooting) (May 24, 2022) Salvador Ramos was fascinated by school shootings, and, on his 18th birthday—the first day upon which he could legally purchase a long gun in Texas—he bought an AR-15-style rifle from a [Uvalde](https://www.britannica.com/place/Uvalde), Texas, gun store and more than 1,700 rounds of ammunition from an online retailer. Just more than a week later, he shot his grandmother in the face, seriously wounding her, and stole her pickup truck. He drove a short distance to Robb Elementary School, where he murdered 19 children and 2 adults. Although police arrived on the scene almost immediately, they failed to confront the shooter for 77 minutes. During that time students still trapped in the school made desperate calls to 911, and parents outside had to be restrained from entering the school themselves. ## Mass shootings around the world While mass shootings are most common in the United States, there have been notable incidents in countries around the world. In many cases governments have responded to these attacks by introducing significant [gun-control](https://www.britannica.com/technology/gun-control) measures. - École Polytechnique [massacre](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/massacre) (December 6, 1989) Irrationally blaming his life’s troubles on [feminism](https://www.britannica.com/topic/feminism), Marc Lépine took a semiautomatic rifle to Montreal’s [École Polytechnique](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ecole-Polytechnique) engineering school. There he killed 14 women (sparing all the men in a classroom) and wounded 13 more people. The incident sparked a lengthy debate about gun control in [Canada](https://www.britannica.com/place/Canada). - [Dunblane school massacre](https://www.britannica.com/event/Dunblane-school-massacre) (March 13, 1996) Armed with four [handguns](https://www.britannica.com/technology/handgun), Thomas Hamilton entered the gymnasium at the [primary school](https://www.britannica.com/topic/primary-school) in the small town of Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire on a class of five- and six-year-olds. He killed 17 people, almost all of whom were small children, and wounded 15 more. In 1997 [Parliament](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Parliament) banned the private ownership of handguns in the United Kingdom. - [Port Arthur massacre](https://www.britannica.com/event/Port-Arthur-Massacre) (April 28–29, 1996) Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded some 18 others in a mass shooting in and around a popular tourist site at [Port Arthur](https://www.britannica.com/place/Port-Arthur-inlet-Tasmania-Australia), [Tasmania](https://www.britannica.com/place/Tasmania). Tasmania had some of the loosest gun laws in [Australia](https://www.britannica.com/place/Australia) at the time, and the state had long resisted stricter firearm-control measures at the federal level. Prime Minister [John Howard](https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Winston-Howard) responded to the worst [mass murder](https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-murder) in Australia’s history by crafting the National Firearms Agreement. It [implemented](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/implemented) a 28-day waiting period for gun sales and banned all fully automatic or semiautomatic weapons, except when potential buyers could provide a compelling reason—which did not include self-defense—for owning such a firearm. The federal government also instituted a gun-buyback scheme, which resulted in the removal of some 700,000 firearms from circulation. - [Oslo and Utøya attacks](https://www.britannica.com/event/Oslo-and-Utoya-attacks-of-2011) (July 22, 2011) [White supremacist](https://www.britannica.com/topic/white-supremacy) [Anders Behring Breivik](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anders-Behring-Breivik) carried out the deadliest attack on Norwegian soil since [World War II](https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II) when he detonated a car bomb in downtown [Oslo](https://www.britannica.com/place/Oslo) and shot scores of people on the island of Utøya. Breivik’s actions were unquestionably acts of politically motivated [terrorism](https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism); he targeted the Norwegian Labour Party, which was hosting 600 young people at a camp on the island. The bombing killed 8 people, and Breivik, who had disguised himself as a police officer, killed 69 and wounded more than 100 in the mass shooting on Utøya. The overwhelming majority of the victims were children. Norway, which already had some of the world’s strictest gun laws, banned all semiautomatic weapons in 2021. - Kerch Polytechnic College massacre (October 17, 2018) Vladislav Roslyakov, a student at Kerch Polytechnic College in Russian-occupied [Crimea](https://www.britannica.com/place/Crimea), killed 20 people and wounded dozens more in a [school shooting](https://www.britannica.com/topic/school-shooting) that was clearly inspired by the [Columbine massacre](https://www.britannica.com/event/Columbine-High-School-shootings). Roslyakov had expressed admiration for the Columbine shooters, and his weapons, methods, and appearance all seemed calculated to emulate them. - [Christchurch mosque shootings](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacinda-Ardern/The-2017-election#ref342367) (March 15, 2019) Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, traveled to [New Zealand](https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Zealand) explicitly for the purpose of carrying out a [terrorist attack](https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism) against that country’s Muslim [community](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community). The shooter killed 51 people and wounded dozens more as they gathered for Friday prayers at a pair of mosques in Christchurch. The government of Prime Minister [Jacinda Ardern](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacinda-Ardern) responded by banning military-style semiautomatic rifles, tightening laws on gun dealers, and creating a national firearms registry. - Nakhon Ratchasima massacre (February 8–9, 2020) Jakraphanth Thomma, a soldier in the Thai army, killed his commanding officer in a dispute over a property deal. He then stole an [assault rifle](https://www.britannica.com/technology/assault-rifle) and ammunition from his military base before launching an attack on a [shopping centre](https://www.britannica.com/topic/shopping-centre) in [Nakhon Ratchasima](https://www.britannica.com/place/Nakhon-Ratchasima). The shooter killed 29 people and wounded scores in an attack that shook public faith in the Thai army. - [Bondi Beach shooting](https://www.britannica.com/event/2025-Bondi-Beach-shooting) (December 14, 2025) Two gunmen—identified by Australian authorities as a father and son—targeted a crowd of hundreds at a gathering of Sydney’s [Jewish](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism) community on the first night of [Hanukkah](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hanukkah). They killed 15 people and wounded more than 40. It was Australia’s worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur Massacre and the deadliest [terrorist](https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism) incident in the country’s history.
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