So far this year, the nation has witnessed the second-highest number on record of mass killings and deaths to this point in a single year. Only 2019 had more mass killings.
The latest mass killing in the U.S. happened Wednesday night in Lewiston, Maine, when a man opened fire at a bowling alley and a bar, killing 18 people and injuring 13 others, officials said Thursday.
The alert for Lewiston was made shortly after 8 p.m. as the sheriff’s office reported that law enforcement agencies were investigating “two active shooter events.”
The man identified as a person of interest in a mass killing in Maine is a firearms instructor trained by the military and was recently committed to a mental health facility, according to a state police bulletin.
The shooting was the country’s 36th mass killing this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 188 people have died in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people have died within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.
So far this year, the nation has witnessed the second-highest number on record of mass killings and deaths to this point in a single year. Only 2019 had more mass killings. According to the database, there have been more than 560 mass killings since 2006, in which at least 2,900 people died and at least 2,000 were injured.
Here’s what happened in the other U.S. mass killings this year.
ROMEOVILLE, ILLINOIS: Sept. 17
A couple, their two children — ages 7 and 9 — and three dogs were found fatally shot in their suburban Chicago home. Police were asked to check on the family after one member did not show for work that morning and phone calls went unanswered, authorities said. A 32-year-old man was suspected in the deaths. He died days later after a fiery crash in Oklahoma, along with a passenger, and had a relationship with the victims, police said.
LAKE TOWNSHIP, OHIO: Aug. 24
Five members of a family, including three children, were found dead at a home in Lake Township, Ohio, by police officers performing a welfare check. Authorities say a husband and wife and their two daughters and son died from gunshot wounds and their deaths are being investigated as a domestic dispute that turned deadly. It’s unclear who fired the shots.
OKLAHOMA CITY: Aug. 16
Police in Oklahoma City said a 28-year-old man fatally shot three young children — ages 9, 5 and 2 — and his estranged wife before taking his own life. Officers visited the family home following a report of a domestic disturbance. Authorities described the couple as married but separated and said police had never been called to a domestic disturbance at the home before. They added that investigators have not yet determined a motive.
HAMPTON, GEORGIA: July 15
A 40-year-old man is accused of fatally shooting four people, all in their 60s, in a suburb south of Atlanta. Police said the man’s motive was not immediately clear. The killings set off a massive search that ended with a shootout that killed the man in another suburb about 15 miles (24 kilometers) away. The exchange of gunfire wounded a sheriff’s deputy and two police officers.
SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA: July 4
Multiple males are believed to have exchanged gunfire at an annual Independence Day block party just before midnight, leaving at least four people dead and at least seven others injured, according to police. Suspects were not quickly identified, and arrests were not immediately made.
PHILADELPHIA: July 3
A 40-year-old man is accused of opening fire randomly with an AR-15-style rifle, killing four people and wounding four others, including a 2-year-old, in a southwest Philadelphia neighborhood. Authorities said the man fatally shot another person in a row house the day before.
GREEN POND, SOUTH CAROLINA: July 2
A 33-year-old man was charged with murder in the killings of his sister-in-law and 11-year-old daughter after authorities found six people dead and one person in critical condition at a home while responding to reports of a house fire and stabbings, officials said. They did not immediately identify a motive. The man was later charged in connection with the other four deaths, according to media reports.
