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Overview of Active Shooter Incidents


What is an Active Shooter?

The Interagency Security Committee defines an active shooter as: "an individual or individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. In most cases, firearms are the weapon of choice during these incidents, but any weapon (such as a knife, etc.) can be used to harm innocent individuals."²

Active shooting incidents:

  • have continued to rise over the past several years
  • are often over within 10 to 15 minutes³
  • can happen anywhere and anytime

Sources for Active Shooter Statistics

  • Gun Violence Archive – an online archive of gun violence incidents collected from over 7,500 law enforcement, media, government, and commercial sources daily to provide near-real time data about the results of gun violence. GVA is an independent data collection and research group with no affiliation with any advocacy organization
  • The K-12 School Shooting Database – a database that documents when a gun is brandished, is fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims, time of day, or day of week
  • FBI's Resources – includes annual reports on active shooter incidents in the U.S.
  • CDC – a collection of data sources for firearm-related injuries and deaths


Shootings in Healthcare Facilities in the U.S.

Emergency

According to the January 2022 "Active Shooter Response" report available through the National Library of Medicine, there have been 154 hospital-related shootings involving 148 hospitals since 2000⁴. The publication cites that during this period, hospital-related shootings trended upwards yearly resulting in 235 injuries, some of which include deaths.

The report also notes that approximately 60% of the recorded shootings occurred inside the hospital and 40% outside. The most common locations where shootings took place in descending order of frequency were:

  • Emergency departments (most frequent)
  • Outpatient clinics
  • Parking lots
  • Patient rooms
  • Intensive care units

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Reference(s):

²Planning and response to an active shooter - CISA. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). (2015, November). Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/isc-planning-response-active-shooter-guide-non-fouo-nov-2015-508.pdf

³Active shooter - how to respond - dhs.gov. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2008). Retrieved July 5, 2022, from https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/active_shooter_booklet.pdf

⁴Schwerin, D. L., Thurman, J., & Goldstein, S. (2022, January). Active shooter response. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519067/