Mass shootings in the U.S. have topped the 500-mark this year. A shooting that wounded four people in Denver Saturday night marked the country's 500th mass shooting in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, Axios reports. Hours later, that increased to 501 after one person died and five others were wounded in El Paso, Tex., early Sunday. Just five years ago, the U.S. never had experienced 500 mass shootings in one year. There were 335 i 2018 and 414 i 2019. The total reached 610 in 2020, 689 in 2021 and 645 last year.
The Gun Violence Archive, an independent research and data collection organization, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people were shot or killed, not including the shooter. This makes its numbers higher than other sources with varying definitions. A January shooting on the eve of Lunar New Year in Monterey Park, Cal., a largely Asian American area, has caused the most deaths so far in 2023. Eleven people were killed and nine others injured. The most injuries related to gun violence occurred in April at a birthday party shooting in Dadeville, Ala., that left four people dead and 32 others injured. One in six Americans have personally witnessed someone being shot, according to survey data. Gun deaths among children hit a record high in 2021. There were 305 school shootings in 2022 and 230 by Sept. 5 in 2023, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
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