Frequent shootings put US mass killings on a record pace
- The United States is on a torrid pace for mass killings in 2023, with at least 97 people dying in 19 incidents so far this year
- With more firearms than inhabitants, the US has the highest rate of gun-related deaths of any developed country
Now the discovery of seven people found shot to death in rural Oklahoma is keeping the United States on a torrid pace for mass killings in 2023 and could push the number of people slain past 100 for the year.
The Mojave slayings over the weekend represented the 19th mass killing of the year, according to a database maintained by Associated Press and USA Today in a partnership with Northeastern University.
That is the most during the first four months of the year since data was first recorded in 2006. The Oklahoma deaths had not been added to the database as of Tuesday afternoon.
As of the Mojave shooting, 97 people had been killed in the 19 mass killings this year, exceeding the record set in 2009 when 93 people were killed in 17 incidents by the end of April.
The number killed is a fraction of the total number of people who died by homicide for the year. The database counts killings involving four or more fatalities, not including the perpetrator, the same standard as the FBI, and tracks a number of variables for each.