According to NBC News’ school shooting tracker, 73 people were killed and 120 were injured in 49 school shootings since 2013. It has been five days since last school shooting, as of March 9, 2022.
This tracker will help to locate and contextualize shootings at all levels of schools, from kindergarten to college, throughout the U.S.
This tracker is focused on school shootings in which an active shooter with intent to harm injures or kills at most one student or faculty member at school or at school events. View the complete NBC News criteria for school shootings, including the FBI definition of active shooter.
WHY WE DO THIS
The national conversation immediately following a school shooting in the United States recounts the number and similar incidents that occurred that year. These chilling statistics are broadcast on airwaves and published in newsprint. They can also be shared online depending on which news organization defines a school shooting.
Numerous databases and organizations track gun violence in schools. These include Everytown for Gun Safety and the Washington Post school shooting database. Department of Education. These publishers help the public understand the effects of gun violence, even though they might have different numbers for specific school shootings.
Professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research Dr. Daniel Webster said that one of the difficulties in studying gun violence was determining what constitutes a school shooting.
Webster stated, “Let’s suppose someone is shot on school property in the evening.” It has nothing to do the school day, and it doesn’t involve students. However, you could identify the setting as a school in a database. This makes it murky.
It is possible for the numbers of school shootings to be confused by their differing figures. The 18th school shooting in 2018 was , according to Everytown for Gun Safety. This tweet was retweeted over 800 times. The Washington Post noted that only five of the 18 incidents occurred during school hours, and caused injury.
According to Dr. Lacey Wallace of Penn State University, a Penn State University assistant professor in criminal justice, broad definitions can lead to high shooting numbers, which can cause public fear.
Wallace stated that the higher the number, the more people are scared to send their children to school.
Wallace stated that schools are “really quite safe” and in many cases, safer than surrounding communities.
To be more consistent and align our reporting with our statistics, NBC News teams collaborated to study existing sources and databases on school shootings and create a standard for school shooting counts that can be used across all newsrooms.
HOW NBC NEWS COUNTS A SCHOOL SHOOTING
To help prevent future attacks, the federal Safe School Initiative was established after the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. The report examines “incidents of targeted violence in school settings… where the schools were deliberately selected.”
The NBC News shooting tracker criteria focuses only on incidents that are described in Safe School Initiative report to capture the terror caused by an active shooter entering a school.
These shootings are included in the NBC News school shooting tracker:
One or more active gunmen. An active shooter is someone who tries to kill people within a restricted space or populated area.
On school property during school hours, as students arrive or leave, or at school sponsored or sanctioned events. The definition of “schools” includes everything from elementary schools to college, universities and technical schools.
Students and faculty are at risk of being shot with a gun.
A minimum of one person is hurt or killed, except the shooter.
While every case of school gun violence can cause trauma and suffering to the victims, we are unable to count the following cases.
Unintentional discharge of a weapon in school
School suicide by gun
Domestic disputes or fights in isolation, as well as altercations and fighting, even gang violence
METHODOLOGY
Our data is derived using information from Everytown for Gun Safety and CHDS’ K-12 School Shooting Database. We also use news reports and other publicly accessible information. When it is determined that a shooting incident meets the NBC News standard, it is recorded and analyzed.
