Title: VOA Special Report | History of mass shooters
Headings: History of Mass Shooters
VOA Special Report
History of Mass Shooters
Who commits public mass shootings? What motivates them to kill? With the help of a landmark database, VOA examines the social, psychological, emotional and environmental factors that contributed to these rare crimes.
Mass shootings (1966 - 2019)
Mass shooting locations
Fatalities and mass shootings
The researchers
About the data
Mass Shooters (1966 - 2019)
Number of shooters by age
Where mass shooters killed
Number of mass shootings by location
Multiple profiles
Female shooters
Childhood trauma
Mental illness
Signs of crisis
Immigrant
“I do not quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I do not really understand myself these days.”
—Charles Whitman
‘Unusual, irrational thoughts’
Mystery unsolved
Comparing the shooter data
How mass shooters got their guns
Types of guns used
77%
24%
22%
22%
Global perspective

Content: Densley said a prevention strategy for businesses could include ways for managers to intervene with employees before a tragedy occurs. Almost all of mass shooters at restaurants, bars and retail establishments were strangers to those businesses, while perpetrators in workplaces, houses of worship, and schools and colleges tended to be current or former students and insiders known to the victims. Densley believes shielding students with bulletproof backpacks and guiding them through lockdown drills, though useful, could also prove ineffectual when nearly all K-12, and college and university shooters are insiders, and likely familiar with the layout of a building and current safety policy. Multiple profiles
A one-size-fits-all profile of a mass shooter is nonexistent. Mass shooters have several profiles, unique to where a shooting occurred. In houses of worship, the perpetrator most often was a white male in his 40s motivated by domestic issues or hate. He had a criminal record and a history of violence, and used handguns or assault rifles he legally owned. In schools K-12, the mass shooter was a suicidal white male student of the school with a history of trauma. He leaked his premeditated plan before the shooting, and most often used multiple guns stolen from a family member. By contrast, the typical shooter at a college or university was a suicidal, non-white male student of the institution with a history of childhood trauma.