Florida leads country in mass shootings after gunfire injures several. What to know

Admin May 12, 2024

Tallahassee’s early Sunday morning shooting of multiple people at a shopping center means Florida remains the state with the most mass shootings across the country, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.

The shooting occurred early Sunday morning as the darkened city was still coping with widespread destruction and power outages from multiple tornado strikes Friday. Tallahassee police say they responded to find two men dead at the scene and two other adult victims wounded.

That puts Florida’s total of mass shootings this year so far at 14, the same number the Sunshine State saw by this time last year. Florida jumped ahead of the rest last month when there were three mass shootings in three days.

A shooting in San Antonio Wednesday night that left five people dead, including three children under the age of 10, and a shooting in Long Beach that injured seven people, three of them critically, brought Texas and California up to second behind Florida with 12 each.

As of May 12, there have been 156 mass shootings nationwide, compared to 216 by the same time in 2023, according to GVA data.

Last year showed an overall 8-10% decrease in deaths and injuries from gun violence compared to 2022, the GVA said, with some cities seeing 20+% decreases. The FBI reported violent crime, robberies and burglary were all down in 2023.

Violent crime down: FBI data shows America is seeing a ‘considerable’ drop in crime. Trump says the opposite.

How many people have died so far from gun violence in the US in 2024?

According to GVA data, as of May 12:

5,949 people have died, including 83 children and 421 teens.
10,890 people have been injured, including 197 children and 1,124 teens.
171 law enforcement officers have been killed or injured.
Law enforcement officers have killed 528 people and injured 302 in officer-involved incidents, the only category the GVA lists where the fatalities outnumber the injured.
467 people were killed in self-defense.
502 people died from unintentional shootings.
242 people died in murder/suicide incidents.

The GVA has temporarily stopped reported total deaths from suicide “until we can get better data” from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

How many mass shootings in 2024 happened in Florida?

There have been 14 mass shootings in Florida this year:

Jan. 20, Plantation: Four people were injured in a shooting in front of a Best Buy. One person later died.
Jan. 20, Palm Bay: A man shot and killed his mother, grandfather and sister and injured his 15-year-old nephew and one other person.
Jan. 28, Palm Bay: A man shot and killed a priest, the priest’s sister, and his own grandfather and injured two police officers.
Feb. 28: Orlando: An argument over when a vehicle was to be returned resulted in one person killed and six injured.
March 12, Lawty: Man with knife wound accused of shooting and killing three women.
March 25, Pompano Beach: A 16-year-old boy and three men were shot by multiple suspects who approached them, deputies said.
March 31, St. Petersburg: Men arguing outside a restaurant opened fire, injuring three men in their 20s and a 17-year-old girl, police said.
April 5, Riviera Beach: Four injured in shooting, including a minor.
April 6, Doral: Man in bar disturbance shoots and kills security officer, six people injured in resulting firefight.
April 11, Orlando: Deputies responded to a call and found four men shot. One died later.
April 27, Daytona Beach: A man shot and injured four people during a “physical altercation.”
April 28, Sanford: A 16-year-old shot and injured 10 people at a bar, including Houston Texans’ WR Tank Dell.
April 29, Miami Gardens: Argument about teen fight leaves five people injured, including two teens.
May 12, Tallahassee: Four people shot in shopping center parking lot, two died.

How many mass shootings happened in Florida in 2023?

Florida mass shootings were down slightly last year, with 30 reported in 2023 compared to 31 each year in both 2022 and 2021 and 35 in 2020. During the year, 134 people were injured and 38 were killed.

What is considered a mass shooting?

More mass shootings occur on July 4th & 5th than any other days

Both July 4th and 5th have accounted for more mass shootings than any other day of the year over the past decade.

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That depends on who you ask. The GVA (and the Congressional Research Service) defines a mass shooting only on the number of people shot in an incident: four or more, not including the shooter.

USA TODAY defines a mass shooting as an incident where at least four people are hit with gunfire, even if there are no fatalities. Mass killing refers to an incident in which at least four people are killed.

The FBI does not define “mass shooting” at all. The agency defines “mass killing” or “mass murder” as an incident in which four or more victims are killed by any intentional means, which may include gun violence. There also may be a distinction made between private and public mass shootings, and mass shootings committed by foreign terrorists are not included no matter where the shooting occurs or how many people are killed.

The GVA numbers may differ from the FBI or CDC as they collect data from 7,500 law enforcement, government and media sources. The CDC uses death certificates for gun deaths, according to the GVA, and they and the FBI rely on a sampling of courses and then extrapolate the numbers to get estimated totals. Incidents that cannot be verified are not included.