The report showed 24 active shooter incidents in the U.S. in 2024 – half the number reported in 2023.
TEXAS, USA — Last year, Texas had more active shooter incidents than any other state, according to a new report released by the FBI.
The report shows 24 active shooter incidents in the U.S. in 2024 – half the number reported in 2023. The FBI said those incidents resulted in 106 casualties, a 57% decrease from 2023 (244). Of those, 23 were deaths, including one law enforcement officer, while the rest were injuries.
The FBI defines an active shooter as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area,” meaning that an active shooter incident does not require any fatalities or even injuries to be considered an active shooter event, only that there is an ongoing attempt to kill people using a firearm.
The 24 incidents happened in 19 states. Texas had the most, with four, followed by California and North Carolina, each with two. The Texas incidents occurred at Lakewood Church in Houston, Refresco Beverages and Oncor Electric in Fort Worth, Coulter Street and 37th Avenue in Amarillo, and near Oak Cliff Community Center in Dallas.
Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming each had one reported active shooter incident.
The report also found that June 2024 had the highest number of active shooter incidents, with five, followed by September with four. Incidents occurred every day of the week, but Monday had the highest number of incidents with seven.
The FBI classifies active shooter incidents into location categories, and the agency found in 2024, 12 of the 24 active shooter incidents occurred in open space (50%), four in commerce, four in education, three in government and one in a house of worship.
The deadliest incident, which happened outside The Mad Butcher supermarket in Fordyce, Arkansas, resulted in four deaths and 10 injuries. While two incidents – in Oklahoma and Tennessee – had no deaths, three met the federal definition of a “mass killing,” where three or more deaths are reported in a single incident.
Only one of the incidents in 2024 involved two shooters. The FBI found that most of the shooters in the 24 total incidents were men – 22 out of 25 (88%). The largest number of shooters were between 35 and 44 years old (7). Six were 18 years old or younger.
The FBI said in five incidents, law enforcement identified a connection between the shooter and the location of the incident and/or at least one victim. Three shooters also met the definition of an “insider threat.”
Fourteen of the 25 shooters were taken into custody (56%), five were killed by law enforcement (20%) and six died by suicide (24%).