How many school shootings have there been in America? Map of each case since 1970s after Nashville mass attack

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School shootings have happened in almost every state in the US since the 1970s – these charts will show you the scale of the problem.

The shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, which killed three children and three adults, is the seventh deadliest on record in America.

Such incidents are not uncommon in the US – thousands of shootings at schools have been recorded since 1970, according to the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s K-12 School Shooting Database.

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Since then there have been an average of almost 40 school shooting incidents every year, or three per month – and they are getting much more common.

But where have school shooting incidents happened in the US? And which states have been the worst affected?

Our interactive maps and charts below reveal the scale of school shootings across America.

How many school shootings have there been in America?

Records in the database cover from 1970 to June 2022. In that time, there were 2,069 school shooting incidents in America which have left a combined 684 dead.

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Which schools have had the deadliest shooting incidents?

School shooting incidents vary in severity with some having no recorded casualties while others report dozens of fatalities.

A shooting incident is logged every time a gun is brandished or discharged on school property. Besides indiscriminate mass shootings, incidents will include accidental shootings, suicides, or shootings outside of school hours but on the grounds.

The 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut remains America’s deadliest shooting with 26 being killed, followed by the 2022 attack on Robb Elementary School which left 21 dead. The third deadliest shooting incident was at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in 2018, which killed 17 people.

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Where have school shootings happened in the USA?

School shootings have happened across the US since 1970.

Our interactive map below shows exactly where and when school shooting incidents have happened in the US and how many people have been killed.

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By state, California has had the greatest number of school shooting incidents with 215 recorded between 1970 and June 2022. These have resulted in 85 deaths.

Texas has had the second highest  number of shooting incidents with 177 and 73 deaths, followed by Florida with 120 incidents and 48 killed.

The map below shows which states have been worst affected. The darker the state, the higher the number of shootings.

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Who are the victims?

Hundreds of students, teachers, bus drivers, police officers and parents have all lost their lives because of school shootings in America.

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Age data is available for 98% of victims either killed or injured in shootings from 1970 to June 2022, with the figures showing two-thirds (67%) were children or teenagers and one-third (33%) were adults.

The historic figures show 368 children and teenagers have been killed (39 of them aged under 10), 1,272 have been wounded (40 under 10) and 80 have suffered minor injuries.

The youngest victims were just one year old.

Ethnicity data is only available for 291 victims (11% of all victims) but the figures show 147 Black people have been killed or injured during school shootings, followed by 102 White people, 33 Hispanic people and nine Asian people.

A small number of shootings initially appeared in the wrong state on our maps due to duplicate city names. Both maps have been updated.

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