As the nation continues to grapple with the violence of mass shootings, The Washington Post has redesigned its gun violence tracking to give readers a fuller picture of the frequency of mass killings, while still adding context behind each shooting, and illustrating how these events fit into the larger picture of U.S. gun violence.
Highlighting the scope of tragedies and providing detailed information about the weapon, victims, and shooters, the interactive tracker includes in-depth statistics, and a harrowing understanding of how frequent and intense mass causalities emerge across the country.
More information on the project’s methodology and definitions:
- The project tracks mass killings — which are defined as an incident in which four or more people are killed within a 24-hour period — regardless of the circumstances or where the incident occurred.
- The Washington Post analyzed mass killings data collected by the Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.
- The project will be updated each time a mass killing with a gun occurs. This tracker replaces a previous version that tallied only mass killings with a gun that occurred in public places.
- Although the database tracks mass killings by any means — including arson, vehicular attack and stabbings — The Washington Post is specifically focused on shootings with four or more dead. That is why the events in this tracker are specifically called mass killings with guns.
Learn more about the methodology and definitions for The Washington Post’s mass killings tracker.
