Share of mass public shooters U.S. 1999-2024, by race and location of shooting

From 1966 to January 2024, 81 percent of mass public shooters who carried out the shooting at K-12 schools in the United States identified as White, followed by 13 percent who were Native American and six percent who were Latinx. For mass public shootings occurring at colleges and universities, the shooter was most likely to identify as Asian, at 44 percent, followed by 33 percent who were White. In addition, Black and Middle Eastern shooters each made up 11 percent.

The source defines a mass public shooting as: “a multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered with firearms—not including the offender(s)—within one event, and at least some of the murders occurred in a public location or locations in close geographical proximity (e.g., a workplace, school, restaurant, or other public settings), and the murders are not attributable to any other underlying criminal activity or commonplace circumstance (armed robbery, criminal competition, insurance fraud, argument, or romantic triangle). Mass shootings attributable to gangs, as well as most domestic homicides, are therefore excluded from this definition.