A gun attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando on June 12 killed at least 49 people and wounded 53 in the deadliest shooting incident ever in the United States. The suspect, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, was shot dead by police after a three-hour rampage at the nightclub. It was the latest in a long line of mass shootings in recent U.S. history.
A History Of Recent U.S. Mass Shootings
Trashina Cann (left) and Vixen Noir, both of San Francisco, attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of the June 12 attack in Orlando, Florida.
The second largest mass shooting on record was at Virginia Tech University on April 17, 2007. The attacker, a 23-year-old student at the university, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 students and left 25 injured in two separate attacks: one in classrooms, the other in a dormitory. He then committed suicide at the scene. Virginia Tech students are seen here during a candlelight vigil for the victims.
Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 six- and seven-year-old children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut on December 14, 2012. Just before the attack, the 20-year-old shot his mother dead. By the time police arrived at the school, Lanza had shot himself in the head. In memory of the victims, a school art teacher created 27 angels in the school’s yard.
On July 18, 1984, 41-year-old James Oliver Huberty opened fire inside a McDonald's restaurant in the San Diego neighborhood of San Ysidro. He killed 21 people, including five smaller children and six teenagers, before being shot dead by a police sniper.
A candlelight vigil for the victims of a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. A married couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, attacked a social services center on December 2, 2015, killing 14 people and seriously injuring 22 with automatic rifles, pistols, and pipe bombs. They were killed in a shootout with the police. The couple had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State militant group in social-media posts, officials said.
Patrick Henry Sherrill, a 44-year-old postman, opened fire at his workplace in the suburbs of Edmond, Oklahoma, on August 20, 1986. Sherrill shot and killed 14 colleagues and seriously wounded six others before he shot himself dead.
A U.S. soldier cries at a memorial service for the victims of a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. On November 5, 2009, Nidal Hasan, a U.S. army major and psychiatrist, shot dead 13 people and injured 32 others at the military base. He was captured, tried by a military court, and sentenced to death by lethal injection. The case is currently under review by appellate courts.
In April 2009, 13 people were killed and four wounded at the American Civic Organization immigration center in Binghamton, New York. A former student in a language class at the center, 41-year-old Jiverly Antares Wong, attacked a teacher and classmates before killing himself.
Twenty-four-year-old James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 70 at a cinema in the Denver suburb of Aurora on July 20, 2012. Dressed in military gear, Holmes set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms during the local premiere of the film The Dark Knight Rises. Holmes is pictured here at his trial, where he received 12 life sentences in prison without parole.
A police helicopter evacuates a wounded officer from the Washington Navy Yard military base. On September 16, 2013, 34-year-old Aaron Alexis entered his former workplace and opened fire. He killed 12 people and severely wounded eight. He was killed after an hour-long shootout with police.