A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Between 2000 and 2013 (abstract)
The FBI initiated this study to add to the resources available to law enforcement and others
who must consider their best course of action to prepare for, respond to, and recover from
active shooter incidents. Using the same criteria over a 14-year span, the FBI sought to
determine whether the number of active shooter incidents had changed, concluding the
trend over the study period showed a steady rise. In the first half of the years studied, the
average annual number of incidents was 6.4, but that average rose in the second half of the
study to 16.4, an average of more than one incident per month.
Some of the results indicated:
- location categories where the majority of incidents occur
- clarity on instances where law enforcement appeared to be most at risk when responding to a scene
- identifying characteristics of shooters
- identifying location categories where victim targets were more readily identifiable, shooters' connections to locations
- clarify the environment with regard to level of risk citizens face and speed with which active shooter incidents occur.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation
10 Lessons Learned from the new FBI Study on Active Shooter