Mass killings fall to lowest level in nearly two decades, national database shows

The U.S. has recorded 17 mass killings so far in 2025, the lowest number since 2006, according to a long-running national database tracking such incidents.

The database, which is maintained by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University, defines a mass killing as an incident in which four or more people are intentionally killed within a 24-hour period, excluding the perpetrator.

Not all of this year's mass killings involved firearms, but most did.

Fourteen of the 17 mass killings in 2025 were carried out with guns. The data did not detail the three non-firearm incidents in its summary, but based on the database's methodology and past reporting, non-gun mass killings typically involve stabbings, intentional arson, blunt-force attacks or the use of a vehicle as a weapon.

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James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University who helps manage the database, said mass killings are down about 24% this year compared to 2024, which itself saw roughly a 20% decline from 2023.

Fox added that he's not confident the trend will continue because the totals tend to swing sharply from year to year and that a few cases up or down can look like a big change.

"Will 2026 see a decline? I wouldn't bet on it," Fox told the AP. "What goes down must also go back up."

James Densley, a professor at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota, said the drop may simply reflect the small number of mass killings recorded annually.

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"Because there's only a few dozen mass killings in a year, a small change could look like a wave or a collapse," he told the outlet. "2025 looks really good in historical context, but we can't pretend like that means the problem is gone for good."

Densley said the decline may also be influenced by falling homicide and violent-crime rates nationwide after COVID-19-era spikes.

Improvements in immediate response to mass-casualty events could also be contributing, he said.

He pointed to the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting in Minnesota in August in which two students died and dozens more were injured.

"The reason only two people were killed is because of the bleeding control and trauma response by the first responders," he said. "And it happened on the doorsteps of some of the best children's hospitals in the country."

The most recent mass killing occurred in California last week when a child's birthday party was shot up, killing four people, including three children.

In 2019, there were 49 mass killings recorded - the highest annual total since the database began tracking cases in 2006.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.