FBI: Active shooter incidents down 4% last year, up 89% over past 5 years

The FBI has released the annual active shooter report. The report found that 2023 saw fewer active shooting incidents than 2022, leading to a 4% decrease. However, over the last five years, active shooter incidents have gone up 89%, according to the FBI. 

The FBI defines “active shooter” as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. 

Though active shootings went down 4% from 2022 to 2023, that change is not a large one. There were just two fewer active shooter incidents in 2023 (48) than there were in 2022 (50). 

Over the last five years, the FBI said there were 229 active shootings across the U.S., which is up 89% from the 121 active shootings in the five years between 2014 and 2018. 

In 2023, 449 people were killed and 773 were wounded in the 48 active shootings.

More people died because of an active shooting incident in the last five years than the five years between 2014 and 2018, which included three of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. 

Last year alone, 105 people were killed in active shootings and another 139 were hurt. 

The shootings happened in 26 states. California had the most with eight, followed by Texas and Washington with four each. 

The FBI’s report came just weeks after the federal government released preliminary numbers showing a 15% drop in violent crime during the first quarter of 2024 compared to last year.