FBI 2024 Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Report
This month the FBI released their yearly Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Report. This report is released every year and covers statistics to include number of shootings, number of casualties, weapons used, age of offender and other categories for active shooter incidents. This year’s report was notable as there was a 50% decrease in active shooter incidents in 2024 compared to 2023. The exact reasons for this are unknown but the data is promising that these incidents have decreased so significantly in a year’s time.
One of the notable differences in this report was that the FBI provided a summary of data for the past five-year period for active shooter events covering the years 2020 to 2024. There were 223 incidents committed by 227 shooters during this time span. This confirms past data that most shootings are committed by lone gunman. With the data also showing 95% of the shooters were males this is in line with long-term data showing most shootings are committed by males.
The major take-away from this report is that many shooting incidents, 41% occurred in open spaces. The report defines open spaces as “public or private properties openly accessible to the public. Incidents are categorized as occurring in open space if they take place primarily in an open-air location rather than beginning or ending inside a building.” The prior five-year period, commerce or private businesses were the most common sites for active shooter incidents.
This is important because most civilian training addresses indoor active shooter incidents. Run, Hide, Fight is based on responding to an active threat inside of a building. When a shooting occurs outside there is usually just one option and that is to run. In an open-air environment there is nowhere to safely hide and without the element of surprise or a firearm, fighting is not a winnable option. One of the shooting incidents that had the highest number of casualties was the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. In this incident there were 547 casualties from one shooter.
In the Route 91 shooting the shooter had an elevated platform shooting from a hotel room. He also was equipped with a rifle that was modified giving him the ability to rapidly fire into the crowd below. This posed challenges to responding law enforcement officers who had to contend with locating the shooter and trying to treat and evacuate wounded in an open area setting. A shooting with this number of casualties is a rarity. But it shows that in large open-air venues the potential for mass casualties is quite large.
When an attacker initiates a shooting from an elevated position the options for those involved are few. This is why law enforcement must be prepared to deal with these critical incidents beforehand. For any large open air event law enforcement should make sure that they are properly staffed. Fire and rescue should also be involved in the planning for large events and prepare beforehand for what steps to take should a mass casualty event occur. Consultation with other high-rise building staff in the immediate area should also take place before an event to make sure areas are secured from unauthorized users. Taking steps to plan ahead can assist in preventing active attacks from occurring. Should one occur prior planning and preparation between law enforcement and rescue personnel should help in limiting the number of casualties at these events.
