Rampage Killings

Regular Homicides

Prison Statistics

Victimization Rates by Race, Income, and Other Demographic Factors

Where Are the Safest and Most Dangerous Places in the United States?

Of 102 rampage killers in 100 rampage attacks examined by the New York Times from 1949-1999:

• 425 killed;
• 510 wounded;

• Half kill themselves or are shot dead by others; "The link between suicide and homicide is a very real one, and it hasn't been studied nearly enough. It has always struck me about Columbine, people forget they committed suicide."
• Most are white (whereas half of non-rampage murderers are black), though 18 of the 102 were black, and 7 Asian. The racial profile of the rampage killers is close to that of the entire population.
• How they obtained their weapons:
• 56% obtained weapons legally;
• 16% bought by lying on the application;
• only 13% obtained entirely illegally.
• In only 6 of the 100 cases did the killers have a known interest in violent video games.
• Only 7 other killers showed an interest in violent movies.
• 63 of the 100 cases involved people who made threats of violence before the event, including 54 who threatened specific violence to specific people.
• By far the most common precipitator was the loss of a job, which was mentioned as a potential precipitator in 47 cases.

• A divorce or breakup was mentioned in 22 cases.
• The incidence of these rampage killings appears to have increased per homicide data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Still, rampage killings remain rare: much less than 1 percent of all homicides.
• "These cases may have more to do with society's lack of knowledge of mental health issues, rather than a lack of security. In case after case, family members, teachers and mental health professionals missed or dismissed signs of deterioration."
• More than half had histories of serious mental health problems -- either a hospitalization, a prescription for psychiatric drugs, a suicide attempt or evidence of psychosis.
• (Although recent studies have shown that the mentally ill are no more violent than other people, except when they are off their medications, or have been abusing drugs or alcohol. )
• A third had college degrees; another third had some college education; only 9 had less than a high school diploma.
• The number of deaths per murderous incident suddenly increased in 1993 and has remained high since, according to the analysis of F.B.I. data.
• "You have drastically increased the ability to inflict death and injury," said Tom Diaz, author of "Making a Killing: The Business of Guns in America" (New Press, 1999) and a senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center. "That means you can shoot more rounds faster and easier, what they call spray and pray."
• wielders of semiautomatics inflicted more injuries.

More than a third of regular homicides went unsolved in 1997.

Half of all murderers in this country are black.