On Saturday morning five people between the ages of 15 and 20 were shot in Fort Pierce, according to local police. A neighbor thought it may have been at a graduation party. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
A week before that, Tommie Battie IV, 24, was shot along with four other people in Sarasota, police said. Battie died at the scene. His brother, Auburn running back Brian Battie, 22, was in critical condition.
Florida has now seen 16 mass shootings this year, more than any other state in the nation and two more than the Sunshine State saw by this time last year according to the Gun Violence Archive. Florida jumped ahead of the rest last month when there were three mass shootings in three days.
Illinois has the second-most mass shootings in 2024 — 14 — after the state saw four mass shootings in eight days. The latest, a shooting in a neighborhood that left three injured and a 5-year-old girl dead, was part of a weekend of gun violence in Chicago with at least 41 people shot, nine fatally, in three days according to ABC7.
California has seen 13, and Texas 12.
As of May 28, there have been 178 mass shootings nationwide, compared to 254 by the same time in 2023, according to GVA data.
Last year showed an overall8-10% decrease in deaths and injuriesfrom gun violence compared to 2022, the GVA said, with some cities seeing 20+% decreases. The FBI reported violent crime, robberies and burglary were all down in 2023.
Violent crime down:FBI data shows America is seeing a 'considerable' drop in crime. Trump says the opposite.
How many people have died so far from gun violence in the US in 2024?
According to GVA data, as of May 28:
- 6,693 people have died, including 89 children and 472 teens.
- 12,388 people have been injured, including 218 children and 1,124 teens.
- 183 law enforcement officers have been killed or injured.
- Law enforcement officers have killed 598 people and injured 339 in officer-involved incidents, the only category the GVA lists where the fatalities outnumber the injured.
- 511 people were killed in self-defense.
- 563 people died from unintentional shootings.
- 269 people died in murder/suicide incidents.
The GVA has temporarily stopped reporting total deaths from suicide "until we can get better data" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
How many mass shootings in 2024 happened in Florida?
There have been 16 mass shootings in Florida this year:
- Jan. 20, Plantation: Four people were injured ina shooting in front of a Best Buy. One person later died.
- Jan. 20, Palm Bay: A man shot andkilled his mother, grandfather and sisterand injured his 15-year-old nephew and one other person.
- Jan. 28, Palm Bay: A manshot and killeda priest, the priest's sister, and his own grandfather and injured two police officers.
- Feb. 28: Orlando: An argument over when a vehicle was to be returned resulted in one person killed and six injured.
- March 12, Lawty: Man with knife wound accused of shooting and killing three women.
- March 25, Pompano Beach: A 16-year-old boy and three men were shot by multiple suspects who approached them, deputies said.
- March 31, St. Petersburg: Men arguing outside a restaurant opened fire, injuring three men in their 20s and a 17-year-old girl, police said.
- April 5, Riviera Beach: Four injured in shooting, including a minor.
- April 6, Doral: Man in bar disturbance shoots and kills security officer, six people injured in resulting firefight.
- April 11, Orlando: Deputies responded to a call and found four men shot. One died later.
- April 27, Daytona Beach: A man shot and injured four people during a "physical altercation."
- April 28, Sanford: A 16-year-old shot and injured 10 people at a bar, including Houston Texans' WR Tank Dell.
- April 29, Miami Gardens: Argument about teen fight leaves five people injured, including two teens.
- May 12, Tallahassee: Four people shot in shopping center parking lot, two died.
- May 25, Fort Pierce:Five people aged 15-20 shot at gathering.
- May 18, Sarasota: One person killed, four people (including Auburn RB Brian Battie) were injured.
How many mass shootings happened in Florida in 2023?
Florida mass shootingswere down slightly last year, with 30 reported in 2023 compared to 31 each year in both 2022 and 2021 and 35 in 2020. During the year, 134 people were injured and 38 were killed.
What is considered a mass shooting?
That depends on who you ask. The GVA (and theCongressional Research Service) defines a mass shooting only on the number of people shot in an incident: four or more, not including the shooter.
USA TODAYdefinesa mass shooting as an incident where at least four people are hit with gunfire, even if there are no fatalities. Mass killing refers toan incident in which at least four people are killed.
The FBI does not define "mass shooting" at all. The agency defines "mass killing" or "mass murder" as an incident in which four or more victims are killed by any intentional means, which may include gun violence. There also may be a distinction made between private and public mass shootings, and mass shootings committed by foreign terrorists are not included no matter where the shooting occurs or how many people are killed.
The GVA numbers may differ from the FBI or CDC as they collect data from 7,500 law enforcement, government and media sources. The CDC uses death certificates for gun deaths, according to the GVA, and they and the FBI rely on a sampling of courses and then extrapolate the numbers to get estimated totals. Incidents that cannot be verified are not included.
