(PatrioticPost.com)- The Federal Bureau of Investigation released a report this week that showed that active-shooting incidents in the country increased more than 50% from 2020 to 2021.
One of the deadliest shootings that happened in that timeframe, according to the new FBI report, was when a former employee who was disgruntled fired while in the parking lot of a distribution facility for FedEx in Indianapolis, Indiana. The FBI revealed in its report that the shooter in that case, which happened in April of 2021, wanted to commit “suicidal murder.”
In the last five years, incidents of active shooters have increased at a steady pace, according to the FBI. In just the last two weeks, the country has seen a mass shooter target a supermarket in a Black community in Buffalo — where 10 people were killed — and another at an elementary school in Texas that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
According to the FBI’s new report, “Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2021,” there were 61 incidents that fell under the category of “mass shootings” last year. That’s almost a 100% increase over the 31 that happened in 2017.
An active shooter incident occurs, according to the FBI definition, when one or more people actively engages in killing or trying to kill people in a populated area. The person obviously must also be using a gun to commit the killings.
In those 61 mass shootings last year, 103 people died while another 140 were wounded. The incidents happened over 30 states, and 12 of them met the FBI’s definition of “mass killings,” in which at least three people are killed in one incident.
It’s a trend that the United States is unfortunately dealing with on a consistent basis. As the Department of Homeland Security’s former acting undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, John Cohen, told ABC News recently:
“The U.S. is in the midst of a multiyear trend where we are experiencing an increase in mass shooters who are seeking to advance their ideological beliefs or based on a perceived personal grievance. A growing subset of our population believes that violence is an acceptable way to express one’s ideological beliefs or seek redress for a perceived personal grievance.”
Just about every shooter in these incidents was a male. Half of the shooters ended up being arrested. The youngest shooter in 2021 was only 12 years old, while the oldest was 67 years old.
According to the FBI, 55% of the incidents happened in the evening or afternoon, and more than half of them happened in what they termed an area of commerce.
The FBI wrote in its report:
“The locations range from grocery stores to manufacturing sites … For 2021, the FBI observed an emerging trend involving roving active shooters; specifically, shooters who shoot in multiple locations, either in one day or in various locations over several days.”
This year is off to a bad start in terms of mass shooters as well. Those in the FBI and the greater community at large are hoping something changes in this trend, and quickly.
