After a major drop in mass shootings in the United States during a pandemic hit in 2020, several fatal cases have already been seen this year.
Indianapolis police say eight people were shot dead in a shooting Thursday afternoon at a FedEx facility. The shooter also committed suicide.
It follows a pause in mass killings during the 2020 pandemic, which recorded the lowest number of such attacks in more than a decade, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. This database tracks mass killings defined as four or more dead, not including the shooter.
President Joe Biden announced half a dozen executive actions last week to combat what he called an “international epidemic and shame” of armed violence in America. But he said much more is needed.
Here are a few recent massive features.
ATLANTA
Eight people were killed by a gunman at three massage parlors in the Atlanta area in attacks that began on the night of March 16th. Seven of the murders were women and six were of Asian descent. Police charged a 21-year-old white man with the murders. There was deep skepticism about the shooter’s claim that his motive was sex addiction. There have been public complaints about allegations of hate crimes, especially among the Asian American community, which has faced a growing number of attacks since the coronavirus pandemic was imposed.
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BOULDER, COLORADO
About a week later, on March 22, a shooter at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, killed ten people., including a police officer who was the first to respond to the scene. The suspect bought a firearm at a local gun store after passing a background check. Investigators are working to determine the reasons for the shooting and why the suspect chose the King Soopers grocery store.
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ORANGE, CALIFORNIA
On March 31, a gunman killed four people and injured a fifth in a Southern California office building.. He knew all the victims. Apparently, before opening fire, he closed the doors to two chain entrances, which delayed police entry. Among the victims was a 9-year-old boy who was found cradled in the arms of a woman believed to be his mother. The woman was the only survivor among those shot. The other murders were a man and two women.
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ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA
One week later, on April 7, former NFL player Phillip Adams fired six people. Robert Lesslie, a prominent doctor, was killed along with his wife, two of his grandchildren and two air conditioning technicians who worked at his home. Adams also committed suicide. His brain is now being examined for possible degenerative diseases that have been shown to cause violent mood swings and other cognitive disorders in some athletes and members of the military.
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This story has been updated to correct that the Gun Violence Archive did not record a decrease in its count of mass shootings – which includes non-lethal shootings – between 2019 and 2020. It recorded a drop in what it calls mass killings.