DEADLIEST MASS SHOOTINGS IN US HISTORY

CHARLESTON CHURCH SHOOTING

(DEATH TOLL: 9)

The Charleston Church Shooting took place at the Emanuel

African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South

Carolina on June 17, 2015. Nine people were killed by a

gunman during a prayer service. After the attack, police

arrested 21-year-old Dylann Roof who later confessed that

he committed the shooting in hopes of igniting a race war.

UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE SHOOTING

(DEATH TOLL: 9)

The Umpqua Community College Shooting occurred on

October 1, 2015 at the UCC campus near Roseburg, Oregon.

Christopher Harper-Mercer, a 26-year-old enrolled at the

school, shot and killed an assistant professor and 8

students in a classroom. Up to 9 others were injured.

After a brief shootout with the police, Harper-Mercer was

wounded and committed suicide by shooting himself

in the head.

RED LAKE SHOOTINGS

(DEATH TOLL: 9)

The Red Lake Shootings occurred in two places in Red Lake,

Minnesota on March 21, 2005. That morning, 16-year-old 

Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather (a local police officer)

and his grandfather’s girlfriend at their home. After taking

his grandfather’s police weapons, he drove to Red Lake

Senior High School, where he shot and killed 7 people and

wounded 5 others. After the police arrived, Weise

committed suicide in a vacant classroom.

GENEVA COUNTY MASSACRE

(DEATH TOLL: 10)

The deadliest shooting event in Alabama history, the 

Geneva County Massacre occurred in two Alabama

counties: Kinston and Coffee County on March 10, 2009.

In the incident, 10 people were killed by 28-year-old Michael

Kenneth McLendon. Five of his victims were family members

including his mother and two children. After engaging in an

exchange of fire with police, McLendon committed suicide.

PALM SUNDAY MASSACRE

(DEATH TOLL: 10)

The Palm Sunday Massacre was a mass shooting incident

that occurred in Brooklyn, New York in 1984. In the attack,

sole perpetrator Christopher Thomas killed ten people:

three women, a teenage girl and six children. All of the

victims were shot from close range, most in the head

and were found in relaxed poses sitting in couches and

chairs, suggesting that they had been taken by surprise.

JACKSONVILLE MASSACRE

(DEATH TOLL: 11)

On June 18, 1990, James Edward Pough killed nine people

and wounded four others in a General Motors Acceptance

Corporation car loan office in Jacksonville, Florida. The day

before, he also killed a prostitute and her pimp, wounded

two teenagers, and robbed a convenience store.

FAIRFIELD MASSACRE

(DEATH TOLL: 11)

The oldest mass shooting incident on the list, the

Fairfield Massacre dates back to August 22, 1928 when

Leung Ying, aged 29, killed 11 people and wounded another

4 on a farm near Fairfield, Solano County, California.

Ying was arrested by police the next day and sentenced

to death a few days later. Ying committed suicide in

his prison cell on October 22, about two weeks

before his set execution date.

EASTER SUNDAY MASSACRE

(DEATH TOLL: 11)

On Easter Sunday on March 30, 1975, James Urban Ruppert,

armed with two handguns and a rifle, shot and killed 11

family members in his mother’s house at 635 Minor Avenue

in Hamilton, Ohio. The killing spree, known as the Easter

Sunday Massacre, is the deadliest mass shooting inside a

private residence in US history. Ruppert has been serving

two life sentences at the Allen Oakwood Correctional

Institution in Lima, Ohio.

AURORA SHOOTING

(DEATH TOLL: 12)

The Aurora Shooting occurred on July 20, 2012 in Aurora,

Colorado when sole gunman James Holmes shot into the

movie theatre’s audience during a midnight screening of

the film The Dark Knight Rises. In the attack, Holmes killed

12 people and injured 70 others. In 2015, he was given

12 life sentences, one for every person he killed and

3,318 years for the attempted murders of those he wounded.