A mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine is tracking to be the deadliest this year as America hits a somber milestone with more than 500 recorded already.
The mass shooting Wednesday night in Lewiston, Maine, has seen at least 22 deaths and up to 60 injured at three different locations.
Including this shooting the US has so far seen 565 mass shootings this year, data shows, making it the third year in a row the country has been hit the somber milestone, before November.
The shooting, where at least 22 were killed, stands as the deadliest shooting this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Up to 60 injuries also represent the highest casualty count of any shooting in 2023.
Maine authorities ordered residents to shelter in place and warned to ‘stay off the roads to allow emergency responders access to the hospitals.’
Including this shooting the US has so far seen 565 mass shootings this year, data shows, making it the third year in a row the country has been hit the somber milestone, before November
The devastating shooting in Maine will contribute one more tragic incident to this year’s already alarming tally
A photo issued by sheriffs showed a white man with an AR-15-style rifle and a laser optic entering the Sparetime recreation center, wearing black combat trousers and a brown top
Police issued a photo of this car which they believe belongs to the gunman
Including this shooting the US has so far seen 565 mass shootings this year, data shows
A photo issued by sheriffs showed a white man with an AR-15-style rifle and a laser optic entering the Sparetime Recreation Center, wearing black combat trousers and a brown top.
The neighboring city of Auburn has also been placed on lockdown as the gunman is still at large.
Gun violence has claimed over 15,000 lives this year in the US, including over 240 children under 12 and more than 1,000 teenagers aged 12 to 17.
The day before the tragic events in Maine, a shooting in North Carolina claimed the life of a 19-year-old man and left two 18-year-olds and one 17-year-old injured.
A shooting last month in Denver which saw five people injured pushed the tally surpassed 500, according to the organization.
Gun Violence Archive, the independent organization which collects the data, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people were shot or killed, excluding the shooter.
The rise in gun violence is part of a chilling trend – go back just five years and the country had never experienced more than 500 shootings in a year, according to the research group.
Prior to the shooting in Maine, the deadliest shooting this year was the Monterey Park, CA, attack in January, in which gunman Huu Can Tran, 72, killed eleven people and injured nine in a predominantly Asian area on the eve of Lunar New Year.
Gun violence at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Dadeville, AL, also shocked the nation, with four young people murdered and 32 injured – the most casualties before the mass shooting in Maine.
A bloody handprint marks a pillar the day after a shooting at a during a teenager’s birthday party at Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in Dadeville, Alabama
Children hold hands as they leave The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, following the deadliest school shooting of 2023
In August, a gunman opened fire at a historic biker bar in Trabuco Canyon in Orange County, CA, murdering three and injuring six before he was shot by police.
In another incident, eight people were killed during a shooting back in January 4 in Cedar City, Utah, with Michael Haight killing his wife, their five children and his mother-in-law before turning the gun on himself.
School shootings are also on the rise, if the current continues as expected this year, with a staggering 236 incidents recorded by another research team, the K-12 School Shooting database.
The deadliest school shooting this year saw six murdered and six injured by transgender shooter Audrey Hale, who opened fire on March 27.
Three nine-year-old students and three adults were among those murdered during the attack on Nashville Christian school The Covenant.
The latest shootings have seen the number of mass shootings rise to 564.
The 500 mark was passed late night in Denver in September.
Then, around 1am on Sunday, a shooting in El Paso, Texas, saw a 19-year-old man killed and five others injured.
A shooting in Dorchester, MA, saw five people critically injured including a child who suffered life-threatening injuries, Boston Police said.
The Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio near the site of a deadly shooting on Saturday
The incident occurred at Cook’s Corner, a bar in Trabuco Canyon, California, Wednesday night around 7:30 pm
The FBI defines a mass shooting as ‘one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area’ – a different metric to most organizations who consider the number of victims to define it as such.
There are about 120 guns for every 100 Americans, according to the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey.
No other nation has more civilian guns than people, with around 44 percent of US adults living in a household with a gun.
Around one third own one personally, according to a November 2020 Gallup survey. A third of US adults believe that there would be less crime if more people owned guns.
Fears of gun violence have eclipsed other concerns, data from earlier this year shows
A girl runs as other shoppers leave with their hands up after police responded to a gunman who shot and killed eight people and wounded at least seven others at Allen Premium Outlets mall north of Dallas, Texas
However multiple studies show that where people have easy access to firearms then gun-related deaths are more frequent – including suicide, homicide and unintentional injuries.
Mass shootings also drive a demand for more guns, with many Americans feeling they are ‘safer’ if they personally own a weapon.
The rate of gun violence is eight times greater than in Canada, which has the seventh-highest rate of gun ownership in the world.