Fifteen years after a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech University, the University of Virginia experienced an episode of gun violence this week, which resulted in the death of three members of the football team. While tragic, the shooting was just one more in a long line of gunfire events on school campuses.
D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler, and Lavel Davis Jr. were the victims of the U-Va shooting, with two others still in hospital. The man accused of committing the shooting was a former member of the football team, and has since been apprehended by police.
Since 2013, there have been more than 1,000 documented instances of gunfire on school campuses across the United States. Not including the U-Va shooting, 331 people have been killed during these events, with an additional 698 wounded. The data is according to Everytown Research and Policy, and dates back only to 2013, so does not include some notable instances of school shootings like the one that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. The data does not yet include the U-Va shooting.
The U-Va shooting was the deadliest shooting on a college campus since October 1st, 2015, when a gunman killed nine people at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon.
The DMV has seen 65 shootings occur on school grounds since 2013.
There have been eight shooting incidents on D.C. school grounds, five of which occurred at elementary schools. The other three incidents occurred at a public high school, a college, and a college preparatory academy.
In Maryland, 13 of the 23 recorded gun violence incidents took place at high schools. Six happened at a college or university and four at an elementary or middle school.
In Virginia, shootings happened more often at colleges and universities than any other type of school. 11 incidents happened at a college or university, compared to 10 at Virginia high schools. Seven shootings occurred on Virginia elementary school grounds, and six occurred at middle schools.
The highest number of school shootings have occurred on high school campuses, with 398 shootings on record. College campuses have the next most, with 303 shootings, followed by elementary schools with 156 shootings.
Gunfire on school campuses peaked in 2021, with more than 200 shootings. As of November 4th, there had been 152 shootings this year.
Gun violence impacts regions all over the country. Nearly every state has experienced gunfire on school campuses, regardless of political leaning or stances on gun control.