“Active shooter” incidents are on the rise, according to a new study by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Active shooter incidents, or a situation in which someone is actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area, have doubled over the past seven years compared to the previous seven, the FBI said Wednesday.
The study analyzed 160 active shooter incidents from 2000 to 2013 and found an average of six per year for the first seven years, compared to an average of 16 per year the past seven.
In total between 2000 and 2013, 160 active shooter incidents occurred, putting the average at 11.4 over that time.
“We believe the information contained in this study can benefit anyone who could potentially be in an active shooter situation … by giving them a better understanding of how these incidents play out,” the FBI said.
All but six of the 160 incidents involved male shooters and only two involved more than one, the study found.
“The motivations vary widely, but if there are themes, if there are pre-attack indicators, we want to identify them,” FBI Assistant Director James Yacone told USA Today.
