Louisville shooting is US’ 146th mass shooting and 15th mass killing… this year

Five people were shot dead in Louisville, Kentucky. The police identified them as colleagues of the suspect- two of them were close friends of Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. Besides, eight others were wounded in Monday’s shooting.

“I have a very good friend who didn’t make it today. And I have another close friend who didn’t either,” Governor Andy Beshear said. The suspect was fatally shot at the scene. He had joined the branch of the Old National Bank as a full-time employee last year.

One hundred days into 2023, there have been 15 mass killings in the US, according to a USA TODAY/Associated Press/Northeastern University database tracking the killings.

“This is consistent with the overall trend that mass shootings are becoming more frequent,” co-founder of the nonprofit research center Violence Project James Densley said.

Of the 15 mass killings, four were public shootings, and most of the others were family-related incidents, James Alan Fox, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston noted. The killings have left at least 79 people dead and 20 injured- these numbers don’t include the shooters.

In 2023, so far, there have been 146 mass shootings this year- 10% more than the previous record year of 2021. Gun Violence Archive said that nearly 5,000 people have died from gunfire so far in 2023 and almost 9,000 have been injured. Hundreds of children under age 11 have been killed or injured, along with more than a thousand teens, the data showed.