"While that figure could yet rise in December, it is a drop of nearly 59 percent from 2019, when a record 41 mass killings occurred. The database uses police and FBI reports, media articles and court records to track mass killings, defined as incidents in which four or more people were killed intentionally within a 24-hour period, not including any offender."
"James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University who manages the database, told AP that the tally for 2025 was down about 24 percent compared with 2024, which in turn was about a 20 percent drop compared with 2023. He said the drop in numbers was likely what statisticians call a regression to the mean, representing a return to more average crime levels after an unusual spike in the preceding years. Will 2026 see a decline? Fox said. I wouldn't bet on it."
"James Densley, a professor at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota, told the news agency that as the database tracked a rare phenomenon, the figures could be volatile. Because there's only a few dozen mass killings in a year, a small change could look like a wave or a collapse, when it was actually a return to more typical levels, he said. 2025 looks really good in historical context, but we can't pretend like that means the problem is gone for good."
A national database shows 17 mass killings in 2025, the lowest in two decades and a nearly 59% drop from 2019's record 41. The 2025 total is about 24% lower than 2024, which was roughly 20% below 2023. The database defines mass killings as incidents with four or more intentional deaths within 24 hours, excluding the offender, and compiles police, FBI, media and court records. Statisticians characterize the decline as a regression to the mean after recent spikes; small annual totals make year-to-year counts volatile. Ongoing gun violence and uncertainty about future trends remain concerns.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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