FBI Report: Active Shooter Incidents in the U.S. in 2016 and 2017

[Spats McGee]

My apologies if this has already been posted & I just overlooked it. The FBI has a recently-released report called Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2016 and 2017. The title is pretty self-explanatory, and it has some interesting statistics on intervention into active shooter incidents by both armed and unarmed citizens.

I don't want to spoil the ending, but this is less than 20 pages and the conclusion is very interesting.

[thallub]

Thanks Spats. That's a very interesting report.

[rickyrick]

Hard to discuss without spoiling the end.

[cslinger]

I haven’t read the report yet just downloaded the pdf. But let me make a guess.

-Bad / Crazy folks do bad crazy things.
-you cannot stop an ambush / from starting
-The most effective way of stoping said bad / crazy folks is engaging them with counter force likely lethal in nature
-said counter force usually results in surrender, suicide or retreat of bad / crazy personing mitigating The situation
-most bad / crazy folks are looking for a killing field not a pitched battle/firefight

Am I close to the mark?

[thallub]

Another FBI study of active shooter incidents: 2000-2013. The conclusion in this report is also very interesting.

https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/...000-2013-1.pdf

[carguychris]

Originally Posted by cslinger

-said counter force usually results in surrender, suicide or retreat of bad / crazy personing mitigating The situation

Don't jump to conclusions.

In over 1/3 of the incidents (16 of 50), the shooter exchanged gunfire with police (14) or private armed citizens (2), albeit with overwhelmingly fatal results for the shooter. The report lists 11 shooters killed by LE and 3 suicides after LE arrived at the scene.

In 2 other incidents, a shooter was fired upon by an armed citizen or a security guard, did not return fire, and fled; however, in one of these instances, the shooter resumed shooting elsewhere. (In the other incident, he was apprehended by LE elsewhere without shots fired.)

In 1 incident, the shooter was confronted by an armed citizen, but shot that person and took him out of the fight before resuming fire at others.

While it's true that many other incidents ended with the shooter surrendering to LE or armed citizens, it's clear that in a very substantial number of cases, the shooter doesn't give up and often returns fire. While the shooter committed suicide in a few such instances, this did not happen the majority of the time.

Also, shooters who committed suicide with police on the scene (3) were substantially outnumbered by those who killed themselves on the scene before police even arrived (8), or elsewhere (2). IOW most shooter suicides were not directly influenced by actual counter-force.

Originally Posted by cslinger

-most bad / crazy folks are looking for a killing field not a pitched battle/firefight

In most of the cases I discuss, the shooter wound up dead, so his original intent is a mystery; however, given the frequency, IMHO it's fair to assume that many of these shooters probably anticipated dying in a gunfight.

FWIW I read a well-sourced news report about the July 2016 Dallas shooting, and based on police dialogue with the shooter, it's very clear IMHO that he intended to die in a hail of police gunfire while actively shooting back. He was killed by a bomb-carrying robot after barricading himself in a blind alcove that was impossible to approach without being exposed to return fire, and he explicitly told officers that he would shoot anyone who tried to approach him.

[Sharkbite]

Although the studied examples dispelled the oft cited adage that the bad guy will instantly stop his attack when confronted...it is obvious that hard resistance does reduce the damage caused by either neutralizing the attacker or at least diverting his attention from the wanton killing he was intent on before the intervention.

[TXAZ]

Here is the conclusion:


(The FBI locked the document so you can't scrape the text, only the image)

[Count Les Neins]

"The enhanced threat posed by active shooters and the swiftness with which active shooter
incidents unfold support thre importance of preparation by law enforcement officers
and citizens alike."

Sounds like FBI support of the 2A to me...

[carguychris]

Originally Posted by Sharkbite

Although the studied examples dispelled the oft cited adage that the bad guy will instantly stop his attack when confronted...it is obvious that hard resistance does reduce the damage caused by either neutralizing the attacker or at least diverting his attention from the wanton killing he was intent on before the intervention.

It also underscores the importance of DOING SOMETHING, even if unarmed.

In a significant number of instances, the attack was stopped or at least reduced in severity by an unarmed response or an abortive armed response—i.e. one that did not physically stop or even significantly wound the shooter, but caused him to disengage, or to slow down enough to reduce the potential body count.

The takeaway is that it's naive to assume that the mere presentation of a lethal response will stop a mass shooting, but for civilian SD carry, I would argue that this is NEVER a safe assumption—the weapon should not come out unless you're prepared to use it!

[5whiskey]

My bet is that CNN does NOT take this and report on the fact that the FBI is appreciative and encouraging of citizen-heros using counter force to stop a mass shooting.

[Spats McGee]

My bet is that it never sees the light of day on CNN's page.

I'd also bet that the FBI would balk at the notion that it is encouraging the concealed carry of firearms. Note that the report says "preparation," not "armament."

[5whiskey]

I'd also bet that the FBI would balk at the notion that it is encouraging the concealed carry of firearms. Note that the report says "preparation," not "armament."

Fair enough, the FBI may not be "encouraging" armament. They at least seemed appreciative. Which is more than I would expect in an official FBI report regarding CCW.

[Carl the Floor Walker]

Here is a very interesting link that will give you a big idea of areas where most of the shooting deaths in America (and similar areas) are happening and by whom. Here you will see daily reports. How many shot, how many killed, where shot etc. And you can bet Fake news CNN and the other Propaganda channels will not report on. Yet the numbers are over whelming.

https://heyjackass.com/home/

[Thomas Clarke]

CtFW, I cannot tell who does HJA.com. The graphics and all are wonderful, but who is presenting the information as the Actual News and not the Fake News. Hard to tell who is telling the truth other than lots of graphics. Thank you for sharing this nonetheless.

[TXAZ]

Originally Posted by Thomas Clarke

CtFW, I cannot tell who does HJA.com. The graphics and all are wonderful, but who is presenting the information as the Actual News and not the Fake News. Hard to tell who is telling the truth other than lots of graphics. Thank you for sharing this nonetheless.

I don't believe they claim to be media, but just a group that got tired of former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy (allegedly) reducing the number of reported murders in Chicago to make the stats look better. The Chicago Sun Times noted about 8 years ago that the number of murders reported at the end of the year were significantly less than the sum of daily reports. It turns out CPD was lying to the citizens and FBI for their standardized crime reports.

It look like these guys have picked up on that, aggregating and illustrating the data in an easy to absorb manner.

Here's their statement of sources.
*Source Data & Editor’s Note
We compile our own dataset using the following sources: Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Homicide Watch Chicago (no longer updated), DNAInfo Chicago (out of business), Chicago Redeye Homicide Tracker (no longer updated), NBC5 Chicago, Chicago Tribune’s Shooting Tracker & Homicide Tracker, Cook County Medical Examiner, CPD’s Historical Data Set, City of Chicago Data Portal and CPD CLEARMAP.

[Aguila Blanca]

I just opened the link in Spats' opening post. How do I go about downloading the report for future reference?


{Edit} Never mind -- I figured it out. Not sure what I did, but it worked.

[TXAZ]

Aguila Blanca
In Chrome, you open the page the on the File menu, you click "Save Page As..." give it a name, and it's yours.

Similar for other browsers.