REPORT: After the Charleston massacre, President Obama made this comment: “the unique mayhem that gun violence afflicts upon this nation.” Yet, since 1970, 19 of the worst 20 public mass shootings occurred outside the US. Of those cases, five occurred in developed or “advanced” countries. Muslims also committed 19 of the worst 20 mass public shootings in the world. 29 of the 33 worst shootings are outside the US. It is possible that I am still missing even some of these large mass public shootings prior to 2000, but any of the ones being missed are outside of the US and Europe.
The FBI definition of mass public shootings excludes “shootings that resulted from gang or drug violence” or that were part of some other crime. The FBI also defines “public” places as “includ[ing] commercial areas (divided into malls, businesses open to pedestrian traffic, and businesses closed to pedestrian traffic), educational environments (divided into schools [pre-kindergarten through 12th grade] and IHEs), open spaces, government properties (divided into military and other government properties), houses of worship, and health care facilities.” A report by the New York Police Department has a very similar definition. The 33 worst mass public shootings all have at least 15 people who were shot to death.
The worst public mass shooting are as follows:
2) Gamboru and Ngala in Borno State, Nigeria, May 5 and 6, 2014: Boko Haram Islamic militants killed more than 300 residents.
3) Borno massacre, in Konduga, Borno State, on May 7, 2014: Boko Haram Islamic militants killed at least 200 Christian villagers. Several others were injured.
5) Paris, France, November 14, 2015: Three teams of extremists carried out the coordinated gun-and-suicide bombing attacks across Paris that left 130 people dead and 352 injured, a French prosecutor said Saturday.
6) Borno massacre, in Konduga, Borno State, on February 14, 2014: Boko Haram Islamic militants killed at least 121 Christian villagers.
7) Izghe, Borno State, February 15, 2014: Islamic group Boko Haram killed 105 men and 1 elderly woman
8) Utoya, Norway, July 22, 2011: Anders Behring Breivik used a gun to kill 67 people and wound 110 others. Still others were killed by bombs that Breivik detonated.
10) Yobe State, Nigeria, February 25, 2014: 59 boys were killed at the Federal Government College of Buni Yadi. The boys were separated from the girls and the young girls were told to get married at a very early age.
11) Gujba, Yobe State, Nigeria, September 29, 2013: gunmen from the Islamic group Boko Haram entered the male dormitory in the College of Agriculture and killed “as many as 50 dead.” Most of the dead were Muslim college students.
12) Mamudo, Yobe State, Nigeria, July 6, 2013: Islamic group Boko Haram killed 42 children and teachers at a boarding school.
13) Sousse, Tunisia, June 26, 2015: Seifeddine Rezgui, a college student, used a gun to kill 39 people at a crowded tourist beach resort at the Imperial Marhaba Hotel. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
14) Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia, April 28 and 29, 1996: Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded another 23 at a popular tourist site, the historic Port Arthur former prison colony.
16) Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, April 16, 2007: Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded 17 by gun fire at Virginia Tech University.
17) Gujarat, India, September 24 and 25 2002: Two terrorists attacked the Akshardham temple complex and killed 31 people and wounded 80 others by using automatic weapons and hand grenades
18) Hebron, Israel, February 25, 1994: Baruch Goldstein killed 29 and wounded 125 Muslim worshippers in an attack on the Cave of the Patriarchs.
19) Jammu, India, July 22, 2002: Islamic militants killed 27 Hindus and injured at least 30 others, some critically
20) Lod Airport outside Tel Aviv, Israel, May 30, 1972: three members of the Japanese Red Army attacked Lod airport (now Ben Gurion International Airport) near Tel Aviv, killing 26 people and injuring 80 others
21) Newtown, Connecticut, USA, December 14, 2012: 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 26 people at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
22) Killeen, Texas, USA, October 16, 1991: George Hennard crashed his pickup truck into the plate glass windows of the Luby Cafeteria and then shot 23 people to death.
23) Bamako, Mali, November 20, 2015: Siege at the Radisson hotel, a luxury hotel, in the capital Bamako that left 20 people dead
24) San Ysidro, California, USA July 18, 1984: James Huberty shot and killed 21 people and wounded another 19 at a McDonald’s restaurant.
25) Otite, Kogi State, Nigeria, August 7, 2012: Three Islamic terrorists attacked the Deeper Life Bible Church killing 19 people and wounding an unknown number of others.
26) Erfurt, Germany, April 26, 2002: Robert Steinhäuser, a recent graduate of the Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany, killed 18 people.
27) Near Stirling, Scotland, UK, March 13, 1996: Thomas Hamilton killed 17 people at the Dunblane Primary School.
28) Popular Ivory Coast beach resort, March 13, 2016: 16 people shot to death in a terrorist attack at the Etoile du Sud, a hotel popular with Westerners. The attack was probably directed at Americans who were traveling in the area.
31) Hungerford, UK, August 19, 1987: Michael Robert Ryan killed 16 people, but they occurred at several locations.
32) São Gonçalo do Amarante, Natal, Brazil, May 21, 1997: Genildo Ferreira Do Francais killed 15 people in a small northern Brazilian town.
33) Winnenden, Germany, March 11, 2009: 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer 15 killed at the Winnenden School.
Other cases: Montreal, Quebec, Canada had 14 people killed and another 14 injured in a shooting at the École Polytechnique on December 6, 1989. The Zug Switzerland shooting left 14 people killed in September 27, 2001. The 1966 University of Texas shooting left 14 people dead (wife and mother were killed through other means). Edmond, Oklahoma shooting at a post office left 14 people killed on August 20, 1986. Honduras, November 25, 2015: “Two massacres that killed 15 people in less than 12 hours rocked Honduras and left the country’s top cop in tears on Wednesday. Police say seven were shot in the capital of Tegucigalpa early Wednesday, while eight bus drivers were killed in the northern city of San Pedro Sula late Tuesday.”
UPDATE: Woo Bum-kon killed 56 people a over two days in South Korea (April 26-27, 1982). It is hard to include him in the above list because there was no large number of people killed in any one single public place, but instead he would kill one or two people in a lot of different public places. He also used grenades to kill people.
Other cases: The Zug Switzerland shooting left 14 people killed in September 27, 2001. The 1966 University of Texas shooting left 14 people dead (wife and mother were killed through other means). Edmond, Oklahoma shooting at a post office left 14 people killed on August 20, 1986.
Nigeria. Given that these were attacks by Islamic militants purely against civilians, they are classified as terrorist attacks.
Israel. Given that most of these attacks were conducted by Palestinians, one could argue that these were attacks over sovereignty. Above we have only included one attack by the Red Japanese Army against Israel.
