America’s 10 most deadly mass shootings of 2023

The US has experienced more mass shootings than days so far in 2023, with thousands dead as a result.

There were at least 191 in the first 127 days of the year, with the latest in a busy Texas shopping mall leaving nine people dead, including the suspected gunman.

On average, the US has seen more than 39,000 gun deaths a year since 2014, and as of 1 May at least 13,959 people have been shot dead in 2023, according to data from Gun Violence Archive.

That is a rate of 115 deaths per day. And on each one, America is more likely to see a mass shooting than not.

Gun Violence Archive broadly defines a mass shooting to mean four or more people (excluding the perpetrator) shot at roughly the same time and location, regardless of fatalities or motives.

Below are the 10 most deadly mass shootings to have happened this year. The figures also include the death of the perpetrator if they were killed at the scene.

1. Monterey Park, California (21 January) – 12 dead, nine injured
Victims: My Nhan, 65, Ming Wei Ma, 72, Diana Tom, 70, Xiujuan Yu, 57, Lilian Li, 63, Valentino Alvero, 68, Muoi Ung, 67, Hong Jian, 62, Yu Kao, 72, Chia Yau, 76, and Wen Yu, 64.

Huu Can Tran, aged 72, killed 11 people during a Chinese New Year celebration at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park.

Tran was found dead in his vehicle after he fled the scene of an attempted second shooting.

2. Allen, Texas (6 May) – nine dead, seven injured
Victims: Not yet named.

A gunman stepped out of a vehicle and began firing outside a Premium Outlets mall in Allen, a suburb of Dallas, sending hundreds of shoppers fleeing in panic.

The gunman, who is believed to have acted alone, was killed by a police officer at the scene, authorities said.

3. Enoch, Utah (4 January) – eight dead
Victims: Tausha Haight, 40, Gail Earl, 78, Tausha’s three daughters, aged seven, 12 and 17, and her two sons, aged four and seven.

A father killed his wife, five children, and his mother-in-law before turning the gun on himself. Michael Haight, 42, shot his wife Tausha, 40, weeks after she filed for divorce.

Police had previously attended the property over reports of a domestic disturbance.

4. Henryetta, Oklahoma (1 May) – seven dead
Victims: Ivy Webster, 14, Brittany Brewer, 15, Michael Mayo, 15, Tiffany Guess, 13, Rylee Allen, 17, and Holly McFadden, 35.

An Oklahoma sex offender who was freed from prison early shot dead his wife, her three children, and their two friends before killing himself.

The killings raised questions over why Jesse McFadden, 39, was released in the first place. McFadden had been sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2003 for first-degree rape of a 17-year-old. He was released three years early, in 2020, in part for good behaviour.

5. Nashville school shooting, Tennessee (27 March) – seven dead, one injured
Victims: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all aged nine, Cynthia Peak, 61, and Mike Hill, 61, and Katherine Koonce, 60.

Three adults and three students were killed by Audrey Hale during a shooting at a private Christian school after the former student opened fire.

Hale had a manifesto and detailed maps of the school and entered the building by shooting through its doors.

6. Half Moon Bay, California (23 January) – seven dead, one injured
Victims: Zhishen Liu, 73, Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, Aixiang Zhang, 74, Qizhong Cheng, 66, Jingzhi Lu, 64, Yetao Bing, 43, Jose Romero Perez, age unknown.

Seven people died after two mass shootings several miles apart in the small Californian coastal city.

Police arrested 67-year-old Chunli Zhao after four people were killed at a farm and another three at a trucking business. The victims included Chinese and Latino farmworkers.

He later told police he carried out the shootings after his supervisor demanded he paid $100 (£81) to repair a damaged forklift truck.

7. Louisville, Kentucky (10 April) – six dead, eight injured
Victims: Tommy Elliott, 63, Juliana Farmer, 57, Jim Tutt, 64, and Josh Barrick, 40, Deanna Eckert, 57.

Five people were killed and seven were injured – including two police officers – after 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon opened fire at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky.

The former bank worker was killed in an exchange of fire with the police.

8. Goshen, California (16 January) – six dead
Victims: Alissa Parraz, 17, and killed her child, Nycholas, Rosa Parraz, 72, Eladio Parraz Jr., 52, Jennifer Analla, 49, Marcos Parraz, 19.

A teenage mother and her 10-month-old baby were fatally shot in the head “assassination style” in an attack that left six people dead in central California.

Police are looking into whether a gang or drug cartel targeted the family, and are on the hunt for two suspects.

9. Lake Wales, Florida (2 May) – five dead
Victims: Not yet named.

Al Joseph Stenson, 38, killed a mother and her three children at a motel in central Florida. Stenson was killed after an hours-long stand-off with police.

The children were aged 21, 17 and 11, and while police confirmed they were known to each other, they have not released their names or relationship.

10. San Jacinto County, Texas (28 April) – five dead
Victims: Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18, Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25, and her son Daniel Enrique Laso, eight, and Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21.

Francisco Oropeza, 38, went on the run after he killed five neighbours in a rural Cleveland town. He was eventually found under a laundry pile roughly 20 miles from the incident.

The attacks took place after his neighbours asked him to stop firing off rounds in his garden late at night because a baby was trying to sleep.

2017’s Las Vegas Shooting

The most deadly mass shooting to date in the US remains the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, when Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on a crowd attending a music festival. There were 60 victims, with Paddock later found dead in his hotel room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.