The 11 deadliest mass shootings in modern US history

Orlando, June 12, 2016 — 49 dead, 58 wounded

Pulse Nightclub

Before Las Vegas, the deadliest mass shooting in US history was the 2016 shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Gunman Omar Mateen killed nearly 50 people at the nightclub before he was killed by Orlando police. As the club was hosting a “Latin Night,” many of the victims were Latino.

During the shooting, Mateen called Orlando police and swore allegiance to the ISIS, although authorities found no evidence of communication between the terrorist group and the attacker. Still, the shooting drew swift condemnation from American Muslims. It remains the deadliest act of terror in the US since September 11.

Virginia Tech University, April 16, 2007 — 32 dead, 17 wounded

The 2007 mass shooting on Virginia Tech University’s campus remains the deadliest school shooting in US history.

Gunman Seung-Hui Cho, a senior at the school, killed more than 30 students and instructors in two separate attacks about two hours apart before committing suicide.

Sutherland Springs, Texas — 26 dead, 20 wounded

First responders work the scene of a shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. (Edward A. Ornelas/San Antonio Express-News/Zuma Press/TNS)
(/San Antonio Express-News

A gunman wearing tactical gear and wielding a semiautomatic rifle opened fire on Sunday at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a tiny town of 1,000 east of San Antonio.

At least 26 parishioners were killed in the attack. Victims ranged in age from 18 months to 72 years.

The shooting supplanted the 2015 shooting at a Charleston, South Carolina, church as the deadliest mass shooting to take place at a house of worship in the United States.

Sandy Hook Elementary School, December 14, 2012 — 26 dead, 2 wounded

Police officers stand at the entrance to the street leading up to Sandy Hook Elementary School on Saturday, December 15, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, a day after a shooting where 26 people died. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)

Twenty students and six teachers were killed in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. in 2012. Each student casualty was between the ages of 6 and 7.

Minutes before he went to the school, the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, fatally shot his mother at their home. Lanza committed suicide as first responders arrived at the school.

Killeen, Texas, October 16, 1991 — 23 dead, 27 wounded

In 1991, George Hennard drove his pickup truck through the glass front window of a Luby’s restaurant in Killeen, Texas, and began a shooting rampage on patrons and staff inside.

He killed 23 people and injured 27 more before fatally shooting himself.

San Ysidro, California, July 18, 1984 — 21 dead, 19 wounded

41-year-old James Huberty shot 40 people at a McDonald’s restaurant in the San Ysidro district of San Diego in 1984. The casualties included an 8-month-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, and the wounded included a 4-month-old girl.

The rampage ended when Huberty was shot by a San Diego SWAT Team sniper perched on a nearby roof. The shooting prompted changes to the police department in how it responded to mass-shooter scenarios.

University of Texas-Austin, Aug. 1, 1966 — 15 dead, 31 wounded

A frame from a newscast reporting the mass shooting at the University of Texas on August 1, 1966. (Screenshot/NBC)

On a hot summer day in 1966, a military-trained sniper shot dozens of people from the observation deck of the University of Texas’s main building, known as the Tower.

The shooting lasted more than 90 minutes, as officers responding to the attack were forced to move slowly and take cover often. Police got assistance from Texas students, who attempted to pick off the shooter from the ground with hunting rifles, restricting him to shoot through drain spouts for much of the attack.

Local police officers stormed the Tower and fatally shot the gunman. The incident spurred the creation of SWAT teams, and has drawn comparisons to the Las Vegas shooting because of the gunman’s high vantage point.

San Bernardino, December 2, 2015 — 14 dead, 22 wounded

In 2015, married couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, where Farook worked as a health inspector. The couple also planted three homemade pipe bombs in the building, though they failed to detonate.

The couple fled the scene in a vehicle and were killed by police four hours later. The FBI found that the two US citizens were “homegrown violent extremists” and were inspired by foreign terrorist groups.

Edmond, Oklahoma, August 20, 1986 — 14 dead, 6 wounded

Part-time mail carrier Patrick Sherrill shot 20 postal workers, killing 14 of them, at a US Post Office in Edmond, Oklahoma, in 1986. The attack ended when Sherrill fatally shot himself in the head.

The gruesome attack was the first of a string of homicides by postal workers between 1986 and 1999, and inspired the expression “going postal.”

Fort Hood, November 5, 2009 — 13 dead, 30 wounded

Fort Hood (YouTube)

In 2009, Nidal Hasan, a US Army major and psychiatrist, fatally shot 13 people and wounded 30 others at Ford Hood, an army base near Killeen, Texas. It was the deadliest mass shooting to take place on a US military base.

A civilian police sergeant shot Hasan, paralyzing him from the waist down and ending the shooting. Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013 and remains in prison to this day.

Five years later, in 2014, Fort Hood was the site of a shooting spree that left three people dead and 14 wounded.

More from Business Insider:

What Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and 23 other highly successful people were doing at age 25

22 stunning roads in the US you should drive before you die

21 of the most and least loved top CEOs

Here’s how much money you actually take home from a $75,000 salary depending on where you live

All the men who have accused Kevin Spacey of sexual misconduct