This archive report was first published on 1 September 2019.
Published on September 1, 2019, a month after the deadliest mass shootings in the United States.
August 2019 was marked by a series of devastating mass shootings that left 51 people dead and many more injured. The month began with a shooting rampage in Texas, which would become one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.
On August 3, a gunman opened fire at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people and wounding 26 others. The suspect, a white man in his 20s, had written an anti-immigrant manifesto that was posted online shortly before the attack.
Just days later, on August 4, a gunman opened fire in a busy entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio, killing nine people and wounding 27 others. The gunman's sister was among the dead, according to police.
These two shootings were part of a larger trend of mass shootings that occurred in the United States in August 2019. According to figures from the website Mass Shooting Tracker and local news media accounts, there were at least 38 mass killings by firearms in the United States that month.
Here are some of the deadliest shootings that occurred in the United States in August 2019:
- August 3: 22 killed in El Paso, Texas
- August 4: 9 killed in Dayton, Ohio
- July 28: 3 killed in Gilroy, California
- July 6: 5 killed in St. Louis County, Missouri
- June 8: 5 killed in White Swan, Washington
- May 31: 12 killed in Virginia Beach, Virginia
- February 15: 5 killed in Aurora, Illinois
These shootings have left the country on edge and have sparked a renewed debate over gun control. The carnage in West Texas on August 31 was the 38th mass killing by firearms in the United States that year.
