This mass shooting in Dallas was one of two in Texas on Dec. 3. A shooting outside of a club in Houston left one woman dead and three others injured. These are the latest mass shootings to add to the total since the Observer originally published this article on Oct. 31. At that point, Texas had seen 51 mass shootings in 2023; now, just over a month later, there have been 59 such eruptions of gun violence as of Dec. 4.
The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as a single incident that involves at least four people injured from a shooting. Our original article below is updated to reflect current statistical information.
Over a weekend in late October, police were still trying to piece together the details of the mass shooting that rocked a small town on the East Coast. We’ll forgive you if you’re thinking of the Oct. 25 massacre in Lewiston, Maine, where police say a man armed with an assault-style rifle killed at least 18 people and injured many more when he shot up a bowling alley and a nearby bar and grill.
But, no, we’re referring to the mass shooting in North Carolina the following night, where five people were found dead from gunshot wounds inside a Clinton, North Carolina, home. Only a day after headlines and cable news were dominated by the Maine assault, there was another group of people to mourn. Understandably, national attention focuses on the most grotesque, frightening examples of mass shootings, but cases such as Lewiston or the May mass shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets are merely the most jaw-dropping instances of the now all-too-regular occurrence that is a mass shooting in America.
There is no single definition of “mass shooting” that is adhered to everywhere. The FBI, for example, defines a mass shooting as a shooting incident in which four or more people are murdered, not just shot. The Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a nonprofit research group, collects reports of gun violence events from more than 7,500 law enforcement, media, government and commercial sources in an effort to provide real-time information on its website. The GVA describes mass shootings a little differently than the FBI, stating:
Mass Shootings are, for the most part, an American phenomenon. While they are generally grouped together as one type of incident they are several different types including public shootings, bar/club incidents, family annihilations, drive-by, workplace and those which defy description but with the established foundation definition being that they have a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident.
It’s neither coincidental nor surprising that Texas ranks high on this tragic list. Guns are a part of the culture just as much as football, brisket and the Alamo are. According to a CNN report in May, just after the Allen Outlets shooting that killed eight and wounded many more, roughly 60% of Texas households have at least one firearm.
During the 88th state legislative session in May a group led by many parents who lost children in the 2022 Robb Elementary massacre in Uvalde managed to compel a state House committee to advance a bill that would have raised the legal age to buy an automatic firearm from 18 to 21. It’s telling that such an unexpected development was newsworthy in and of itself. The bill was never put up for a full House vote after Speaker Dade Phelan noted at the time that he thought the bill would not have enough votes to pass.
Texas is near the top of the national ranking for most banned books in schools, but the Lone Star State is No. 1 in the number of mass shootings in 2023, according to the GVA, edging out California and Illinois. Shooting incidents involving four or more injuries and deaths this year in Texas, as of Monday, Dec. 4, stood at 59 for the year.
“More than 560 mass shootings have taken place in the United States so far this year, including the one in Lewiston, Maine — the deadliest attack since the Uvalde massacre in May 2022.”
— The Gun Violence Archive (@GunDeaths) October 26, 2023
(via @CNN) pic.twitter.com/Cd6p241W4z
Here are all the mass shootings in Texas in 2023 so far (as of Dec. 4, according to the Gun Violence Archive):
Dec. 3, 2023: Dallas, 9700 block of Royce DriveVictims Killed: 4; Victims Injured: 1
Dec. 3, 2023: Houston, 4913 Griggs Road
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
Nov. 19, 2023: Port Arthur, 4400 block of Griffing Drive
Victims Killed: 4; Victims Injured: 1
Nov. 12, 2023: Pearland, 1014 N. Main Street
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 4
Nov. 5, 2023: Hempstead, 35028 Cameron Road
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 7
Nov. 4, 2023: Galveston, 2100 block of The Strand
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 6
Nov. 1, 2023: Dallas, 2300 block of 2nd Avenue
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 6
Oct. 28, 2023: Texarkana, 700 block of Stateline Avenue
Victims Killed: 3; Victims Injured: 3
Oct. 21, 2023: College Station, 2501 Texas Ave.
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 4
Oct. 21, 2023: Borger, 718 N. Main St.
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
Oct. 1, 2023: Houston, 8700 block of Cypressbrook Drive
Victims Killed: 2; Victims Injured: 2
Sept. 30, 2023: Laredo, 717 E. Travis St.
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 4
Sept. 25, 2023: Dallas, 4800 block of Elsie Faye Heggins St.
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
Sept. 17, 2023: El Paso, 12300 Tierra Inca Drive
Victims Killed: 2; Victims Injured: 4
Sept. 7, 2023: Dallas, 5300 block of Colonial Avenue
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
Sept. 6, 2023: El Paso (Socorro), 253 Flor Margarita Blvd.
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 4
Sept. 3, 2023: Galveston, 4002 Mendocino Drive
Victims Killed: 2; Victims Injured: 2
Aug. 30, 2023: Houston, 2800 block of Chimney Rock Road
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 4
Aug. 20, 2023: Denison, 1100 block of W. Owings St.
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
Aug. 6, 2023: Edinburg, 5120 S. Raul Longoria Road
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 7
July 30, 2023: Port Arthur, 711 Procter St.
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 7
July 23, 2023: Houston, 9261 Gulf Freeway
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 4
July 23, 2023: Dallas, 3300 block of Sheila Lane
Victims Killed: 1 Victims Injured: 3
July 19, 2023: Houston, 6200 block of Luce Street
Victims Killed: 2; Victims Injured: 3
July 16, 2023: Dallas, Al Lipscomb Way and Meadow Street
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 4
July 13, 2023: El Paso, 1160 Airway Blvd.
Victims Killed: 2; Victims Injured: 4
July 11, 2023: Dallas, 8200 block of Willoughby Boulevard
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 6
July 8, 2023: Dallas, 1600 block of Pompano Beach Drive
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
July 7, 2023: El Paso, 4516 Swan Drive
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 8
July 3, 2023: Fort Worth, 2100 block of Christine Avenue
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 4
July 3, 2023: Fort Worth, Diaz Avenue and Horne Street
Victims Killed: 3; Victims Injured: 8
June 29, 2023: Odessa, 4310 N. Dixie Blvd.
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 4
June 25, 2023: Missouri City, 7242 W. Fuqua St.
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
June 24, 2023: Beaumont, 1600 block of Glasshouse Street
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 5
June 21, 2023: Fort Worth, 2120 Handley Drive
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
June 11, 2023: Houston, 6003 Richmond Ave.
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 6
June 11, 2023: Crosby, 12028 Crosby-Lynchburg Road
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 4
June 4, 2023: Sunnyvale, 201 Planters Road
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 4
June 2, 2023: San Antonio, 5100 block of Eisenhauer Road
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
May 23, 2023: Texarkana, 563 Lemon Acres Lane
Victims Killed: 4; Victims Injured: 0
May 18, 2023: San Antonio, 5138 UTSA Blvd.
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
May 16, 2023: San Antonio, 800 block of Poinsettia Street
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 4
May 6, 2023: Allen, 820 W. Stacy Road
Victims Killed: 8; Victims Injured: 7
April 30, 2023: Bryan, W. 26th Street and S. Bryan Avenue
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 4
April 28, 2023: Cleveland, 171 Walter Drive
Victims Killed: 5; Victims Injured: 0
April 23, 2023: Jasper, 470 County Road
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 11
April 8, 2023: Houston, 250 Uvalde Road
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 4
March 18, 2023: Dallas, Gannon Lane and S. Westmoreland Road
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 4
March 13, 2023: Lubbock, 9103 Ave. P
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
March 12, 2023: Laredo, 4800 block of Roque Loop
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 14
March 12, 2023: Dallas, 3626 Villaverde Ave.
Victims Killed: 4; Victims Injured: 0
Feb. 15, 2023: El Paso, 8401 Gateway Blvd. W.
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
Feb. 6, 2023: Corpus Christi, 2700 block of Persimmon Street
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
Feb. 4, 2023: Huntsville, 1505 19th St.
Victims Killed: 2; Victims Injured: 2
Feb. 1, 2023: Texas City, 8601 Emmett F. Lowry Expressway
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 4
Jan. 30, 2023: Dallas, 5800 block of Bonnie View Road
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 3
Jan. 28, 2023: Austin, 12636 Research Blvd.
Victims Killed: 2; Victims Injured: 3
Jan. 17, 2023: Houston, 6729 Lockwood Drive
Victims Killed: 0; Victims Injured: 4
Jan. 15, 2023: Houston, 5121 FM 1960 Road W.
Victims Killed: 1; Victims Injured: 4
Jan. 6, 2023: Dallas, 8544 Lazy Acres Circle
Victims Killed: 3; Victims Injured: 2
