Mass Shooters by Race:Demographics of Assailants 1966-2026

By Cassandra McBride

Report Highlights: Mass shooters represent a small portion of the population across all demographics.

Ammo.com provides accurate and reliable data on a variety of subjects. You can view the sources used in this article here.

Methodology

This analysis examines mass shootings and school shootings from January 1966 to May 2026.

Mass shooting databases, such as the Violence Prevention Project, were used to source information about individual shooters and their racial or ethnic backgrounds. Peer-reviewed sources and government reports were used to source information about school shooters, as comprehensive databases are limited.

Population figures are drawn from the 2020 U.S. Census. Calculations were performed for earlier population sizes to ensure final outcomes were not statistically different from current rates and ratios.

Mass shooters were included based on whether the shooting incident aligned with the FBI and the Violence Prevention Project’s definition of “mass murder.” Such incidents result in four or more civilian fatalities in a public place and are unconnected to another crime or family violence. Violence Prevention Project data were cross-referenced with Mother Jones’ data to ensure there was no statistically significant change in shooters’ race when the definition of “mass shooting” was relaxed to include incidents resulting in fewer fatalities and family violence.

School shootings include targeted attacks, rampage attacks, gang-related violence, and dispute-related incidents. Several studies were used to examine a broader view of school shooters and their race.

Mass Shootings by Shooter’s Race

Between January 1966 and May 2026, there were 202 mass shooters in the U.S.

Of these shooters, 115 were white, 43 were black shooters, 19 were Hispanic, 13 were Asian, nine were Middle Eastern/North African, and three were Native American.^{1, 2}

What Percentage of Mass Shooters Are White?

White Americans (including male, female, and non-binary) account for 56.9% of mass shooters in the U.S.

Of the 202 mass shooters recorded between January 1966 and May 2026, 115 were white: one for every 1.7 million white people.

What Percentage of Mass Shooters Are White Males?

White males (excluding transgender and non-binary individuals) accounted for 55.4% of mass shooters in the U.S.: one for every 886,000 white men.^{1, 2}

Only one white female and two confirmed white transgender/non-binary individuals committed a mass shooting.

What Percentage of Mass Shooters Are Black Americans?

Black Americans (including males and females) accounted for 21.3% of mass shooters in the U.S.

Of the 202 mass shooters recorded between January 1966 and May 2026, 43 were black: one for every 1 million black Americans.

Of these 43 black shooters (97.7%) were male. There was only one black female shooter.^{1, 2}

What Percentage of Mass Shooters Are Hispanic?

Hispanics accounted for 9.4% of mass shooters in the U.S. There were no female or transgender shooters in this group.

Of the 202 mass shooters recorded between January 1966 and May 2026, 19 were Hispanic: one for every 3.3 million Hispanic Americans.^{1, 2}

What Percentage of Mass Shooters Are Asian?

Asians accounted for 6.4% of mass shooters in the U.S. There were no female or transgender shooters in this group.

Of the 202 recorded mass shooters between January 1966 and May 2026, 13 were Asian: one for every 1.5 million Asian Americans.^{1, 2}

What Percentage of Mass Shooters Are Middle Eastern/North African?

Middle Eastern and North African individuals account for 4.5% of mass shooters in the U.S.

There were nine shooters in this category (including shooters from the Middle East and one from Morocco), representing one for every 368,000 people in this group.^{1, 2}

Of these shooters, 88.9% were male. There was only one female shooter.

What Percentage of Mass Shooters Are Native American?

Native Americans accounted for 1.5% of mass shooters in the U.S. There were no female or transgender shooters in this group.

Of the 202 mass shooters recorded between January 1966 and May 2026, three were Native American: one for every 1.4 million Native Americans.^{1, 2}

School Shooters by Race

Across major studies, white shooters account for the highest percentage of school shooters in targeted and rampage-style attacks (55 to 65%). Black shooters account for a smaller share (10 to 17%). Studies that include gang and dispute-related attacks show a higher share of black perpetrators than white perpetrators in school shooting-related incidents.^{3, 4, 5, 6, 7}

Asian (5% to 12%), Hispanic (5% to 16%), and Native Americans (3% to 6%) generally represent smaller shares of school shooters.^{3, 5}

What Percentage of School Shooters Are White?

White Americans account for 26% to 65% of school shootings, depending on methodology.^{3, 4}

The United States Secret Service (USSS) National Threat Assessment Center analyzed 41 incidents of targeted school violence (including stabbings, shootings, and other attack types) between 2008 and 2017. This study reported that 63% of perpetrators were white.³

A 2025 study published in Ethnic and Racial Studies (ERS) examined 83 rampage school shootings from 1966 through January 2024. Of these, white Americans accounted for 65% of perpetrators.

A 2022 study by Freilich et al. analyzed 652 school shootings between 1990 and 2016. This study used a broader definition of “school shooting” and included gang and dispute-related shootings. It categorized adults and adolescents by race. White adults accounted for 35% of shooters in this category, while white adolescents accounted for 26%.⁵

What Percentage of School Shooters Are Black?

Black Americans account for 10% to 53% of school shooters, depending on methodology.^{3, 4}

Studies limited to targeted and rampage-style attacks show that black Americans account for a smaller share of school shooters than white Americans. The USSS reported that 15% of those who attacked a school between 2008 and 2017 were black. The ERS reported that only 10% of perpetrators in rampage-style attacks on schools were black.^{3, 4}

When Freilich et al. expanded the definition of “school shooting” to include gang and dispute-related incidents, black adults accounted for 45% of perpetrators; black adolescents, 53%.⁵

Wrap-Up

Mass shootings and school shootings in the U.S. are rare events. Across all demographics, shooters represent fewer than one in every 1.6 million people.

White individuals account for the largest share of targeted mass shooters and school shooters, but their race is underrepresented relative to their share of the U.S. population. Black individuals account for more school shooters in studies that include gang and dispute-related incidents.

Sources

1. The Violence Prevention Project: Mass Shooter Database
2. U.S. Mass Shootings, 1982-2026: Data From Mother Jones’ Investigation
3. Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence
4. Race, racism, and rampage: rethinking school shootings through a racial lens
5. Using Open-source Data to Better Understand and Respond to American School Shootings: Introducing and Exploring the American School Shooting Study
6. Multi-Victim School Shootings in the United States: A Fifty-Year Review
7. K-12, college/university, and mass shootings: similarities and differences