An early Sunday morning shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub has become the nation’s deadliest mass shooting, with at least 50 dead, according to Orlando police.
Until Sunday, the deadliest mass shooting had been the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, which claimed 32 lives, not including the shooter’s. Here are the past deadliest mass shootings:
- 27 killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, Dec. 14, 2012. 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 20 children aged six and seven, as well as seven adults including his mother Nancy. He committed suicide at the scene.
- 23 killed at Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, TX, Oct. 16, 1991. 35-year-old George Hennard drove his pickup truck through the wall of the cafeteria, then shot and killed 23 people before committing suicide.
- 21 killed at a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, CA, July 18, 1984. 41-year-old James Huberty shot and killed 21 people, including children, at a local McDonald’s, before being killed by police.
- 18 killed at University of Texas, Austin, TX, Aug. 1, 1966. Charles Joseph Whitman, a student at the university and former U.S. Marine, killed his wife and mother before gunning down 16 from a tower on campus. He was shot by police.
- 14 killed at Inland Regional Center, San Bernardino, CA, Dec. 2, 2015. Syed Rizwan Farook and wife Tashfeen Malik shot and killed 14 at an office holiday party before being killed in a shootout with police.
- 14 killed at a post office in Edmond, OK, Aug. 20, 1986. Patrick Henry Sherrill, a worker at the post office, killed 14 coworkers before committing suicide.
- 32 killed at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, April 16, 2007. The shooter, 23-year-old student Seung-Hui Cho, committed suicide.
(via: Charlotte Observer)
