The Conversation (0)
Narjas Zatat
Aug 04, 2019
Twenty people have been killed and dozens injured after a suspected white supremacist opened fire at a shopping complex in Texas in what has become a worrying trend of mass shootings in America.
A 21-year-old white man called Patrick Crusius is being investigated after he allegedly posted a racist online manifesto that claimed the attack was a response to the “Hispanic invasion of Texas” and makes reference to the “Great Replacement,” a white supremacist far-right conspiracy theory that claims people of European descent are being demographically replaced by non-white people.
This isn’t the first mass shooting to tarnish the country. Donald Trump was elected into office at the end of 2016 and since then America has experienced four shootings that made it in the top ten worst in US history.
Here’s the top ten, and those during Trump’s tenure are in bold:
1. Las Vegas shooting, 2017 – 58 dead (plus 1 perp)
2. Orlando nightclub shooting dagger, 2016 - 49 dead (plus 1 perp)
3. Virginia Tech shooting dagger, 2007 – 32 dead (plus 1 perp)
4. Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, 2012 – 27 dead (plus 1 perp)
5. Sutherland Springs church shooting, 2017 - 26 dead (plus 1 perp)
6. Luby's shooting dagger, 1991 - 23 dead (plus 1 perp.)
7. San Ysidro McDonald's massacre dagger, 1984 - 21 dead (plus 1 perp)
8. El Paso shooting, 2019 – 20 dead
9. Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, 2018 – 17 dead
10. University of Texas tower shooting dagger, 1966 17 dead
Las Vegas shooting, 2017 – 58 dead
In Las Vegas, a 54-year-old man called Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada let loose gunfire on a crowd of 22,000 concert attendees from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort Casino. He was found dead in his hotel room.
Sutherland Springs church shooting, 2017 - 26 dead
On 5 November, 2017 a gunman opened fire on a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 25 people and an unborn child.
The shooter was identified as Devin Patrick Kelley, who was found dead after a chase.
El Paso shooting, 2019 – 22 dead
A suspected gunman who is believed to hold 'white supremacist' ideologies opened fire on crowds at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Authorities are questioning a 21-year-old man called Patrick Crusius after he allegedly wrote and posted a racist "manifesto" online days before the shooting took place.
Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, 2018 – 17 dead
On 14 February 2018 a former student unleashed gunfire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing at least 17 adults and children.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
In 2016 the number of hate crimes in the US spiked for the first time in years, during Trump’s election, and then again in 2018 over a year into his tenure.
The number of hate crimes in 2016 jumped by nearly 300 reported cases compared to the year prior, with 6,121 incidents reported the FBI last year compared to 5,850 in 2015.
According to a report by the Centre for the Study of Hate and Extremism, hate crimes rose nine per cent to a decade high of 2,000 in 30 US cities.
The most frequently targeted groups nationally were blacks, Jews and LGBT+ people and the total number of extremist homicides decreased from 36 in 2017 to 22, but that “white supremacist” homicides increased to 17, along with two murders connected to “extreme misogyny.”
More: Man hailed as hero for protecting children from El Paso gunman during mass shooting
More: El Paso shooting: How you can help after the deadly attack in Texas
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