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History of U.S. mass shootings

Sunday’s mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub claimed the largest number of victims in U.S. history

By Stephen Hudak
The Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. — The following is a list of mass shootings in the U.S. in which 10 or more people were killed.

2007: 32 people killed at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va., on April 16 when student Seung-Hui Cho, 23, carried out a shooting spree on campus. He then committed suicide.

2012: 27 people killed, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn., on Dec. 14. The dead included Nancy Lanza, mother of shooter, Adam Lanza, 20. He is shot to death.

1991: 23 people killed at Lubys Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, on Oct. 16 when 35-year-old George Hennard rammed his pickup truck into the restaurant and then opened fire on patrons. He then committed suicide.

1984: 21 people killed at a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, California, on July 18 when James Huberty, 41, turned a long-barreled Uzi and two other guns on patrons and employees. Police killed Huberty.

1966: 18 people killed in Austin, Texas, by ex-Marine Charles Whitman who shot from a tower at the University of Texas on Aug. 1. Whitman also killed his mother and his wife earlier in the day. Police killed Whitman.

2015: 14 people killed, 21 wounded in San Bernardino, Calif., when married couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire at a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center on Dec. 2. They ran from the scene but died in a shootout with police.

1986: 14 people killed in Edmond, Okla., on Aug. 20 when mail carrier Patrick Henry Sherill kills 14 postal workers in a spree that lasted 10 minutes. He then committed suicide.

2009: 13 people killed, 32 wounded at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5 when Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, opened fire at the Army base. He was wounded but survived.

2009: 13 killed, four wounded in Binghamton, N.Y., when Jiverly Wong opened fire at an immigrant community center. He then committed suicide.

1999: 13 killed, including 12 students, at Columbine High in Littleton, Colo., when high schoolers Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, carry out a planned shooting. Both then committed suicide in the school library.

1982: 13 killed in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on Sept. 25 by prison guard George Banks. The dead included his five children.

1949: 13 killed in Camden, N.J., when World War II veteran Howard Unruh walked down 32nd Street on Sept. 5 shooting passers-by with a German Lugar.

2013: 12 killed inside the Washington Navy Yard on Sept. 16 by Aaron Alexis, 34, a civilian contractor later described as mentally disturbed. He was killed in a police shootout.

2012: 12 killed, 70 wounded inside a theatre in Aurora, Colo., on July 20 by James E. Holmes, 24, during a screening of the Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.” Holmes was dressed in tactical gear and used an AR-15 rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and a .40-caliber handgun. He was arrrested and charged with multiple counts of murder, convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

1999: 12 killed in Atlanta by Mark Barton, 44, who shot his wife and two children at home and fatally wounded nine other people at two brokerage houses.

2009: 10 killed in Alabama by Michael McLendon. The victims included his mother, grandparents, aunt and uncle.

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(c)2016 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)

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