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How many mass shootings in 2024 were committed by trans individuals?
Executive summary
Available reporting and databases show that mass shootings by people known to identify as transgender in 2024 were extremely rare; major trackers and experts report either zero or a single historically confirmed transgender mass shooter through 2024 depending on definitions and datasets (for example, The Violence Project lists only Audrey Hale through 2024) [1] [2]. Broader datasets such as the Gun Violence Archive count thousands of mass-shooting incidents and report transgender or nonbinary perpetrators only in “single digit” numbers across many years, meaning trans-identified shooters are a vanishingly small share of incidents [3] [4].
1. Definitions matter: what counts as a “mass shooting”?
Different organizations use different thresholds — some count incidents with four or more people shot (Gun Violence Archive, CNN), others count four or more killed in a public place (The Violence Project) — and most large databases do not routinely record perpetrators’ gender identity, so totals depend on methodology and available reporting [1] [5] [6]. Because datasets vary, any numerical answer must be read against the database’s definition of “mass shooting” and whether investigators publicly recorded a shooter’s gender identity [7] [8].
2. What the major trackers say about trans-identified perpetrators through 2024
The Violence Project’s database — using a restrictive definition (four or more people shot and killed, excluding the shooter, in a public location) — identified 201 mass shooters between 1966 and 2024 and listed only one as transgender (Audrey/Aiden Hale, the 2023 Nashville suspect), indicating essentially no additional confirmed transgender mass shooters in 2024 under that methodology [1] [2]. The Gun Violence Archive, which uses a broader four-or-more-shot threshold and records many thousands of incidents, has told reporters that trans or LGBTQ+ suspects are in the “single digit numbers” across its entire record of mass shootings — again implying very few if any in 2024 specifically [3] [9].
3. Media fact-checking and investigations: few or no confirmed 2024 cases
Fact-checking outlets (Reuters, AP, PolitiFact, Poynter) repeatedly flagged social-media claims after several 2023–2024 shootings that alleged perpetrators were transgender, and these outlets found those claims were false or unproven; AP and Reuters note the overwhelming majority of mass shooters are cisgender males and that claims of a surge in transgender shooters are not supported by data through 2024 [10] [8] [9] [5]. PolitiFact and other reporting state that, by FBI and tracker counts of “active shooter”/“mass killing” incidents from 2018–2024, there’s no statistical evidence that transgender people are disproportionately represented among shooters [7].
4. How often identity is misreported or weaponized politically
Multiple sources document a pattern of premature or false claims that shooters were transgender in the immediate aftermath of mass shootings; this has been amplified by far-right influencers and can create a misleading impression of frequency [11] [12] [4]. Reporting from The Trace and others shows these claims sometimes serve political goals — to demonize trans people or deflect attention from gun-policy debates — rather than to reflect verified facts [4] [12].
5. Numbers put in perspective: proportionally tiny
Even taking conservative estimates from GVA-style counts, the fraction of mass shootings involving people known to identify as transgender or nonbinary is measured in fractions of a percent — reports cite “single digit” totals among more than 5,000 incidents or cases like four examples across multi-year spans — meaning trans-identified perpetrators, where identified, constitute an extremely small share of mass shootings [3] [4] [13].
6. Limitations and what the sources do not say
Available sources emphasize limitations: databases often do not collect gender-identity data systematically, some public identifications are disputed, and not all media reports are later confirmed by law enforcement, so definitive counts for a single calendar year [14] depend on which dataset and definitions a researcher uses [1] [5] [8]. Sources do not provide a single, undisputed tally that states “X mass shootings in 2024 were committed by trans individuals” — rather they show that any confirmed cases in 2024 would be rare or unconfirmed in major datasets [1] [9].
7. Bottom line — what can a reader reliably conclude?
Based on the databases and fact-checking cited, there is no evidence of a meaningful number of mass shootings in 2024 committed by people known to be transgender; major researchers report either none newly confirmed in 2024 under strict definitions (The Violence Project) or only “single digit” transgender/LGBTQ+ suspects across many years in broader trackers like the Gun Violence Archive [1] [3] [9]. Claims that trans people are responsible for a rising share of mass shootings are not supported by the datasets and have frequently been debunked by Reuters, AP and fact-checkers [9] [8] [5].
If you want, I can compile the specific incidents that have been cited online and show which were confirmed, debunked, or left unverified by law enforcement and major trackers.