A school shooting in Iowa on Thursday, in which multiple victims were reportedly killed or injured, became the fourth mass shooting of the year, just four days into 2024.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, which compiles mass shooting data, the incident at Perry High School came after three reported mass shootings on Jan. 1.
A mass shooting is defined by the Gun Violence Archive as one in which four or more people are injured or killed by gunfire.
The first of 2024 occurred in Los Angeles, where two people were killed and eight injured at a New Year's Eve party downtown. Some of those injured were found lying on the sidewalk or in the street when cops arrived.
Four teenagers were also shot on Jan. 1 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with one of the victims - a high school freshman - dying from his injuries. Cops said they did not know the motive and the search for a suspect was underway.
Another four people were shot in Springfield, Missouri in the early hours of New Year's Day. When officers arrived at the scene, they found two victims, with the other two arriving at the hospital later in the day.
Data from the Gun Violence Archive also showed nine children had been injured by guns so far this year, with four killed.
By this same day last year — Jan. 4, 2023 — there had been 11 mass shootings, the archive said, including seven killed in Cedar City, Utah that day.
In total, there were 42,959 reported gun-related deaths across the United States, with over 36,000 injuries. The GVA said there were 656 mass shootings.