The numbers are never just numbers. When we talk about how many people died in school shootings per year, we’re digging into a dataset that feels heavy, even through a computer screen. Honestly, it’s a weirdly controversial topic for something that seems like it should be straightforward. You’d think we could just count the bodies and call it a day, but that’s not how the tracking works.
Different groups—the FBI, Everytown, Education Week—all use different yardsticks. It's confusing. Basically, if a gun goes off in a parking lot at 2:00 AM on a Saturday, some databases count it. Others only care if a student was actually in class. Because of this, the "total" fluctuates depending on who you’re asking.
The Current State of the Data (2025)
We just wrapped up 2025, and there is some unexpectedly positive news in the data, though "positive" is a relative term in this context. According to Education Week's tracker, seven people died in school shootings in 2025.
Seven.
That’s a massive drop from the 18 deaths we saw in 2024. If you go back to 2022, the number was 40. We are seeing a genuine downward trend in fatalities, even if the news cycle makes it feel like things are constantly spiraling.
The year 2025 saw 18 school shootings that resulted in injuries or deaths. To put that in perspective, 2024 had 39. We’ve basically cut the frequency in half in a single year. Why? Some experts, like Ken Trump from the National School Safety and Security Services, suggest it might be part of a broader dip in certain types of violent crime nationwide. Or maybe the "hardening" of schools is finally having an impact.
Breaking Down the Yearly Toll
If you want to understand the trajectory, you have to look at the peaks. 2023 was a record-breaking year for the sheer number of incidents—352 separate times a gun was fired or brandished on K-12 property.
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But incidents don't always equal deaths.
- 2025: 7 deaths
- 2024: 18 deaths (including the tragic Apalachee High School shooting in Georgia)
- 2023: 21 deaths
- 2022: 40 deaths (Uvalde alone accounted for 21 of these)
- 2021: 15 deaths
The math is grim. Since the Parkland shooting in 2018, over 150 people have been killed in American K-12 schools. That’s a small town's worth of students and teachers gone.
The Definition Gap
This is where it gets kinda messy. The K-12 School Shooting Database (maintained by David Riedman) records any instance of a gun being fired on campus. This includes suicides, accidental discharges, and late-night gang activity that happens to spill onto a playground.
The FBI’s "Active Shooter" reports are much narrower. They only look at people actively trying to kill others in a populated area. In 2024, the FBI only designated 4 incidents as active shooters in educational settings.
You see the gap?
One database says 330 shootings happened in 2024; another says 4. Both are "factually correct" within their own definitions. If you're trying to figure out how many people died in school shootings per year to win an argument or write a paper, you have to specify which "school shooting" you mean. Are we talking about massacres, or are we talking about the kid who accidentally shot himself in the leg with a gun he found in his backpack?
The Exposure Factor
Numbers don't capture the "exposure" rate. Even when nobody dies, the impact is massive. KFF research shows that between 2020 and 2024, the average yearly rate of student exposure to a school shooting was 51 per 100,000 students.
Back in the early 2000s, it was 19.
It’s a threefold increase in kids just being there when a gun goes off. Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research found that these kids are 12% more likely to miss classes and 27% more likely to struggle with chronic absenteeism. They also lose about $100,000 in lifetime earnings because of the trauma-induced dip in their academic performance.
That’s a hidden death of sorts—the death of potential.
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What Changed in 2025?
The "big one" in 2025 happened in August at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. Two people died. Twenty-one were injured. It was the deadliest event of the year, but it didn't reach the horrific scale of Uvalde or Sandy Hook.
One thing we're seeing more of is "escalated fights." This isn't the stereotypical loner in a trench coat. It's two kids getting into a beef in the cafeteria, and one of them happens to have a gun. According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, most on-campus shootings now happen during dismissal or at sporting events.
The geography is shifting, too. While Texas and California often lead in total numbers (because they're huge), states like Delaware and Utah have seen surprising spikes in "exposure" rates recently.
Actionable Steps for School Safety
If you're a parent or an educator, the data can feel paralyzing. But the shift in 2025 suggests that localized prevention is working. Here is what's actually moving the needle:
- Focus on Dismissal and Sports: Since many shootings happen during these "unstructured" times, schools are moving more staff to parking lots and gyms during the 2:30 PM rush.
- Anonymous Reporting: Programs like "Say Something" (from Sandy Hook Promise) have actually stopped dozens of planned attacks before they started. Most shooters tell someone—usually a peer—what they're planning.
- Moving Past "Hardening": Metal detectors are okay, but they don't stop a kid who brings a gun to a football game. The real "safety" is coming from behavioral intervention and "assess then react" protocols.
- Standardizing the Data: We need a federal standard for what a "school shooting" actually is. Until we have that, we're comparing apples to oranges every time a new report comes out.
The trend for 2026 looks hopeful, but it’s a fragile hope. Seven deaths in 2025 is a tragedy, but compared to the 40 deaths of 2022, it's a sign that something in the system might finally be clicking. We just have to keep the pressure on the data to make sure it stays that way.
Next Steps for Stakeholders
Check your local district's "Threat Assessment" protocol. Every school should have a multidisciplinary team (counselors, police, and admins) that reviews "red flag" behaviors. If your school only has a fence and a camera, they’re missing the most important part of the equation: the human one.
Audit the "unstructured" times. Ask your principal what the security plan is for the 15 minutes after the final bell rings. That is where the data says the highest risk currently lives.
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Finally, keep an eye on the K-12 School Shooting Database for real-time updates as we move through 2026. The stats change weekly, and staying informed is the only way to avoid being blindsided by the next headline.