Wilmington added to list of mass shootings

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington has taken much pride in recent years for getting national recognition, but after Sunday it landed on a list no community wants to be on.

The Port City is the latest addition to the 2015 Mass Shootings list maintained by the Gun Violence Archive and ShootingTracker.com after a 16-year-old boy was killed and four other teens injured in a drive-by shooting on Castle Street.

The two sites say they have “a singular mission of providing unbiased, raw statistics, all with verified sourcing to inform society of the number of Mass Shootings that occur in the United States each year, no matter the cause or intent of the toll of victims.”

According to the Gun Violence Archive as of this morning there have been 321 mass shootings in the United States this year. The site defines a mass shooting as “FOUR or more shot and/or killed in a single event [incident], at the same general time and location not including the shooter.”

Federal law defines a mass killing as at least three people killed in one incident. A FBI report on active shooters uses the term mass shooting, as well, but a FBI spokeswoman says the study, begun in early 2014, “identified 160 events that fit our criteria – individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in populated areas (excluding shootings related to gang or drug violence).” Wilmington Police said they believe Sunday’s shooting is gang related and that it was related to several other shootings in the city the same day.

The 2015 Mass Shootings list shows the Wilmington shooting is the tenth reported and verified across the country since 16 people were killed and 21 more injured in San Bernardino, CA, Dec. 2. It is the 12th mass shooting listed in North Carolina this year.