Boulder grocery store rampage follows spike in mass shootings during 2020

The mass killings that left eight dead in Georgia last week and 10 dead at a Colorado grocery store on Monday have drawn greater scrutiny to a problem that has been boiling over throughout the past year.

Mass shootings – incidents that injure or kill more than four people, not including the perpetrator – rose nearly 50% in 2020 amid the pandemic that left millions unemployed and millions more teenagers idle.

USA TODAY analysis of Gun Violence Archive statistics show mass shootings rose from 417 in 2019 to 611 in 2020, including 95 incidents in June 2020 alone.

While incidents are down from the height of the COVID-19 shutdowns, the 103 incidents in 2021, as of March 22, are 53% higher than the 1st-quarter average of the past four years.