CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Makeshift memorials like the ones on the University of Virginia grounds are commonplace after mass shootings in America.
The UVA shooting is now the 599th mass shooting this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
It defines a mass shooting as "four or more people shot and/or killed in a single event [incident], at the same general time and location, not including the shooter."
As of November 15, we counted 18 mass shootings this year in Virginia, with 95 victims in total.
Four of those shootings happened in Norfolk, which is more than any other Virginia city:
- On March 19, five people were shot outside Chicho's Backstage in downtown Norfolk. Three of the victims died.
- On August 5, four people were shot outside Legacy Lounge on East Plume Street in downtown Norfolk. All four victims survived.
- Two weeks later, on August 18, five people were shot at an apartment on Fenner Street. Three of the victims died.
- And on September 4, Labor Day weekend, seven people were shot during a college house party on Killam Avenue. Two of the victims died.
Nationwide, mass shootings have soared in recent years. Before 2020, there were fewer than 400 most years. Now, approaching 600, the nation averages almost two a day.
Hardly any major city is immune.
There were mass shootings in recent years in Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
In Charlottesville, the makeshift memorial grows, as the number of mass shootings in America does as well.