Shortly before noon on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, an armed 18-year old walked into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and opened fire. By the time the gunman was fatally shot by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent, 21 victims, including 19 children, were killed or fatally wounded. 

The incident is the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School nearly 10 years ago, and one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. 

Mass shootings – defined as shooting events in which four or more people are shot or killed, not including the perpetrator – are on the rise in the United States. According to Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization that tracks gun violence in the United States, the number of mass shootings annually has more than doubled since 2018, when there were 336 incidents. In 2021, there were 693 mass shootings – incidents that contributed to a historic surge in homicide cases. (Here is a look at the states where murder rate is soaring. )

Since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, there have been 22 mass shootings that have resulted in 10 or more deaths – and the Uvalde, Texas, shooting is the latest. Not 10 days earlier, a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, resulted in 10 deaths.

Using the GVA database as well as local media reports, 24/7 Wall St. identified the deadliest mass shootings since Columbine. 

Though the time period in question spans over two decades, half of the shootings on this list have taken place in the last five years. The surge in active shooter incidents has come as gun sales surged in the U.S. Though so far this year, gun sales appear to be falling from the historic highs reported in 2021. Here is a look at gun sale figures by state. 

Click here for the deadliest mass shootings since the Columbine massacre