In 2015, The Washington Post began to log every fatal shooting by an on-duty law officeholder in the United States. In that time there have been more than 5,000 such shootings recorded by The Post.

After Michael Brown, an unarmed Black homo, was killed in 2022 by law in Ferguson, Mo., a Post investigation found that the FBI undercounted fatal police shootings by more than than half. This is because reporting by police departments is voluntary and many departments fail to do so.

The Post's data relies primarily on news accounts, social media postings and constabulary reports. Analysis of more than than v years of information reveals that the number and circumstances of fatal shootings and the overall demographics of the victims have remained relatively abiding.

Rate of shootings remains steady

Despite the unpredictable events that lead to fatal shootings, police nationwide have shot and killed well-nigh the aforementioned number of people annually — nearly 1,000 — since The Mail service began its project. Probability theory may offer an explanation. It holds that the quantity of rare events in huge populations tends to remain stable absent major societal changes, such as a central shift in police culture or extreme restrictions on gun ownership.

Blackness Americans are killed at a much higher rate than White Americans

Although half of the people shot and killed past police are White, Black Americans are shot at a disproportionate rate. They account for less than thirteen percent of the U.S. population, but are killed by police at more than twice the rate of White Americans. Hispanic Americans are also killed by law at a disproportionate rate.

The rate at which black Americans are killed by police force is more than twice every bit high as the charge per unit for white Americans.

Most victims are immature, male

An overwhelming majority of people shot and killed past law are male — over 95 percent. More than half the victims are between 20 and 40 years onetime.

Shootings happen across the state

Police shootings take taken identify in every state and have occurred more oft in cities where populations are concentrated. States with the highest rates of shootings are New Mexico, Alaska and Oklahoma.

Each circumvolve on the map below marks the location of a deadly shooting.

Shootings per meg people

At that place are shootings with unverified locations that are not shown on the map.

Search the database

This database contains records of every fatal shooting in the U.s. by a law officer in the line of duty since Jan. 1, 2015. It is updated regularly as fatal shootings are reported and as facts emerge about individual cases.

Note: When filtering by weapon, victims armed with multiple weapons will appear in multiple categories.

The Mail service's reporting on fatal police shootings

Months subsequently a fatal police shooting, a young officer turns his gun on himself December. 19, 2018 Fatal police shootings of unarmed people accept significantly declined, experts say May 7, 2018 Nationwide, police shot and killed nearly ane,000 people in 2017 Jan. vi, 2018 In two years, police killed 86 people brandishing guns that await real — but aren'tDecember. 18, 2016 In fatal shootings by police, 1 in 5 officers' names become undisclosed Apr i, 2016

About this story

The Washington Post's database contains records of every fatal shooting in the United States by a law officer in the line of duty since January. ane, 2015.

In 2015, The Mail service began tracking more than a dozen details about each killing — including the race of the deceased, the circumstances of the shooting, whether the person was armed and whether the person was experiencing a mental-health crisis — past culling local news reports, constabulary enforcement websites and social media, and by monitoring independent databases such equally Killed by Police force and Fatal Encounters. The Mail conducted boosted reporting in many cases.

The Post is documenting merely those shootings in which a police officer, in the line of duty, shoots and kills a civilian — the circumstances that virtually closely parallel the 2022 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., which began the protest motility culminating in Black Lives Matter and an increased focus on constabulary accountability nationwide. The Post is not tracking deaths of people in police force custody, fatal shootings by off-duty officers or non-shooting deaths.

The FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention log fatal shootings past police force, merely officials acknowledge that their data is incomplete. Since 2015, The Mail service has documented more than than twice as many fatal shootings by police as recorded on average annually.

The Post's database is updated regularly as fatal shootings are reported and as facts sally well-nigh individual cases. The Post seeks to brand the database as comprehensive as possible. To provide information nearly fatal police force shootings since Jan. one, 2015, send the states an electronic mail at policeshootingsfeedback@washpost.com.

There may exist a lag between the date of the shooting and its inclusion in the database because of delays in reporting and information verification.

Credits

Research and Reporting: Julie Tate, Jennifer Jenkins and Steven Rich

Design and development by John Muyskens and Joe Play tricks.

Edited past David Fallis and Danielle Rindler.

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