THE bloodshed witnessed in Boulder this week was not the first mass shooting to shatter the peace in the picturesque state of Colorado.
Once known for its rugged mountains and outdoor lifestyle, it is now haunted by atrocities which have helped define the US’s decades-long struggle with gun violence.
In the seven mass shootings – defined as incidents in which four or more people were killed or wounded in a public space – 47 people have died and 117 have been injured.
The gunmen are not included in the shocking death toll – which dates back to 1993.
The day after Monday’s massacre, many were wrestling with that bloody history wondering why the place the call home now seems to have become a magnet for such attacks.
Colorado isn’t the state with the most mass shootings and actually ranks eighth across the country.
However, it is in the same tier as far larger states like California and Florida, according to Jillian Peterson, a criminology professor at Hamline University in Minnesota.
And it is now indelibly associated with some of the most high-profile mass shootings in US history.
The massacre at Columbine High School is now viewed as the bloody beginning of a modern era of mass violence.
And the later Aurora shooting brought that terror from schools to the seemingly safe space of the movie theater.
Prof. Peterson, who has written about mass shootings as a viral phenomenon where one gunman is inspired by other attacks, says the Columbine attack may be one reason Colorado has suffered so much.
Two student gunmen killed 13 and created the script that many other mass shooters seek to emulate, she said.
“Columbine was the real turning point in this country, so it makes sense that, in Columbine’s backyard, you’d see more of them,” Peterson added.
Here are some of the shootings which have rocked The Centennial State:
Dec. 14, 1993. Four workers at a Chuck E. Cheese in Aurora were killed and another was injured when a gunman opened fire to “get even” for being canned from his job. Three of the victims were teens. The shooter was initially sentenced to death but then life without parole when Colorado abolished the death penalty.
April 20, 1999. Two students – Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold – stormed into Columbine High School in Littleton, fatally shooting a teacher and 12 fellow students before turning their guns on themselves. A total of 21 people were also seriously wounded in a crime which shocked America and sparked calls for changes to gun laws.
July 3, 2001. A 42-year-old gunman with a history of schizophrenia opened fire at an RV park and a grocery store frequented by Mexican immigrants in Rifle killing four people and injuring three. He was later found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a state mental hospital.
Dec 9, 2007. A gunman killed four people and injured five others in two separate shootings. He first opened fire at Youth with a Mission, a Christian training center in Arvada then at the New Life Church, a Colorado Springs megachurch, killing two teens before being shot by a security guard. He then killed himself.
July 20, 2012. A gunman walked into a crowded movie theater in Aurora during a late night screening of a Batman film. He then threw tear gas grenades and opened fired on the audience leaving 12 dead and 58 injured. More were injured in the panic to flee the scene. The shooter- James Eagan Holmes – was arrested at the scene.
October 12, 2015. A man carrying a semi-automatic rifle targets and kills three people seemingly at random on a residential street near downtown Colorado Springs before he is confronted and shot dead by police officers.
Nov. 27, 2015. A gunman enters a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs and opens fire with an assault rifle, killing two civilians and a cop. Nine others are wounded during a five-hour siege before the gunman Robert Lewis Dear Jr finally surrenders. He was later deemed incompetent to stand trial and indefinitely confined to a state mental hospital.
Dec 31, 2017: A man who barricaded himself in an apartment in Highlands Ranch engages in a gun battle with cops called to reports of a disturbance. One officer is killed and four are wounded before the police kill the gunman. Two passersby are also injured in the mayhem.
May 7, 2019. Two students enter a school in Highlands Ranch, a Denver suburb near Littleton, and open fire on fellow students. One student who heroically tackles one of the gunmen is fatally shot, and eight others are wounded by gunfire. The two assailants are later captured by cops.
March 22, 2021. A gunman began shooting outside a Boulder King Soopers grocery store before entering the store and continuing his attack. In the wake of the attack 10 were left dead. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa has been charged with multiple counts of murder.
In 2021, there have been approximately 107 mass shootings in the US so far.
Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group that tracks shootings and their characteristics, defines a mass shooting as an incident in which “four or more people, excluding the perpetrator, are shot in one location at roughly the same time.”
The Congressional Research Service, The Washington Post and Mother Jones magazine all use similar definitions, with the latter acknowledging that their definition “is a conservative measure of the problem,”
As of March 23, 2021, 107 mass shootings fit this criteria, leaving 122 people dead and 325 injured, for a total of 447 total victims.
