Police Shootings Database 2015-2020 - Washington Post PDF

6/14/2020 Police shootings database 2015-2020 - Washington Post
The Washington Post
Fatal Force
Marvin Green, 50
1,033 people have been shot and killed by

police in the past year
Updated June 13, 2020
Read about our methodology  Download the data  Submit a tip 
In 2015, The Washington Post began to log every fatal shooting by an on-duty police officer in the United States. In that
time there have been more than 5,000 such shootings recorded by The Post.
Support journalism you can trust when it matters most. Get one year for $29
Jump to the database
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/ 1/25
After Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, was killed in 2014 by police in Ferguson, Mo., a Post investigation found
that the FBI undercounted fatal police shootings by more 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 police reports. Analysis of more than five
years of data reveals that the number and circumstances of fatal shootings and the overall demographics of the victims
have remained relatively constant.
Rate of shootings remains steady

Despite the unpredictable events that lead to fatal shootings, police nationwide have shot and killed almost the same
number of people annually — nearly 1,000 — since The Post 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 fundamental shift in police culture or extreme restrictions on gun ownership.
1,000 total shootings 2019

1,003
800
600
2020
472
400
200
0
Jan. April July Oct. Dec.
Black Americans are killed at a much higher rate than white Americans
Although half of the people shot and killed by police are white, black Americans are shot at a disproportionate rate.
They account for less than 13 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 police at a disproportionate rate.
Black
31 per
million
The rate at which black Americans are
killed by police is more than twice as high
Hispanic as the rate for white Americans.
23 per
million
Higher rate of police killings ⟶
1,295 White
killed 13 per
(total) million
900
killed
Other
2,471 4 per
killed million
219
killed
42M 39M 197M 49M
U.S. population
Shootings happen across the country

Police shootings have taken place in every state and have occurred more frequently in cities where populations are
concentrated. States with the highest rates of shootings are New Mexico, Alaska and Oklahoma.
Each circle on the map below marks the location of a deadly shooting.
Shootings per million people
0 53
WA
ME
MT ND
OR MN VT NH
ID
SD WI MI NY MA
RI
WY CT
IA PA NJ
NE
NV OH
MD DE
UT IL IN
CA CO WV
KS VA
MO
KY
NC
TN
OK
AZ
NM AR SC
AL GA
MS
TX
LA
FL
AK
HI
There are 256 shootings with unverified locations that are not shown on the map.
Search the database

This database contains records of every fatal shooting in the United States by a police 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.
 State  Gender  Race  Age  Mental illness  Weapon
 Body camera  Fleeing the scene  Year  Search by name
5,408 people shot and killed by police
Rayshard Brooks, Mich

a 27-year-old black man, was shot on June 12, 2020, in a parking lot in Atlanta, Ga. a 62-y
 No/unknown mental illness No body cam recording Fleeing by foot
 No/un
Sources: ajc.com  • Atlanta INtown Paper  • ajc  Source
1 of 5,408
The Post's reporting on fatal police shootings
Months after a fatal police shooting, a young officer turns his gun on himself
Dec. 19, 2018
Fatal police shootings of unarmed people have significantly declined, experts say
May 7, 2018
Nationwide, police shot and killed nearly 1,000 people in 2017 Jan. 6, 2018
In two years, police killed 86 people brandishing guns that look real — but
aren’t Dec. 18, 2016
In fatal shootings by police, 1 in 5 officers’ names go undisclosed April 1, 2016
About this story

The Washington Post's database contains records of every fatal shooting in the United States
by a police officer in the line of duty since Jan. 1, 2015.
In 2015, The Post 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 — by culling local news reports,
law enforcement websites and social media, and by monitoring independent databases such
as Killed by Police and Fatal Encounters. The Post conducted additional reporting in many
cases.
The Post is documenting only those shootings in which a police officer, in the line of duty,
shoots and kills a civilian — the circumstances that most closely parallel the 2014 killing of
Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., which began the protest movement culminating in Black
Lives Matter and an increased focus on police accountability nationwide. The Post is not
tracking deaths of people in police custody, fatal shootings by off-duty officers or non-shooting
deaths.
The FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention log fatal shootings by police, but
officials acknowledge that their data is incomplete. Since 2015, The Post has documented
more 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 emerge
about individual cases. The Post seeks to make the database as comprehensive as possible.
To provide information about fatal police shootings since Jan. 1, 2015, send us an email at
policeshootingsfeedback@washpost.com.
Credits
Research and Reporting: Julie Tate, Jennifer Jenkins and Steven Rich
Design and development by John Muyskens and Joe Fox.
Edited by David Fallis and Danielle Rindler.
     40 Comments
More stories
Analysis | More than 236,000 students have experienced

gun violence at school since Columbine
The Washington Post spent months determining how many children have been exposed to gun
violence during school hours since the Columbine High massacre in 1999.
More and deadlier: Mass shooting trends in America
Four or more people have been killed in a mass shooting every 47 days, on average, since June
17, 2015 when a young white supremacist killed nine people at a historic African American
church in Charleston, S.C. This weekend, the 30th and 31st such shootings since then took
place just 13 hours apart.
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All Comments (40) Viewing Options
GoldilocksEconomy 4 months ago (Edited)
And note WaPo, it's not about the general population, it's about the population confronted by the police for a violent
crime..
And secondly it's about black men being shot at higher rate... Black women are much much less likely to be shot than
white men.. For the same reason black men are shot more often. .Men are more violent than women.
Like  5 Link  Report 
GoldilocksEconomy 4 months ago
Great work WaPo... Don't know if any towns are using this data to improve relations, but you are the only source for
reliable police shooting data.. The government precincts do not cooperate
AverageCitizenOfMD 4 months ago
At least WaPo has included this seemingly slanted investigation in the "Investigations" section.
The most recent story about the investigation of wrongdoing by the Harvard chemistry department chairman was
buried in the "Health" section
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/1m-bond-set-for-professor-accused-of-hiding-ties-to-
china/2020/01/30/24f26af6-43a8-11ea-99c7-1dfd4241a2fe_story.html
Blacks seem have an underrepresented or nonexistent presence in Lieber's research group.

http://cml.harvard.edu/people
....
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Charlesfromnyc 4 months ago
To be fair about this, the charge here that blacks make up 13% of the population and are killed by police at twice the
rate as whites.
Well, yes blacks make up 13% population but commit over 50% 0f national homicides. In NYC,it is over 90%. In
addition, virtually all the shootings by police occur in the commission of a crime..........the police were summoned to a
scene and things ent bad
scene and things went bad.
Not saying that there are not legitimate cases of police killing an innocent person, there are but the reality is blacks
are killing each other with gun violence at alarming rates in places like New Orleans, St. Louis, Detroit,
Camden, NJ and more.
BagmanATL 4 months ago
Considering that only 24% of those shot are black and blacks are responsible for well over 50% of violent crimes, I'd
say they are well underrepresented in police deaths.
B-flat 4 months ago
Unless such statistics are broken down, such as "justification -- yes/no/unclear", what are we to make of the
numbers? My guess, as good as yours, is that most were justified -- e.g., the suspect was threatening with a
knife/gun/weapon/suicide by cop, some are murder, such as the killing of Walter Scott in cold blood
(https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=walter+scott+shooting), and others that are tragic mistaken
shootings by the police. There are cases every year of some cop firing for no good reason, and these people should be
barred from law enforcement at least.
Here are a dozens of examples of cops shooting people on Live PD (a TV show where cameramen are imbedded with
cops):
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=police+shooting+on+live+pd
Stan Gomez 4 months ago
Black Americans interact with police more often than whites simply because they are more involved in violent crime
than their percentage of the population would indicate. Let's not portray this as some kind of targeted racism.
In a report by the DC Metropolitan Police* entitled Murder Analysis, a Study of Homicides in the District of Columbia. it
was found that "Of the 367 suspects arrested for homicide, 345 (94 percent) were African-American".
*https://mpdc.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/mpdc/publication/attachments/homicidereport_0.pdf. (see p. 12)
Liberals hate those facts. The Wa PO editors even allowed it to be printed in this article-"Although half of the people
shot and killed by police are white, black Americans are shot at a disproportionate rate. They account for less than
13 percent of the U.S. population, but are killed by police at more than twice the rate of white Americans." Purely
misleading when you see accounts for more than half of all violent crime. Irresponsible journalism.
David Edwin Smith 4 months ago
I am not sure why people are surprised that Blacks are fatally shot by police at a disproportionately higher rate. They
are also disproportionately represented in EVERY criminal category except DUIs. For example, they are 13% of the US
population but per the crime data they routinely commit 50% of the murders in America EVERY year. It’s an easily
verifiable decades long trend. So, I’m not personally surprised — and nether should you be — that Blacks have more
criminal encounters with law enforcement and are fatally shot at a disproportionate rate.
VAMBG 4 months ago
First, thank you WaPo for doing this and reporting in a way that keeps data and conjecture separate. The facts are
what the facts are. Theories on why this is happening, well I have my own and assume there are thousands of
others.
There is an old saying that "data begets a need for more data" and that seems to hold true here. I have to wonder
about correlation to other data, such as line of duty shootings of police officers and the type of training officers
receive. Personally, I worry about the stress officers are put under and suspect that increased stress has more to do
with police shootings than any other factor. For those who have served in the military, you appreciate the incredible
amount of training intended to assure a known behavior when placed in high stress situations. I assume the same
should hold true for police officers.
lost field notes 4 months ago
It's like a self fulfilling prophecy. Black crime and violence sky rockets compared to other racial groups, police
response sky rockets. Almost a which came first the chicken or the egg situation.
How do you solve such a large problem involving so many people?
Incarcerate them and stop letting them out.

AvianDonn 4 months ago
Remember before Michael Brown how the kill rate by police was always believed to be two, maybe three, hundred
people a year. Thank god the media finally caught on that the 'official' numbers were flawed.
Average every day common sense Joe 4 months ago
Saying some group is disproportionately killed ignores whether the shootings are justified. Some groups may commit
more crimes/violence.
AvianDonn 4 months ago (Edited)
Yeah, that's the go-to excuse of people who want to let police off the hook - some groups are just full of criminals.
So here's the fact - even when variables are accounted for, some groups are killed disproportionately more often
than other groups. And when some groups are disproportionately arrested and convicted it also creates a nice
little faux wrap sheet that naive people take at face value.
And a lot people, perhaps including, you also tend to be very lenient in deciding that shootings are justified.
Average every day common sense Joe 4 months ago
Then why as Asians shot so much less? Because police aren't racist against them?
lost field notes 4 months ago
The linked article does mention that blacks commit a large proportion of violent crimes. It's uncomfortable
statistic that probably needs to be solved as well. How though, I have no idea.
David Edwin Smith 4 months ago
The crime data speaks for itself....

jgury 4 months ago (Edited)
"They account for less than 13 percent of the U.S. population, but are killed by police at more than twice the rate of
white Americans."
How about percentage of population has absolutely nothing to do with the rate of being shot by police or anyone else.
As meaningless as saying Asians account for less than 6% of the US population but are fatally shot at less than 0.1X
the rate of whites. I find it difficult to grasp the kind of basic innumeracy that comes up with this kind of statement.
Nonsense. The article is simply stating a fact - that the number of minorities killed by police is disproportionate to
the percentage of the population.
jgury 4 months ago

No, they don't say "the number" they say the rate. And the reason you calculate a rate is to make comparisons
that are independent of those numbers. Eg a per capita rate. If you think that scales with population numbers
then I really can't offer any more clarity.
sshill411 4 months ago
And you're ignoring the "fact" that blacks commit a disproportionate amount of crime both violent and
nonviolent which leads to a disproportionate amount of interaction with the police.
srenihwon 4 months ago
Criminals are victims! Police are predators! Up is down and down is up!
One has to wonder: what is the *real* goal of those trying to chip away at all of our institutions?
DaveNM 4 months ago
Albuquerque, NM is under monitoring by the US DOJ. As such, body cams are required, and many of the "no body
camera" listings in your database for the city have, in fact, had body cam footage (if they involved APD, not state police
or sheriff's deputies).
RLRLRLRL 4 months ago Off-topic
Thank o for the stats Tomorro ill o print a piece on ho

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/
(man man more) people ha e been killed b their 17/25
Thank you for the stats. Tomorrow will you print a piece on how (many, many, more) people have been killed by their
fellow citizens? Next day, how many cops have been killed, shot or put themselves in harm's way? The next day how
many cops have saved other people's lives or arrested dangerous people and taken them off the streets? Or how
many of the cop killings were legitimate? Or the legitimate studies showing the TRUE AND FACTUAL reasons behind
most cop killings, not just the one-sided versions we read in the paper?
I know no one cares about facts or reason but it seems fair to give the whole picture, doesn't it? Or do people fear
hearing the facts?
Given their job, the number of police killed each year is miniscule. In fact, the chance of a police officer being shot
is generally less than that of most citizens. It's a pretty damn safe job. It's usually around 60 or 70, with
approximately 800,000 to 900,000 people involved in law enforcement. Interestingly, is less than the murder rate
than cops faced in the 1960's.
And of course, the number of people murdered by other people is reported frequently. The last year data was
available was, I believe, 2018 and a little over 16,000 people were murdered.
But this article is about fatal shootings by police.

sshill411 4 months ago
Boy you have a real hatred of police. That is clear.

marjorie 4 months ago (Edited) Off-topic
Who decides what I can add to my reading list and what I cannot? I would have liked to add this so that I may use it for
reference in the future. I saw no link to allow me to do this.
marjorie 4 months ago
Why is no one talking about the cause? Lawyers are quick to say, "but for the actions of your client, we wouldn't be
here". A Post article says, Police “are used to giving commands and people obeying,” said Philip M. Stinson, a
professor at Bowling Green State University. “They don’t like it when people don’t listen to them, and things can
quickly become violent when people don’t follow their orders.” The same is true of relation between parents and
children, teachers and students, even bosses and employees. The point is, why are not parents, teachers, pastors, or
counselors saying, "You don't argue with a man who has a gun, no matter who is right and who is wrong." You
can always argue later because you know you will be alive. In the time frame of this article I have only heard one police
official make this type of statement and it was very soft pedaled and vague.
If they said it boldly, they would be accused of taking the police's side. No they wouldn't because they don't want that
policeman having to make that type of decision
Giveittomestraight 4 months ago
The media needs to get some perspective. Last year in St. Louis City alone, there were there were a 194 homicides,
and so far this year more than 11. Our city prosecutor has brought criminal charges in only about 23% of the criminal
cases brought to her (the norm is above 80%) and is at war with our police department. Our problem is criminals and
crime, not police officers. But of course focusing on criminals and crime makes it harder to make excuses.
mikeo 4 months ago
I agree part of the problem is criminals and crime. Part too is police officers firing at fleeing suspects. Persons
fleeing a traffic stop do not deserve a bullet from the police. Over 4,900 of these deaths were suspects fleeing "the
scene." I know this takes in a lot of territory, but come on. Unless the person running away is firing over their
shoulder, or a known dangerous felon does running away really require deadly force? "Stop or I'll shoot" is poor
policing.
Much of this annual carnage stems from police being taught to take command of the scene and subdue the
suspect. Sometimes this is appropriate, sometimes not and judgement matters. I would like to see a graph
plotting the correlation between fatal shoots and the training hours of the police involved. I suspect better trained
officers are involved in fewer shootings.
Being obnoxious (as I suspect some of these arrestees are) is not grounds for the death penalty, nor is running
away.
Giveittomestraight 4 months ago (Edited)
We meet on a monthly basis with our community police to talk about crime and other matters. The boldness of
criminals in the city of St. Louis is breathtaking, last week we had three juveniles commit three armed
hijackings, and shoot at someone while driving the wrong direction down a street, all in a matter of just a few
minutes. These thugs are killing each other and innocent people because they are reckless and don't care.
In St. louis, police are not allowed to chase a criminal unless someone's life is in danger and the criminals
know this and simply just take off, The result is only the most violent and blatant criminal activity results in a
police chase through the media will never tell you this. The media is never at our meetings, maybe they should
be.
Watzmann 4 months ago (Edited)
Just for comparison, a country with a population of 83 million, gun control (less guns on the streets), several years of
police training and mandatory two-man teams when on patrol. In Germany, police officers fired at people 56 times in
2018. 11 were killed, another 34 were injured. According to the database the deaths were all attributed to situations of
self-defence or emergency assistance: Officers used their firearms to protect themselves or to help others in danger of
their lives.
Sure, it's a complex issue and can't be compared 100% but still worth thinking about.
View More Comments
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6/14/2020 Police shootings database 2015-2020 - Washington Post

The Washington Post

1,033 people have been shot and killed by

Read about our methodology  Download the data  Submit a tip 

Rate of shootings remains steady

1,000 total shootings 2019

Shootings happen across the country

Shootings per million people

Search the database

 State  Gender  Race  Age  Mental illness  Weapon

 Body camera  Fleeing the scene  Year  Search by name

5,408 people shot and killed by police

Rayshard Brooks, Mich

Sources: ajc.com  • Atlanta INtown Paper  • ajc  Source

The Post's reporting on fatal police shootings

In fatal shootings by police, 1 in 5 officers’ names go undisclosed April 1, 2016

About this story

Edited by David Fallis and Danielle Rindler.

Analysis | More than 236,000 students have experienced

More and deadlier: Mass shooting trends in America

Comments are now closed

All Comments (40) Viewing Options

GoldilocksEconomy 4 months ago (Edited)

GoldilocksEconomy 4 months ago

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AverageCitizenOfMD 4 months ago

Blacks seem have an underrepresented or nonexistent presence in Lieber's research group.

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Charlesfromnyc 4 months ago

BagmanATL 4 months ago

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B-ﬂat 4 months ago

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Stan Gomez 4 months ago

*https://mpdc.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/mpdc/publication/attachments/homicidereport_0.pdf. (see p. 12)

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BagmanATL 4 months ago

David Edwin Smith 4 months ago

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VAMBG 4 months ago

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lost ﬁeld notes 4 months ago

How do you solve such a large problem involving so many people?

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BagmanATL 4 months ago

Incarcerate them and stop letting them out.

AvianDonn 4 months ago

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Average every day common sense Joe 4 months ago

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AvianDonn 4 months ago (Edited)

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Average every day common sense Joe 4 months ago

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lost ﬁeld notes 4 months ago

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David Edwin Smith 4 months ago

The crime data speaks for itself....

jgury 4 months ago (Edited)

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AvianDonn 4 months ago

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