Female Mass Shooters Are Very Rare

The suspect in yesterdays shooting at the YouTube headquarters in California is 39 year old Nasim Najafi Aghdam. The attack left three people injured, one critically, and Aghdam dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. While details are still emerging about the incident and the potential motives, one aspect of the shooting is getting particular attention - Aghdam was a woman.

Indeed, when looking at figures collated by Mother Jones, a female attacker in a mass shooting in the U.S. is very uncommon. Of the 97 incidents recorded by the source from 1982 to February 2018, only 3 involved a woman pulling the trigger. In the case of the San Bernardino shooting in 2015, both a man and a woman opened fire, killing 14 and injuring more than 20.

It is important to note in the collation of the list, Mother Jones defined a mass shooting as "indiscriminate rampages in public places resulting in four or more victims killed by the attacker." So far at least, yesterday's shooting would not fit this criteria.