12 Mass Shootings in Texas Since 2009, Nine Involving Domestic Violence
HOUSTON, TEXAS — The Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today released the following statement in response to a reported mass shooting that took place in a Houston home in which the shooter, 48, allegedly bound, shot and killed eight people, including his former domestic partner, Valerie Jackson, Wayne Jackson, and six children in their home. The children included Jonah Jackson, 6, Trinity Jackson, 7, Caleb Jackson, 9, Dwayne Jackson Jr., 10, Honesty Jackson, 11, and Nathaniel Conley, 13. Nathaniel was Conley’s son with Valerie Jackson, and the five others were Valerie and Wayne Jackson’s children.
This incident is one of at least 135 mass shootings that have occurred in America since 2009. A previously released report from Everytown for Gun Safety provides a comprehensive analysis of incidents in which four or more people were murdered with a gun, a widely used definition of mass shootings from the FBI.
Harris County court records revealed that the shooter had a criminal history that prohibited him from possessing firearms, and an extensive history of domestic violence. In addition to a felony drug conviction, the shooter was convicted in 2013 of assault against a family member, and at the time of the shooting he was facing charges for an additional act of domestic violence against Ms. Jackson. Details are still unfolding.
STATEMENT FROM STEPHANIE LUNDY, MEMBER OF THE TEXAS CHAPTER OF MOMS DEMAND ACTION:
“Our hearts are broken for the Jackson family and their loved ones whose lives have been ripped apart by this senseless and vicious act of gun violence. This shooting occurred just miles from a similar domestic shooting nearly one year ago in Spring where a man shot and killed six people, including four children. Since that shooting, the Texas state legislature has done nothing to curb gun violence. In fact, this past session our elected officials loosened laws, catering to the gun lobby’s agenda of more guns, in more places, with no questions asked. We know that a majority of mass shootings in this country are connected to domestic violence—and in Texas it is clear that we must demand our lawmakers enact policies that will protect our families and children by keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and other dangerous people.”
Additional Background on Mass Shootings:
- This incident is one of at least 135 mass shootings that have occurred in America since 2009. A previously released report from Everytown for Gun Safety provides a comprehensive analysis of incidents in which four or more people were murdered with a gun, a widely used definition of mass shootings from the FBI.
- Since 2009, there have been 12 mass shootings in Texas. Nine of those 12 were domestic violence related, in which an intimate partner or family member was killed.
- Research shows that having a gun in a home during domestic violence assaults often has deadly consequences. According to Everytown for Gun Safety’s intensive review of 105 domestic violence homicides in Arizona, firearms were used far more frequently to murder an intimate partner than to kill an abuser in self-defense. What’s more, children were severely affected by the shootings. During the 105 incidents, perpetrators shot 13 children under 17, killing 11 of them. At least 44 other children were physically unharmed but present during the incidents.
- A majority of mass shootings are tied to domestic abuse. Everytown’s analysis of mass shootings from 2009 to 2014 shows that in 57 percent of mass shootings, the shooters killed intimate partners or other family members.