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Shootings have become so common in the U.S. that they seem to wash over each other – no sooner do headlines about one act of violence begin to disappear than another one takes its place.
On Sept. 27, Minneapolis marked one month since an attack at a Catholic church, which killed two students attending Mass. The next day, a man rammed his truck into a chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Michigan and opened fire, killing four people.
It may feel like shootings at houses of worship are increasing, but what does the data say?
Criminologists James Densley and Jillian Peterson have been tracking mass shootings for years. In 2023, they built a public database bringing together 25 years of data, including information specifically about attacks on religious congregations: where, when, what weapons are used, and what similarities they see. Among their key findings, which they share in today’s lead article, is that many shooters had close ties to the faith communities they targeted.
“Numbers cannot capture the grief of families in Grand Blanc or Minneapolis, or the trauma survivors carry,” Densley and Peterson write. “But they can reveal patterns that ground conversations about safety and prevention.”
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A church program lies on the ground near the family reunification area after the shooting in Grand Blanc, Mich., on Sept. 28, 2025.
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images
James Densley, Metropolitan State University ; Jillian Peterson, Hamline University
Tragedies like the Sept. 28, 2025, shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel in Michigan are part of a longer pattern.
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Economy + Business
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Gonzalo Maturana, Emory University; Andrew Teodorescu, Stanford University; Christoph Herpfer, University of Virginia
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Arts + Culture
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Alex Wermer-Colan, Temple University; SaraGrace Stefan, Temple University
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Environment + Energy
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Ivis García, Texas A&M University; James M. Kaihatu, Texas A&M University; Shannon Van Zandt, Texas A&M University
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Ethics + Religion
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Diana Chigas, Tufts University
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Education
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Molly Ryder Granatino, University of Tennessee
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Kui Xie, University of Missouri-Columbia; Florence Martin, North Carolina State University
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International
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Christopher Pich, University of Nottingham; Kristina Harrison, Indiana University
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