Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post
School shootings and mass shootings — where more than four people were hurt or killed, not counting the shooter — are both still quite rare in the United States, and the vast majority of people will never directly experience one.
Yet both have, in fact, occurred in higher numbers in the Denver metro area, compared to population, over the past 20 years than in most large American metropolitan areas.
The Census-designated Denver metropolitan statistical area has had more school shootings, per million people, than any of the country’s 24 other largest metro areas since 1999, according to an analysis of multiple shooting databases by The Denver Post.
The metro area also had the third-most mass shootings, by population, over that period, with only the Seattle and Orlando areas seeing more large-scale shootings.
Experts are divided on why the Denver area would have more shootings than other large metropolitan areas, with some believing that previous shootings could cause a “contagion” that inspires other people to kill, and others wondering whether Colorado has simply suffered more random misfortune than other states.
Continue reading this story at Denverpost.com.