Southwestern Pennsylvania made a list that no place wants to be on — the FBI’s active shooter incidents from 2018.
The region appears twice, first with a shooting at the Masontown municipal building on Sept. 19 and then again Oct. 27 when 11 people were killed at Tree of Life Congregation in Squirrel Hill.
Four active-shooter incidents happened in California, with three in Florida.
The highest number of casualties — 17 killed and 17 wounded — occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Here is a looking at some of the figures contained in the bureau’s 2018 report, released this week:
27
Number of active-shooter situations
16
Number of states where they occurred
10
Ones that met the definition of a mass killing, meaning three or more people died
85
People killed, including two police officers and an unarmed security guard
128
People wounded, including six police officers
9
Situations involved a gun battle between the shooter and police
11
Shooters arrested
The bureau encouraged police departments to be vigilant in training for and preventing such situations.
Eleven people were killed and 10 hurt, including five police officers, in the two Southwestern Pennsylvania active shooter situations.
Shawn Patrick Dowdell, 62, of Masontown entered the Fayette County office of District Judge Daniel Shimshock around 2 p.m. Sept. 19 with a loaded handgun, according to police. He was fatally shot by police.
About five weeks later and 50 miles away, Robert D. Bowers, 46, of Baldwin, allegedly took an assault rifle and three handguns to the Squirrel Hill synagogue in an attack that has been deemed the deadliest against Jews in U.S. history. Bowers was taken into custody after a gun battle with police. He is facing federal homicide and hate crime charges.
