Mass shootings have claimed hundreds of lives in US

Washington, Aug 14 (IANS) The shooting incident near the Texas A&M University campus that left three people, including the gunman, dead and four wounded is the latest of mass shootings in America which have claimed at least 70 lives in last three years.

Monday's incident came just a week after a white supremacist gunman, Wade Michael Page, killed six worshippers at a Wisconsin gurdwara and less than a month after James Holmes, 24, killed 12 and wounded 58 during the midnight premiere screening of "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colorado July 20.

According to the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, founded in 1978 by concerned members of the business community, which has compiled a record of mass shootings since 1984, it was the ninth such incident since April 2009.

Earlier incidents:

Sep 6, 2011, Carson City, Nevada: Shooter Eduardo Sencion, 32, entered an IHOP restaurant and began shooting at a table of uniformed National Guard members killing four before being shot dead.

July 7, 2011, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Rodrick Shonte Dantzler, 34, went to two homes on a shooting rampage, killing seven, including two ex-girlfriends, his own ten-year-old daughter and another child. He then shot himself in the head after leading police on a high-speed chase.

Jan 8, 2011, Tucson, Arizona: Shooter Jared Lee Loughner, 22, killed 6 and wounded 13 others including US House member Gabriel Giffords during an outdoor constituent meet-and-greet at a Tucson grocery store. He is awaiting trial.

Aug 3, 2010: Manchester, Connecticut: Shooter Omar Thornton, 34, killed eight with two handguns equipped with 17-round large capacity ammunition magazines after he was shown video surveillance which proved he had been stealing beer from the company. He then shot himself.

Nov 5, 2009: Fort Hood, Texas, Maj Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, an army psychiatrist fired off about 214 shots, killing 13 and wounding 30 more at a medical processing centre. He is awaiting trial.

April 3, 2009: Binghamton, New York, shooter Jiverly Wong, 41, killed 13 and wounded 4 in a rampage at American Civic Association, before eventually turning his gun on himself.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)