The Killing Season: Why Is April Full of Mass Murder?

Shootings, bombings, and massacres—why is this beautiful spring month connected to so much violence?

Apr 17, 2025

Is April the worst month of the year for mass murder? Is it really the “killing season”? Which shootings, bombings, and other massacres have taken place specifically in April in the last few decades?

And the most important question, for me, that I have tried to answer:

Why is April the killing season?

Although a couple of articles have been written on the topic of April and mass murder, I decided to delve deeper and see if I could find answers to this phenomenon—or decide if it’s a phenomenon at all. After all my research, I believe there are several cogs working simultaneously during the month of April, and we may never have an exact answer as to why this spring month is so full of violence. Motives differ; but I want to know why these people chose April to slaughter people.

In a Washington Post article, Heidi Beirich, a domestic terrorism expert at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said, “It’s a really strange phenomenon. We sometimes refer to April as the beginning of the killing season.”

But first, a quick table of contents of April violence:

Shootings
Bombings
Mass Murders & Massacres
Religious Killings
Notable Murders
Miscellaneous Murders
What Almost Was

After you’ve seen what the killing season has produced, you’ll find my theories as to why April is the most violent month of all (in my opinion, of course). This is not a political piece about gun control. This is not about glorifying those who take lives. This is not an article written by someone holding a PhD in this and that.

This is an article written by an ever-curious woman who wants to find the link between a beautiful spring month and an ever-growing list of violent choices.

I chose to keep this article centered on the United States only. Here are the mass killings in April from the 1990s to present, with a couple notable ones from the 1980s.

Shootings:

April 2 (2012): Oikos University Shooting — 7 deaths; 3 injuries

April 2 (2014): Fort Hood Shooting — 4 dead (including shooter); 14 injured

April 3 (2009): Binghamton shooting — 14 deaths; 4 injuries

April 3 (2018): YouTube headquarters shooting — 1 death (shooter); 4 injured

April 3 (2022): Sacramento gang shooting — 6 deaths; 12 injured

April 6 (2012): Tulsa shooting — 3 deaths; 2 injured

April 7 (2009): Temecula, California Shooting — 1 death, 3 injured

April 7 (2016): Lackland Air Force Base — 2 deaths (murder-suicide)

April 8 (2025): Spotsylvania County shooting — 3 deaths; 3 injured

April 10 (2017): North Park Elementary School shooting — 3 deaths (including perpetrator); 1 injury

April 10 (2023): Louisville bank shooting — 6 deaths (including perpetrator); 8 injured

April 12 (2022): Brooklyn Subway Attack — 10 injured

April 13 & 18 (2017): Fresno shootings — 4 deaths (including 3 in April 18 spree)

April 14 (2003): John McDonogh High School shooting — 1 death; 3 injured

April 15 (2021): Indianapolis FedEx shooting — 9 deaths (including perpetrator); 7 injured

April 15 (2023): Dadeville Sweet 16 shooting — 4 deaths; 32 injured

April 16 (2007): Virginia Tech Shooting — 33 deaths (including perpetrator); 17 injured

April 16 (2017): J&R Party Hall (Columbus, Ohio) — 9 injured

April 17–18 (2022): Pittsburgh Airbnb party shooting — 2 deaths; 8 injured

April 17 (2022): Cara’s Lounge shooting (Furman, South Carolina) — 9 injured

April 17 (2022): Golden Glades, Florida shooting — 1 death; 3 injured

April 20 (1999): Columbine High School Massacre — 15 deaths (including both perpetrators); 24 injured

April 20 (2007): Johnson Space Center shooting — 2 deaths (including perpetrator)

April 20 (2018): Forest High School shooting — 1 injury

April 22 (2016): Appling, Georgia shootings (two separate shootings by same man) — 5 deaths

April 22 (2018): Nashville Waffle House Shooting — 4 deaths; 4 injured

April 24 (1998): Parker Middle School Dance Shooting — 1 death; 3 injured

April 24 (2013): Manchester, Illinois shooting — 6 deaths (including perpetrator); 1 injury

April 24 (2018): Home Depot (Dallas, TX) — 1 death; 2 injured

April 27 (2019): Poway synagogue shooting — 1 death; 3 injured

April 29 (2007): Ward Parkway shopping center shooting — 3 deaths (including perpetrator, with a potential fourth death police believe was related); 3 injuries

April 29 (2014): FedEx facility (Kennesaw, Georgia) — 1 death (perpetrator); 6 injuries

April 30 (2017): San Diego, California pool party — 1 death; 7 injured (perpetrator shot dead by police)

April 30 (2019): Charlotte Shooting — 2 deaths; 4 injured

Bombings:

April 15 (2013): Boston Marathon Bombing — 3 deaths; 264 injured

April 20 (1984): Washington Navy Yard Officers’ Club bombing — Carried out by the May 19th Communist Organization as a protest against US foreign policy (0 deaths; no injuries)

April 18 (1989): Child maimed by bomb in toothpaste tube in K-Mart store; teenage perpetrator commits suicide April 20

April 19 (1995): Oklahoma City Bombing — 168 deaths; 680+ injured

April 26 (1995): Ted Kaczynski’s last (and third fatal) bomb

Mass Murders & Massacres

April 15 (1984): Palm Sunday Massacre — 10 deaths

April 17–18 (2023): Bowdoin–Yarmouth shootings — 4 deaths; 3 injured

April 19 (1993): Waco Siege — 82 deaths (Branch Davidians) + 4 deaths (ATF agents) = 86 deaths total; 27 wounded (11 Branch Davidians; 16 ATF agents)

April 28 (2000): Richard Baumhammers Killing Spree — 5 deaths; 1 injured

April 21–22 (2016): Pike County shootings — 8 deaths (note: familicide)

April 28 (2023): Cleveland, Texas shooting — 5 deaths

April 29 (2019): Rural Tennessee Slayings — 7 deaths

Religious Killings:

April 13 (2014): Neo-Nazi and former Ku Klux Klan leader Frazier Miller Jr. fatally shot Dr. William Corporon and his 14-year-old grandson Reat Underwood outside an Overland Park, Kansas, Jewish center as they arrived for a community event. He then drove to a Jewish retirement community where he fatally shot Terry LaManno, who was visiting her mother.

April 15 (1999): A man entered the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints family history library in Salt Lake City, killed two people, and wounded four others before he was gunned down by police.

April 15 (2020): A 36-year-old man was arrested for attempting to firebomb a Jewish assisted living facility in Longmeadow, Massachusetts on April 3. His arrest was part of a larger investigation into a white supremacist group suspected of plotting mass killings online.

April 24 (2016): Mark Storms fatally shot 27-year-old Robert Braxton III during Sunday services in a suburban Philadelphia church. Storms, 46, argued self-defense, but was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.

April 29 (2013): A man stabbed and wounded four people at St. Jude Thaddeus Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (No deaths.)

Notable Murders:

April 15 (2017): Murder of Robert Godwin (plus self-inflicted death of perpetrator, who is known as the Facebook Killer)

April 27 (2012): Bain murder-kidnappings — 5 deaths

April 27 (2019): Sumner County, Tennessee Slayings — 8 deaths

April 21 (2013): Seattle, Washington apartment complex — 5 deaths

April 13 (2015): Wayne Community College (Goldsboro, North Carolina) print shop

Miscellaneous:

April 4 (1991): Sacramento hostage crisis — 7 deaths; 14 injuries

April 7 (2001): Rioting breaks out in Cincinnati following the shooting death of an unarmed African-American man by a white police officer. Violence continues for several days.

April 25 (1994): The largest high school arson ever in the United States was started at Burnsville High School, in Burnsville, Minnesota, resulting in over $15 million in damages. The same arsonist also goes on to set fires at Edina High School and Minnetonka High School.

April 9 (2013): Stabbing at Lone Star College–CyFair in Cypress, Texas — 14 injuries

April 9 (2014): Stabbing at Franklin Regional High School stabbing — 24 injuries

April 11 (1993): Lucasville Prison Riot — 10 deaths; number of injuries unclear

April 25 (2018): Lee Correctional Prison Riot — 7 deaths; 22 injuries

April 28 (1984): Donna Denice Haraway disappeared from the McAnally’s convenience store in Ada (The Innocent Man)

What Almost Was

April 6 (2024): Idaho Church Plot (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) — Alexander Mercurio, 18, pledged allegiance to ISIS and planned to attack multiple churches. He intended to use firearms, explosives, and knives to maximize casualties. The FBI uncovered the plot through online communications and a search of his residence. Mercurio was arrested and faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

April 8 (2024): Salem, MA – Attempted bombing of the Satanic Temple headquarters. A pipe bomb partially detonated, causing minor damage; no injuries reported. Sean Patrick Palmer was arrested and charged with attempting to damage religious property using an explosive device.

April 12 (2013): Police were tipped off when a posting on 4chan revealed plans to commit a mass shooting at New River Community College in Christiansburg, Virginia. Two women were injured and a suspect was apprehended.

April 13 (2025): Foiled school shooting in State College, Pennsylvania planned for the day after the Columbine anniversary. Braeden Phillips, age 20, was arrested after planning a mass shooting at State College High School, intending to use firearms and explosives.

April 30 (2020): A Texas man opened fire with an AK-47 style rifle at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C., in a suspected hate crime. No one was injured, and the shooter was arrested and charged.

April 24 (2020): A 33-year-old Fairview Heights, Illinois man who had been ordered to stay away from an army recruiting office there was accused of the attempted firebombing of the Robert A. Young Federal Building in downtown St. Louis, Missouri.

The Perfect Storm — My Theory on April Mass Murder

Ruby Ridge (August 21–31, 1992 — 2 deaths) and the Waco Siege (February 28, 1993 to April 19, 1993 — 86 deaths) are vital to understanding this perfect storm of April violence. These two deadly events are considered to be the trigger for Timothy McVeigh to commit the atrocious crime of the Oklahoma City Bombing (April 19, 1995 — 168 deaths). To him, it was a direct message to how the federal government handled the siege in Waco, Texas. McVeigh was even seen protesting at Waco.

Four years later, on April 20, 1999, two teenage boys named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold committed the Columbine High School Massacre, as they found inspiration from Timothy McVeigh and wanted to surpass his death toll. They were also “inspired” because April 20 was Adolf Hitler’s birthday. Once Columbine happened, it created The Columbine Effect, which has led to numerous copycat crimes (see more below).

Although this is presumptuous of me to say, and it is only a personal opinion, I believe there’s a chance that if Ruby Ridge and the Waco Siege hadn’t happened, then Timothy McVeigh wouldn’t have committed the OKC Bombing, which means Eric and Dylan wouldn’t have committed Columbine, which, of course, means The Columbine Effect wouldn’t exist.

Notice I said there’s a chance. Timothy, Eric, and Dylan were already unstable males, so it’s highly likely that without these incidents, they still would’ve gone on to commit domestic terrorism and school shootings. Still, I can’t help but think, “What if . . .”

In terms of mass killings in the month of April, Columbine and the OKC Bombing are certainly, without a doubt, at the very top of the list when we think of violence. Ruby Ridge and Waco ignited a flame in Timothy McVeigh; McVeigh fueled that flame with the OKC Bombing, which ignited a blaze for the Columbine boys. The Columbine massacre kept the inferno raging with the Columbine Effect.

The Columbine Effect (Paying Homage)

The Columbine Effect is the legacy and impact of the aforementioned massacre. When Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 13 people, injured 24, and then killed themselves, their heinous act inspired numerous copycat crimes, with many killers taking their inspiration from the two teens, even describing them as “martyrs.” (For a complete list of copycat shootings, see here.)

Once this was set into motion, it prompted a script, a blueprint for other school shooters to follow. It became the model, and even more terrifying, it led to an allegiance of would-be killers.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter idolized the Columbine killers and curated a Tumblr account paying homage, alongside a graphic collage of the victims. The Parkland shooter, a 14-year-old who aspired to be “the youngest mass murderer,” idolized Eric and Dylan as well.

Sociologist Ralph Larkin examined twelve major school shootings in the US in the following eight years and found that in eight of those, “the shooters made explicit reference to Harris and Klebold.”

A 2015 investigation by CNN identified “more than 40 people . . . charged with Columbine-style plots.” A 2014 investigation by ABC News identified “at least 17 attacks and another 36 alleged plots or serious threats against schools since the assault on Columbine High School that can be tied to the 1999 massacre.” Ties identified by ABC News included online research by the perpetrators into the Columbine shooting, clipping news coverage and images of Columbine, explicit statements of admiration of Harris and Klebold, such as writings in journals and on social media, in video posts, and in police interviews, timing planned to an anniversary of Columbine, plans to exceed the Columbine victim counts, and other ties.

On April 17, 2020, an 18-year-old woman flew to Colorado from Florida and bought a shotgun. A manhunt ensued once it was revealed that she was obsessed with the Columbine massacre that was about to have its 20th anniversary. Hundreds of Colorado schools closed or went on lockdown/lockout as the manhunt continued, but later that night, the woman was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

This is the “legacy” the Columbine boys left behind.

Could Seasonal Affective Disorder Play a Small Role?

SAD, also known as seasonal depression, can occur in the fall or spring, but they have differences. Winter depression can cause the following:

Oversleeping (hypersomnia)
Overeating, particularly with a craving for carbohydrates
Weight gain
Social withdrawal (feeling like “hibernating”)
Tiredness or low energy

Interestingly, the specific symptoms for summer-pattern SAD may include:

Trouble sleeping (insomnia)
Poor appetite, leading to weight loss
Restlessness and agitation
Episodes of violent behavior (summer-pattern SAD could increase the risk of irritability or agitation, which can escalate into violence in some cases)
Anxiety (including over body image and financial issues)
Isolating yourself socially
Feeling unmotivated to complete tasks
Not finding pleasure in the things that used to bring you pleasure
Feelings of guilt or thoughts of death or suicide

Episodes of violent behavior are not a symptom of winter-onset SAD. It should be noted, however, that summer-onset SAD is less common than winter. And yet, another however: Are the people coming out of those harsh winters getting the recovery they need as they head into spring? Are they getting a double-whammy of both seasons of SAD? The transition from winter to spring might exacerbate some mental health disorders.

SAD is more common in people with major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder, especially bipolar II disorder, which is associated with recurrent depressive and hypomanic episodes. Additionally, people with SAD tend to have other mental disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, an eating disorder, an anxiety disorder, or panic disorder.

Females are affected by MDD with seasonal patterns more often than males, but men report more severe symptoms.

Could SAD have played a role in the psychological state of individuals involved in these mass acts of violence in April? I don’t know. But I think it needs more attention and research.

In a Post-COVID World

Imagine what SAD looked like in a pre-COVID world. Now think about it in a post-COVID world (back when I originally wrote this piece). Homicides went through the roof in 2020. In an article published by Security Magazine, homicide rates in 2020 “skyrocketed.” The article quotes Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, who said that “the rise was related, in part, to the coronavirus pandemic and to the fact that people are cooped up.”

—New Orleans-based data consultant Jeff Asher who studies crime rates told NPR, “We’re going to see, historically, the largest one-year rise in murder that we’ve ever seen.” He said it has been more than half a century since the U.S. saw year-to-year murder rates jump approximately 13%. He also told NPR, “We have good data that the rise in murder was happening in the early stages of the pandemic. We have good data that the rise in murder picked up in the early stages of the summer, and we also have good data that the rise of murder picked up again in September and October as some of the financial assistance started to wear off.”

Safewise said of our year with COVID, “The biggest increases have been in violent crimes, particularly murder, aggravated assault, and shooting incidents.”

Stats to consider:

Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) showed a 53% jump in homicides in 27 major US cities in the summer of 2020, compared to the last.
As of September 28, 2020, the Gun Violence Archive has recorded 13,641 homicides, murders, and unintentional gun-related deaths. That’s almost 90% of the total recorded for all of 2019.
At the end of 2020, Chicago reported more than 750 murders, a jump of more than 50% compared with 2019. In December 2020, Los Angeles reported a 30% increase over the previous year with 322 homicides. In New York City, the city reported 437 homicides by Dec. 20, nearly 40% more than the previous year.

Conclusion: You Won’t See Me in Large Groups in April

The most difficult thing about writing this article wasn’t reliving these events; it wasn’t compiling the disturbing statistics; it wasn’t the late nights in my bedroom as I rubbed my eyes and compiled more dates.

It was knowing that in every future April, I will eventually scroll through my social media feed and see breaking news of a shooting or a bombing or some other mass killing. Yes, in a messed-up way, this is a prediction. I believe that living in a post-COVID world, where homicide rates have skyrocketed, where mental health is bleak, where people pay homage to killers like McVeigh and Tsarnaev and Harris/Klebold, we will see devastating news in April months of death, injury, and chaos. In other words, I don’t think it will get better, or go away.

So, was April chosen as a way to pay homage to past killers? Yes, in many cases. Was April chosen due to SAD and the corresponding poor mental health? It’s possible. Was April chosen due to the Columbine Effect and its strange history with McVeigh? In some cases, definitely.

Is April really the killing season? In my opinion, yes. It’s why you will not see me in federal buildings, at concerts, or near large crowds in this beautiful spring month.

Crime & Compassion

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