More than 6,000 children were injured or killed by gunfire in the United States in 2022, according to the data collection and research group Gun Violence Archive (GVA).
The data showed that 6,032 children ages 17 and younger were injured or killed by gun violence this year, the highest number recorded in a single year since the nongovernmental organization began tracking the data in 2014. number increased from 5,708 killed or injured in 2021.
Specifically, 306 children under the age of 11 were shot dead, and 668 were wounded. In addition, 1,325 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 were shot dead and 3,732 were injured.
When GVA first began recording the data, in 2014, 603 children and 2,318 adolescents were killed or injured by gunshots, according to its website.
The statistic, released today, comes from a year of major shootings in the United States, including the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in which dozens of students ages 11 and younger were killed.
Among the youngest shot to death this year is 5-month-old Cecilia Thomas, who was shot in the head and died in Chicago while being sat in a car.
Overall, in 2022, 43,675 people died due to gun violence, 19,849 related to homicide, murder, or unintentional causes, and 23,826 classified as suicide.
