45 mass killings leave 211 dead as United States hits horror high mark in 2019

The United States has seen more mass killings in 2019 than any year since the 1970s as the nation again fell victim to a large number of gun-related fatalities.

Thirty-three of the 41 mass killings — listed in a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University, which considers 'mass killings' to be where four or more people have been killed, excluding the perpetrator — were mass shootings.

The second-most mass killings in a year prior to 2019 was 38 in 2006.

The 211 people killed in this year's cases is still eclipsed by the 224 victims in 2017, when the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history took place in Las Vegas.

The mass shootings this year included three in August — one at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, another at Dayton, Ohio and a workplace shooting in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where 12 were killed.