5 Domestic Terror Attacks in Modern US History
- Charleston, South Carolina Church Shooting
- Aurora Colorado Movie Theater Shooting
- Jewish Community Center Shooting, Overland Park
- Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting
- El Paso Walmart Shooting
According to the FBI, Domestic Terrorism is defined as the “committing of acts of terror within the perpetrator’s country of citizenship against their fellow citizens.” Throughout the 21st century, the United States has seen a dramatic increase in the number of acts of domestic terrorism. While citizens of the US feared terrorist plots from abroad, the real danger appears to be stateside. Read on to learn about 5 Act of Domestic Terrorism the US witnessed and experienced in the 21st Century.
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1. Charleston, South Carolina Church Shooting
On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people at their church while they prayed. The tragic mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church located in Charleston, South Carolina was committed by the perpetrator- a self-proclaimed white supremacist- in the hopes of starting a race war. Roof was obsessed with Apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia, as well as other white supremacist regimes around the world, even going so far as to sport flags for these obsolete disgraces in world history on his jacket. Unlike some white supremacists, Roof was not indoctrinated in white supremacist views through interactions with groups in person, rather he was self-radicalized by reading and researching extremist views on the internet.
2. Aurora, Colorado Movie Theater Shooting
In Aurora, Colorado on July 20, 2012, James Holmes fired off tear gas into a crowded midnight showing of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises” and used multiple firearms to shoot blindly into the audience. Wearing tactical clothing and using tear gas grenades, Holmes caused confusion and terror while committing his massacre that left 12 dead and 70 injured.
3. Jewish Community Center Shooting, Overland Park
On April 13, 2014, 73- year-old domestic terrorist Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. traveled from Aurora, Missouri to Overland Park, Kansas and murdered 3 people in two separate shootings at the Jewish Community Center of Overland Park and the Jewish retirement community Village Shalom. The shooter is known to be a neo-nazi and KKK member and shockingly ran as a political candidate.
4. Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting
On December 14, 2012, twenty elementary school children between the ages of six and seven years old along with six faculty were brutally shot and murdered by 20-year-old Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newton, Connecticut. The shooter also killed his mother at her home before his violent rampage which ended in suicide. Many Americans saw this event as not only an eye-opener about the dangers of gun violence but also the extreme prevalence of domestic terrorism.
5. El Paso Wal-Mart Shooting
The FBI is investigating the brutal attack that occurred at the El Paso, Texas Wal-Mart on August 3, 2019, as a hate crime and official act of domestic terrorism. Twenty-two people were shot and killed and twenty-four were injured. The shooter, twenty-one-year-old Patrick Crusius intentionally targeted the store located in the border town after traveling from Allen, Texas. Crusius allegedly posted a manifesto on 8chan regarding and hailing previous acts of terror stateside and abroad, as well as sharing motivations such as the “Great Replacement” for his impending attack. This was the deadliest attack in 2019, as well as the third deadliest attack in Texas history.