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. 2025 Jan;17(1):111-123.
doi: 10.5249/jivr.v17i1.1913. Epub 2025 Apr 19.

Demographics and injuries in assaults from drive-by shootings seen in US emergency departments 1993-2020

Randall T Loder  1 , Faith Kylee Darden  2
Affiliations
Free article

Demographics and injuries in assaults from drive-by shootings seen in US emergency departments 1993-2020

Randall T Loder et al. J Inj Violence Res. 2025 Jan.
Free article

Abstract

Background: There has been minimal research on drive-by shootings since the 1990s. It was the purpose of this study to investigate the demographics and injury patterns of drive-by shootings across the entire US using a national database.

Methods: The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research Firearm Injury Surveillance Study 1993-2020 (ICPSR 38574) data for 1993 through 2020 was analyzed using statistical analyses accounting for the stratified and weighted nature of the data.

Results: There were an estimated 63,882 emergency department visits due to drive-by shootings. The drive-by group was younger compared to the no-drive-by group (average age 24.5 years vs. 28.7 years - p less than 10-4). Patients injured in drive-by shootings were more prevalent in medium and large size hospitals. There was a lower percentage of White (17.9% vs. 42.3%) and a higher percentage of Hispanic (30.1% vs. 13.1%) peoples in the drive-by group compared to the no-drive-by group (p = 0.0009). The head/neck (14.3% vs. 3.5%) and lower extremity (35.5% vs. 25.5%) were more commonly injured in the drive-by group compared to the no-drive by group (p = 0.0008). While those in the drive-by group were admitted to the hospital more often (43.9% vs. 32.7%), there was no difference in the percentage of fatalities between the two groups (4.4% drive-by, 4.9% no-drive-by).

Conclusions: This study encompasses both rural and urban areas, all races, and both sexes. These national estimates give health care providers and health facility administrators important demographic information. While both drive-by and no-drive-by shootings increased from 2014 onward, the average annual increase was much greater for the drive-by group (22.7%) compared to the non-drive-by group (8.6%). This data provides helpful information that could be useful when analyzing prevention strategies and firearm legislation and their impact on drive-by shootings.

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