Since 9/11, some of the most horrific acts of terrorism in the United States have been committed by American citizens. However, when the attacker is not brown, there is usually hesitation to call them a terrorist. From the Aurora movie shooting in 2012 to the Las Vegas shooter in 2017, terrorism is alive and well in this country — and the culprits rightfully should be called domestic terrorists.
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See the American domestic terrorist attacks below.
American Domestic Terrorist Attacks Since 9/11 was originally published on newsone.com
1. Las Vegas Shooter (2017)
Stephen Paddock, 64, killed 59 people and wounded more than 500 others on October 1 when he opened fire from the Mandalay Hotel on a country music festival.
2. Virginia Tech Shooting (2007)
Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and injured 23 others on the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University campus on April 16, 2007. Cho also killed himself in the attack. Cho had been suffering from mental illness prior to the incident, which spawned a debate over gun laws in the US.
3. Pittsburgh Police Shootings (2009)
On April 4, 2009, Richard Poplawski shot and killed three police officers in Pittsburgh, PA. Poplawski is said to have white supremacist ties as well as anti-government views. Some say he also feared gun laws and President Obama.
4. Gabrielle Giffords Shooting (2011)
On January 8, 2011, Jared Lee Loughner shot U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and eighteen others during a supermarket parking lot meeting called “Congress on Your Corner” in Tucson, AZ. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Loughner was found unfit to stand trial and was given life in prison for the murders of six people.
5. Aurora Movie Theatre Shooting (2012)
James Eagan Holmes opened fire on a movie theater in Aurora, CO on July 20, 2012. Holmes killed 12 people and at least 70 people were injured on the scene. In 2015, Holmes was given 12 life sentences in addition to 3,318 years in prison.
6. Wisconsin Sikh Temple Shooting (2012)
Shooter Wade Michael Page attacked a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin on August 5, 2012. Page killed six people and wounded four others before taking his own life. Page had ties to white supremacist groups and neo-Nazis.
7. Blooming Grove Police Shooting (2014)
Eric Frein faces charges for the killing of two state troopers at the Blooming Grove Barracks in Pennsylvania on September 12, 2014. He is said to have anti-government views and an affinity for Russian communism.
8. Overland Park Jewish Community Center Shooting (2014)
Neo-Nazi Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr. attacked a Jewish community center and retirement community on April 13, 2014, killing three people. It was later found that none of Miller’s victims actually identified as Jewish. Miller was sentenced to death in 2015.
9. Las Vegas Police Ambush (2014)
Married couple Jarad and Amanda Miller killed two Las Vegas police officers on June 8, 2014 resulting in a shoot out between the couple and the police. Jarad Miller was shot by the police and Amanda Miller committed suicide thereafter. The couple is said to have held extreme anti-government views.
10. Umpqua Community College Shooting (2015)
On October 1, 2015, Chris Harper-Mercer went on a shooting spree at his college killing 10 people (including himself) and injured over seven other people. A clearly troubled individual, Harper-Mercer is said to have had anti-religious and white supremacist views.
11. Charleston Church Shooting (2015)
This mass shooting took place at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015. Nine people were killed during a prayer service at the church. Later, Dylann Roof confessed to committing the shooting to start a “race war.”
12. Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood Shooting (2015)
Robert Lewis Dear, Jr. is accused of opening fire on a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs, CO on November 27, 2015. One policeman and two civilians were killed and nine other people were injured. During initial trial proceedings, Dear openly expressed anti-abortion views which could be interpreted as motive for the attack.
13. Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting (2012)
In Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza slaughtered 20 small children and six teachers. This was a horrific act of terrorism.
(Photo credit should read EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)
