Mass shootings are traumatic events associated with highly publicized and often gruesome homicides that raise public alarm. Yet, researchers know relatively little about shooters and mass shooting events. Therefore, it is important to further extend the research of mass shootings to characterize different types of shooters and how they ultimately perpetrate their attacks. As such, the current study investigated the differences between American mass shooters who commit suicide after their attacks and mass shooters who do not. This study examined shooter vitality in 185 mass shootings in America perpetrated by 194 mass shooters between 2000 and 2016. Each shooter was categorized as having survived the attack or the manner in which they died; whether by self-inflicted suicide or being shot by another person. This revised data about how the mass shooters died was compared with thirty-three different independent variables that looked at the characteristics of the mass shooters as well as the characteristics of the mass shootings using both analysis of variance and binary logistic regression analytic techniques. At the same time, an original version of this dataset was tested alongside the revised dataset to look for similarities and comparisons in the results. The results of the revised dataset showed that mass shooters with a prior criminal record are more likely to survive their attacks and those who kill more victims are less likely to survive their attacks. These results are useful to inform both law enforcement personnel intervening in a mass shooting as well as lawmakers developing policies in an attempt to decrease the number of mass shootings in America.
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