This year was marked by several tragedies, including school shootings, serial killings, and crimes in the nation's capital against federal lawmakers.
This year, there have been 650 mass shootings recorded and 40 mass murders recorded, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The organization defines a "mass shooting" as any incident in which four people are injured or killed with a gun, not including the shooter. There has been a rise in carjackings and thefts across the United States, with 951 occurring in Washington, D.C., alone.
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Other crimes that appeared across headlines this year included a pilot who attempted to bring down a flight, a child who shot his teacher, and a violent, fatal police traffic stop that resulted in the death of a black Tennessee man that reignited calls against police brutality.
Here is a list of the most high-profile crimes in 2023 by month.
Abigail Zwerner shooting - January
Abigail Zwerner, 25, was shot by her 6-year-old male student on Jan. 6 at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. The student, whose name has not been released, used a legally purchased gun owned by his mother, Deja Taylor, to shoot Zwerner.
Taylor was sentenced to two years in prison on state child neglect charges in mid-December. She pleaded guilty to the state charges in August. The child's mother also was sentenced to 21 months in prison last month on federal charges related to the January shooting. She pleaded guilty to the federal charges, which include illegally using drugs while owning a firearm and making a false statement when she purchased the gun.
Zwerner suffered gunshot wounds to her chest and hand, requiring four surgeries to recover. She filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school following the shooting, arguing the school had ignored multiple warnings that the boy had a gun and was threatening other students.
Search warrants showed that Taylor's son had bragged about shooting Zwerner immediately after the incident, including claiming that he "shot that b**** dead." In the family's statement about the shooting, the child was described as suffering from an "acute disability," and his mother or father attended school with him.
Tyre Nichols - January
Tyre Nichols died on Jan. 10 after he sustained injuries during a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, on Jan. 7. Five officers pepper sprayed, kicked, and beat him. The five Memphis police officers involved were part of the department's Scorpion team, a specialized crime unit deployed to deter violence in the city's most crime-ridden neighborhoods.
The footage of the traffic stop was split into four videos, taken from either body camera footage or surveillance cameras on street poles. The videos circulated across the U.S., with national, state, and local
lawmakers condemning the actions and calling for an end to police brutality.
Former officer Desmond Mills Jr., 33, pleaded guilty to state and federal charges stemming from the fatal traffic stop. Other officers Emmitt Martin III, 31, Tadarrius Bean, 24, Demetrius Haley, 30, and Justin Smith, 28, have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include second-degree murder, aggravated assault, and official misconduct, among others.
Covenant School shooting - March
The nation was shell-shocked after a mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, left three children and three adult staff members dead.
The student victims were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9, and the adult victims were Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61. Koonce was the head of the Covenant School, Peak was a substitute teacher, and Hill was a custodian.
The shooter was Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old biological woman who identified as a transgender man. Hale was a former student of the school. Investigators found a suicide note, weapons, and ammunition in Hale's possession. A manifesto and map of the Covenant School were also among the items.
The shooter's manifesto sparked a legal battle between conservative lawmakers, gun rights advocates, local law enforcement, and parents of Covenant School students. Police have refused to release the manifesto, though pages of what appeared to be excerpts have been leaked. Parents of the Covenant School have adamantly expressed that they do not want the manifesto released after Hale's parents transferred ownership of the document to them in June.
Louisville bank shooting - April
Five people were shot and killed in Louisville, Kentucky, in April after an employee opened fire and injured eight other people at Old National Bank. Connor Sturgeon, 25, used a legally purchased AR-15 rifle to shoot the victims 14 days after the Covenant School shooting.
The victims of the shooting were Joshua Barrick, 40; Deana Eckert, 57; Thomas Elliott, 63; Juliana Farmer, 45; and James Tutt, 64.
According to a journal obtained by police, Sturgeon had written about how it "was so easy" to purchase the assault rifle and wasn't sure if his mental health struggles would prevent him from buying a gun. Investigators did not find "evidence of long-term planning," though there were mentions of his actions in his journal days beforehand. Sturgeon fired more than 40 rounds over the course of about eight minutes, according to a police report via the Associated Press.
Sturgeon also severely injured Officer Nickolas Witt, who responded to the shooting and was struck in the head. Witt was released after months of rehab in July.
Allen, Texas, mall shooting - May
Eight people were killed in a mass shooting in May at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas.
The shooter was identified as Mauricio Garcia, 33. According to an autopsy report, the gunman had a swastika tattoo on his upper left chest, as well as other tattoos saying "Texas" and "Dallas Fort Worth." He used an AR-15 rifle to carry out the attacks. His trail of online posts displayed instances of white supremacy.
The victims were Kyu, Cindy, and James Cho; Sofia and Daniela Mendoza; Aishwarya Thatikonda; Christian LaCour; and Elio Cumana-Rivas at Allen Premium Outlets.
Crimes involving lawmakers - February through October
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) was carjacked at gunpoint in October by three men in the Navy Yard neighborhood in Washington, D.C., near Capitol Hill.
He said the men were young, and the carjacking occurred outside his apartment building where several other members, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), live as well.
The carjacking is the latest criminal incident involving a lawmaker in the district. In February, Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) was physically assaulted inside an elevator as she was leaving her apartment building in the nation's capital.
A member of Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) staff was hospitalized in late March with a deep knife wound to the head after he was attacked and stabbed in broad daylight. Glynn Neal, the man arrested for the attack, was allegedly released from prison just one day prior to the stabbing.
Plainfield stabbing of Palestinian family - October
Joseph Czuba, 71, faces three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime in connection with a knife attack, one count of attempted first-degree murder, and two counts of aggravated battery in the killing of Wadea al Fayoume, 6, and the hospitalization of his mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32. The woman and her son were Czuba's tenants.
The landlord attacked Shahin with a large knife, and she ran to the bathroom to call 911, but she was unable to get her son in the bathroom. While Shahin was in the bathroom, Czuba killed Fayoume. Authorities said Fayoume was stabbed 26 times on Oct. 14 while Shahin was stabbed over a dozen times.
Czuba attacked his Muslim tenants at their shared home in Plainfield Township near Chicago after listening to discussions on conservative talk radio about the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. He pleaded not guilty to the crime in late October. His next court appearance is Jan. 8, 2024.
Maine shooting - October
Eighteen people were killed across two locations in Lewiston, Maine, in October after Robert Card opened fire at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant.
Card fled the scene, setting the police on a two-day manhunt. His body was discovered two days after the shooting occurred with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The victims were identified as Ronald Morin, 55, Peyton Brewer-Ross, 40, Joshua Seal, 35, Bryan MacFarlane, 41, Joseph Lawrence Walker, 57, Arthur Fred Strout, 42, Maxx Hathaway, 35, Stephen Vozzella, 45, Thomas Ryan Conrad, 34, Michael R. Deslauriers II, 51, Jason Adam Walker, 51, Tricia Asselin, 53, William Young, 44, Aaron Young, 14, Robert Violette, 76, Luceille Violette, 73, William Frank Brackett, 44, and Keith Macneir, 64.
Alaska Airlines pilot tries to shut down plane - October
Joseph David Emerson, 44, has pleaded not guilty to 83 counts of recklessly endangering another person and one count of first-degree endangering aircraft.
Emerson previously told law enforcement that he took magic mushrooms approximately 48 hours before the flight and thought pulling the handles to cut off the flight's fuel would cause him to wake up from a dream.
On Oct. 22, Alaska Airlines Flight 2059 reported a security threat involving Emerson, who was traveling in the jet's jump seat in the cockpit. While in the cockpit, Emerson tried to shut down both of the engines by pulling its fire extinguisher handles, according to the airline. The plane was at cruising altitude when the incident occurred, and the crew quickly reset both handles and restored fuel to the engines.
Los Angeles serial killer of homeless men - November
Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, was arrested by California police after he was suspected of slaying four people, including three homeless men.
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The victims were: Jose Bolanos, 37, who was found dead on Nov. 26 near the intersection of 110th Street and Vermont Avenue; Mark Diggs, 62, who was shot and killed at 4:45 a.m. on Nov. 27 downtown at the 600 block of Mateo Street near the Los Angeles River; and an unnamed 52-year-old man who was found dead around 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 29 near Avenue 18 and Pasadena Avenue, north of downtown.
On Nov. 28, Powell allegedly shot and killed Nicholas Simbolon, 42, a father of two who worked as a project manager for the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office in the information technology department. Powell allegedly followed the victim from a charging station in West Covina, California, to the victim's home in San Dimas.