LOS ANGELES, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 40,000 people were shot in the United States in 2025, including more than 14,600 deaths and over 26,100 injuries, showed preliminary statistics released Thursday by the Gun Violence Archive (GVA).

The country saw at least 407 mass shooting incidents in 2025, defined as shootings in which four or more people were killed or injured, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident, according to the GVA, a nonprofit organization formed in 2013 to provide free public access to accurate information on gun-related violence in the United States.

The data also indicated that 224 children aged 11 or younger were killed by gunfire, while 461 others in the same age group were wounded during the year. In addition, 1,030 adolescents aged 12 to 17 were killed in shootings, and 2,733 were injured.

The GVA's gun-related death statistics include homicides, murder, defensive gun use and accidental shootings, but exclude suicides. However, citing preliminary estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the GVA reported that more than 24,000 people died in firearm suicides in 2025.

Local media noted that although shooting-related deaths and injuries have declined for four consecutive years since 2021, more than 40,000 people were killed or injured by gunfire in 2025, with suicides excluded. This means that, on average, more than 110 people were killed or injured by gun violence per day last year. ■