1999: THE YEAR OF THE SHOOTINGS

16 September: Larry Gene Ashbrook, 47, from Fort Worth, Texas, opens fire on Wedgwood Baptist Church during a packed evening service, killing four adults and three teenagers before shooting himself.

14 September: 42-year-old Dung Trinh is charged with opening fire at a hospital in Anaheim, California, killing three employees.

10 August: White supremacist Buford Furrow from Washington state opens fire on children and teachers at a Jewish community centre in Los Angeles, injuring five, and kills a post office worker, then gives himself up to the FBI in Las Vegas.

29 July: Mark Barton, an Internet trader with massive losses, kills his family and shoots 12 people in Atlanta brokerages. A week later, a 34-year-old office worker in Pelham, Alabama, is charged with killing three former colleagues.

2-4 July: Benjamin Smith, 21, a member of the white supremacist World Church of the Creator, goes on a weekend killing spree in the Midwest, selecting blacks, Jews and Asians in the Chicago area before taking his life.

20 May: T J Solomon, a 15-year-old student at Heritage High School in Atlanta, is accused of firing 14 shots from a rifle and a Magnum handgun, wounding six fellow students.

20 April: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold use firearms and explosives to attack Columbine High School, Denver, killing 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves.

15 April: A gunman walks into the Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City, killing two people and injuring four others before being gunned down himself.