A recognized criminological typology of homicide in which an offender kills multiple victims, commonly defined by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation as four or more, in a single incident or closely connected series of incidents at one or more related locations with no significant cooling-off period between killings, distinguishing it from serial murder, in which killings are separated by a meaningful interval of time. Documented mass-murder incidents span a range of settings and apparent motives, including a workplace, school or other public location, and criminologists studying the pattern have identified categories such as familicide, in which an offender kills family members before frequently taking their own life, as a recurring subtype distinct from a mass killing directed at strangers.
Facts
Notable ExampleOne of the most extensively documented cases of a single individual committing mass murder is Vasili Blokhin, an NKVD officer who personally shot roughly 7,000 Polish prisoners of war over 28 nights on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, one of the most organized and protracted mass murders committed by one person on record. 1 Jurisdiction VariationThe numeric threshold used to define mass murder varies by jurisdiction: the United States Congress defines it as the killing of three or more people during a single event with no cooling-off period between the killings, while the United Kingdom's definition requires four or more people killed in one act. 1 Sources
1. Mass murder (Wikipedia)
WikipediaWikipedia, Mass murder, By Individuals and Governments section
Acting on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Vasili Blokhin's war crime of killing of 7,000 Polish prisoners of war, shot over 28 days, was one of the most organized and protracted mass murders by a single individual on record.
Wikipedia, Mass murder, main definition section
In the United States, Congress defined mass murders as the killing of three or more people during an event with no 'cooling-off period' between the homicides, while in the United Kingdom the definition is four or more people killed in one act.
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