A drive-by shooting is an assault in which the offender fires a weapon at a victim from inside a moving or stationary motor vehicle and then flees the scene. The vehicle lets the shooter approach a target and escape quickly, before police or witnesses can respond, and provides a degree of anonymity not available to an attacker on foot. This combination of an easy approach, a quick escape and a reduced risk of capture is treated as a significant reason the method is used, particularly in gang related violence. Drive-by shootings are typically prosecuted under an area's existing offenses for assault, attempted murder or murder rather than as a separate named crime, but the method is distinct enough to be catalogued on its own.
Facts
Notable ExampleThe 1996 Las Vegas drive-by shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur 1 Jurisdiction VariationIn Italy, despite low civilian firearm ownership, drive-by shootings are common in professional criminal contexts, with almost all firearm assaults carried out from cars, motorcycles or scooters 1 Violent or Non-Violent Classification
Offense GradeSerious or Indictable Offense 1 Connections
In the Other Atlases
Found In
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Sources
1. Drive-by Shooting (Wikipedia)
History section
Rapper Tupac Shakur died yesterday from wounds suffered in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting, becoming a casualty of the kind of bullet-sprayed urban violence captured in his lyrics.
Italy section
Drive-by shootings, on the other hand, are common, especially in professional criminal contexts, as the statistical incidence says that almost all assaults with firearms are carried out from cars, motorcycles, or scooters.
Lead paragraph
A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon (typically a firearm) from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing.
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