ST. LOUIS, MO – November 2, 2026 (STL.News) Halloween weekend 2026 brought a disturbing wave of gun violence across the United States, leaving families grieving, children hospitalized, communities shaken, and law enforcement agencies investigating shootings in major cities, suburban neighborhoods, college communities, and small towns.
An extensive STL.News investigation reviewing local newspapers, television news reports, police announcements, and publicly available law enforcement information compiled 130 reported shooting incidents involving gunshot victims, including 129 assigned to the three-day period from Friday, October 30, through Sunday, November 1, 2026.
One additional fatal shooting remains outside the strictly dated count because the victim was discovered during the weekend, but the exact date of the shooting has not been established.
The investigation’s preliminary, date-adjusted casualty accounting identifies approximately 68 shooting deaths and 194 nonfatal gunshot victims, representing approximately 262 people shot during the reporting period.
These figures are provisional findings from the research register, not a certified nationwide total. Some incidents and casualty reports still require clarification.
The actual number of shootings and gunshot victims nationwide may be substantially higher. Even an extensive review of local news organizations and law enforcement reports cannot guarantee that every shooting in every American city, suburb, town, or rural community has been identified.
The investigation also identified at least 50 reported shooting victims younger than 21, including 22 children younger than 18 and 28 young adults ages 18 through 20.
The findings illustrate the geographic reach of gun violence during a holiday traditionally associated with family celebrations, neighborhood activities, and gatherings of young people.
Halloween Weekend Shootings Across American Cities
The STL.News review documented shootings in major cities, entertainment districts, residential neighborhoods, university communities, suburban developments, and rural areas.
Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Birmingham, Dallas, Memphis, and Atlanta were among the communities with multiple incidents identified in the research.
Halloween 2026 Shootings by City
Reported shooting incidents, October 30–November 1, 2026
Source: STL.News Halloween 2026 investigative research register. Selected cities, not a comprehensive national ranking. St. Louis excludes one additional fatal shooting with an uncertain incident date. Geographic boundaries and reporting completeness vary.
Chicago recorded 12 incidents in the reviewed city reporting, followed by Philadelphia with 11.
St. Louis City and County had six incidents assigned to the reporting window, with a seventh fatal shooting under review because its precise date remains uncertain.
Jacksonville also recorded six incidents, while Kansas City and Milwaukee each had five.
Birmingham, Dallas, and Memphis were among the cities with four reported incidents in the working register.
These figures should not be interpreted as a definitive ranking of America’s most violent cities. Geographic boundaries differ, and local reporting may capture more incidents in some jurisdictions than others.
Nevertheless, the pattern is striking: gun violence affected numerous communities during a single three-day period.
Chicago, Philadelphia and St. Louis Report Violence
Chicago experienced one of the largest concentrations of shootings documented in the investigation.
CBS Chicago reported four people killed and 11 wounded in its Halloween-weekend account. Victims ranged in age from teenagers to adults.
The incidents occurred across multiple neighborhoods, demonstrating that the violence was not confined to one entertainment district or celebration.
Philadelphia also experienced repeated shootings during the weekend.
Local reporting from FOX29 and other Philadelphia news organizations described fatal shootings, teenagers wounded by gunfire, and additional violence continuing into Sunday.
The STL.News register contains 11 reported Philadelphia shooting incidents across the three-day reporting window, including cases identified through police bulletins and reports published after the initial Halloween-night coverage.
A separate Sunday evening shooting near a SEPTA station wounded three people, including a 14-year-old.
In the St. Louis metropolitan area, the violence struck residential neighborhoods, private gatherings, and communities on both sides of the Mississippi River.
First Alert 4 reported four deaths and six injuries in its roundup of shootings across St. Louis City and County.
Among the incidents was a shooting in the Central West End involving two people at a Halloween gathering.
Other reported incidents occurred in Jennings, LaSalle Park, Fox Park, and North St. Louis.
One woman was discovered fatally shot during a welfare check on October 31. Because the available reporting did not establish when she was shot, that case is excluded from the strictly dated shooting count.
Additional violence occurred in Madison, Illinois, where a shooting at Madison Senior High School during a youth football event reportedly left one person dead and three wounded.
The St. Louis findings underscore the continuing challenge facing law enforcement agencies and community leaders seeking to reduce violent crime.
Dallas and Jacksonville Experience Deadly Weekends
Dallas experienced one of the most serious clusters of Halloween-weekend shootings.
Three separate shootings occurred in the Deep Ellum entertainment district early Sunday, November 1, within approximately 75 minutes.
According to the Dallas Police Department, the incidents occurred near Elm Street, Main Street, and South Crowdus Street.
Four people were killed, and approximately 15 others were injured.
Police initially said investigators had not established that the three shootings were connected.
The violence prompted renewed concerns about public safety in one of Dallas’s best-known nightlife districts.
A separate shooting outside a Halloween gathering in the Red Bird area left another man seriously wounded.
Jacksonville, Florida, experienced six separate shootings, according to a detailed November 2 investigation by News4JAX.
Those incidents left three people dead and 14 injured.
A 17-year-old girl was killed outside a Halloween party near Arlington Expressway after an argument escalated into gunfire.
Investigators said the girl and two other victims appeared to have been unintended targets.
Hours later, another shooting outside a house party near Wilcox and Fifth streets killed a 20-year-old man and wounded nine others, including a 15-year-old girl.
Jacksonville’s six-incident account also included a police-involved shooting.
The Jacksonville and Dallas cases illustrate why incidents and victims must be counted separately. Three shootings in Dallas resulted in approximately 19 people being shot, while Jacksonville’s six shootings resulted in 17 gunshot victims.
Smaller Communities Also Suffered Fatal Shootings
Gun violence was not limited to major metropolitan areas.
In Montana, separate shootings near Eureka and Plains resulted in four reported deaths.
Near Eureka, a sheriff’s deputy and a woman were killed, while a police officer was wounded.
In Plains, two people were killed and another seriously injured.
In Boulder, Colorado, two 19-year-old University of Colorado students were shot at a Halloween house party. One died, and the other was critically injured.
Another shooting near Greeley, Colorado, left one person dead and another wounded.
In Spartanburg, South Carolina, two teenagers, ages 15 and 17, were killed outside a restaurant. A third person was injured.
Other shootings were documented in communities including Yakima and Pasco, Washington; Madison and Appleton, Wisconsin; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The research also identified violence in college communities, suburban neighborhoods, and residential streets where families were participating in ordinary weekend activities.
These incidents demonstrate that firearm violence cannot be understood solely through the experiences of the nation’s largest cities.
Children and Young Adults Among the Victims
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the investigation is how many young people were affected.
The STL.News working register identifies at least 50 reported victims younger than 21.
Among those were 22 children younger than 18 and 28 young adults ages 18 through 20.
Delaware provides one of the clearest examples.
At an outdoor Halloween party in Ellendale, nine people were shot, including a 17-year-old girl who later died.
Delaware State Police reported that eight of the nine victims were younger than 21.
In a separate Newark shooting, six people were wounded, including five younger than 21.
Together, those two Delaware incidents account for 13 reported victims younger than 21.
In Detroit, a five-year-old girl was shot inside her home after returning from trick-or-treating.
In Milwaukee, a seven-year-old was among those wounded during the weekend.
In Jackson, Mississippi, eight young adults ages 18 through 20 were reportedly shot near a nightclub, including two who died.
The incidents demonstrate how young people can become victims in very different circumstances.
Some were attending parties or social gatherings. Others were simply at home or nearby when gunfire erupted.
However, the weekend’s findings alone cannot establish that youth gun violence is increasing nationally. Determining that trend requires consistent historical data and comparable definitions across reporting periods.
What these incidents do establish is that children and young adults were repeatedly among those injured or killed.
Why Are So Many Young People Being Shot?
There is no single explanation for shootings involving teenagers and young adults.
The incidents documented during Halloween weekend occurred under different circumstances, including disputes at parties, shootings outside businesses, domestic disturbances, violence near university communities, and gunfire directed toward homes.
Some victims were unintended targets.
Others were wounded during confrontations that investigators were still examining.
The availability of firearms, unsafe firearm storage, illegal gun possession, interpersonal conflicts, and the challenges of protecting crowded public gatherings all deserve attention.
However, it would be inaccurate to suggest that every incident involved an illegally possessed firearm or that every young victim was participating in criminal activity.
The shooting of a five-year-old inside a Detroit home illustrates how children can suffer devastating consequences from disputes in which they had no involvement.
Similarly, teenagers at social events may be put in danger by someone carrying a firearm.
Prevention requires attention to firearm access, conflict intervention, responsible storage, community safety, and effective law enforcement.
No single explanation accounts for every shooting documented during the weekend.
What the Investigation’s Numbers Mean
The STL.News investigation distinguished between separate shooting incidents and the number of people struck by gunfire.
A single incident involving nine victims counts as one shooting, not nine separate shootings.
The investigation compared reports from different news organizations describing the same location and event to reduce duplicate counting.
The investigation also maintained a separate category for confirmed gunfire incidents in which nobody was reported struck by a bullet.
The team entered four such incidents into the separate gunfire register.
The victim-involved register contains 130 records, including 129 assigned to October 30 through November 1 and one with an uncertain shooting date.
Its date-adjusted casualty calculation includes approximately 68 deaths and 194 nonfatal victims. These figures remain provisional because some reports contain incomplete casualty information and others require final source reconciliation.
Police-involved shootings were tracked separately by classification where identifiable. Fatalities from unrelated vehicle crashes, stabbings, and other causes were not counted as shooting deaths.
The figures should be understood as a preliminary documented minimum within the reviewed material, not proof of the complete national toll.
Additional incidents may have gone unreported, appeared only in local police records, or been reported after the research cutoff.
A Holiday Weekend With Lasting Consequences
Halloween is traditionally a time for neighborhood celebrations, costumes, parties, and children visiting homes for candy.
For many American families in 2026, the holiday weekend instead brought emergency medical responses, police investigations, hospitalizations, and deaths.
The consequences extend beyond those directly struck by bullets.
Families must cope with the loss of loved ones, surviving victims may face long recoveries, and communities must confront the fear and disruption left behind.
Children and young adults’ involvement makes the issue especially urgent.
Reducing gun violence requires sustained attention to prevention, enforcement, firearm safety, and the circumstances that lead individuals to use weapons during disputes.
The STL.News investigation documents a broad pattern of shootings during one three-day holiday period, affecting communities of different sizes across the country.
The central finding is not that every shooting in America has been counted. It is that the available local reporting documents extensive violence, and the true nationwide toll may be higher than the incidents identified in this investigation.
For families who lost loved ones, the consequences are already permanent.
Read “St. Louis Ranks 3rd in Halloween Shooting Review” at STL.News.
Sources and Footnotes
The following are principal original and local sources supporting the investigation. The complete research register includes additional local reports and police records.
- CBS Chicago — Four killed, 11 wounded in weekend shootings, November 2, 2026.
- First Alert 4 St. Louis — Multiple shootings across the bi-state region, November 1, 2026.
- FOX29 Philadelphia — Halloween weekend shootings and stabbings, November 1, 2026.
- Dallas Police Department — Deep Ellum shooting report, November 1, 2026.
- News4JAX — Six shootings, three deaths and 14 injuries, November 2, 2026.
- Delaware State Police — Fatal Ellendale Halloween shooting, November 1, 2026.
- Delaware Governor’s Office — Newark and Ellendale shootings, November 1, 2026.
- FOX29 Philadelphia — Halloween shootings involving teenagers, November 1, 2026.
- News4JAX — Jacksonville house-party shooting, November 2, 2026.
- STL.News — Central West End Halloween-party shooting, November 1, 2026.
Research Methodology and Editorial Disclaimer
Methodology: STL.News compiled reports of shootings occurring October 30 through November 1, 2026, using local news coverage, police announcements, law enforcement releases, and publicly available incident information. The research distinguished separate incidents from individual gunshot victims, compared reports to identify potential duplicates, and recorded reported fatalities, nonfatal injuries, and available victim ages.
Important disclaimer: This investigation is based on a provisional incident register, not a comprehensive national law enforcement database. The recorded figures include outstanding source and casualty uncertainties and should not be described as fully certified nationwide totals.
The actual number of shootings, deaths, and injuries may be higher than the documented figures. Some incidents may not have been publicly reported or may have been reported after the research cutoff.
Including an incident does not establish criminal responsibility for any individual. People accused of crimes are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
STL.News will evaluate material corrections and additional verified information as it becomes available.
