Drive-By Shootings

A drive-by shooting refers to an incident when someone fires a gun from a vehicle, a person, a structure, or another stationary object. Drive-by shootings are a subset of more general gun violence and are less common than incidents in which someone approaches another on foot and fires at him or her. Many drive-by shootings involves multiple suspects and multiple victims. Using a vehicle allows the shooter to approach the intended target without being noticed and then to speed away before anyone reacts.

Factors Contributing to Drive-By Shootings

Gang Membership

Although gang membership is certainly not a prerequisite to being involved in a drive-by shooting, studies have shown that larger proportions of gang members reported being involved in drive-by shootings than at-risk youth who were not gang-involved. Gang membership may faciliate involvement in drive-by shootings by placing members in risky situations-ones in which guns are present and behavioral norms often include violence. Gang members are most likely than nongang members to own guns for protection, are more likely to have friends who own guns for protection, and more likely to carry guns when outside the home. Further, while not all gang members engage in drive-by shootings, those who do are often attracted by the opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty and enhance their group status.

Motivations

Depending on whether the drive-by shooting is gang related or not, motivations differ. Those that are gang-involved tend to be motivated by mutual antagonism with rival gang members, disputes over territory or turf, a desire to show fearlessness or loyalty to the group, an effort to promote one's social status or self-image, or retaliation gainst real or perceived disrespect or insults. Disputes among drug dealers may also provide the motivation for drive-by shootings. Gang members involved in drug enterprises tend not only to rely on the formal criminal justice system to resolve their disputes. Instead, they respond with their own forms of justice, often violence, to punish others for perceived wrongs and to deter future aggression.

Vehicle and Gun Availability

Those who carry out drive-by shootings may use their own vehicle or one that has been borrowed, rented, or stolen. Because many drive-by shootings occur at night, dependable descriptions of the vehicle involved may be difficult to obtain. Those who carry guns for protection may be resistant to voluntarily forfeiting their weapons, as they fear harm from peers for rival gang members more than they fear legal sanctions.

Times and Locations

Many drive-by shootings occur under the over of darkness, either to help the shooters avoid detection or because their precipitating events occur at night. Gang members tend to target rival groups at parties or lingering on the street.

This page was created with the help from the U.S Dept. of Justice