On April 20, in an event that shocked the nation and drew world attention once again to gun violence in America, two high school students at Columbine High School near Littleton, Colorado, armed with automatic weapons and shotguns, killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 23 others before turning their guns on themselves.

As the nation's mayors and police chiefs carried their call for common-sense gun legislation to the Congress on Gun Safety Day, The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a survey which shows the continuing deaths in cities due to gun violence.

The report, entitled "The Death Toll Since Columbine: Victims of Gun Violence in Cities," covers the experience of just 44 U.S. cities in which 556 persons have died as a result of gun violence since April 20.  It is a report on the actual fatalities produced by this gun violence, based on the cities' responses to a late-August request for information by The U.S. Conference of Mayors.

For these cities, the report lists, by date, between April 20 and September 1, the name and age of each victim (except where police department policy does not permit the release of this information, or where the victim could not be identified.) (see Center Section for the  listing of names).

The report notes that on only two days during this period -- April 24 and August 26 -- no firearms deaths occurred in any of the 44 cities.  In addition,  61 of these gunshot fatalities were 18 years of age and under.  The youngest victim was just three, the oldest was 84.

As Conference of Mayors President Wellington E. Webb stated in unveiling the survey, "this report makes it clear that, while Columbine may have been the event that moved a nation to say, 'this has got to stop,' the fact is, it has not stopped."

The 44 cities covered in the report range in size from Detroit, which has a population just over one million, to Superior, Wisconsin, with a population of 27,500.  An additional 24 cities responding to the Conference's request for information on gun violence fatalities since April 20 reported that none had occurred.

A full copy of the report is available on The U.S. Conference of Mayors web site at www:usmayors.org/uscm .

Not Just Names

In addition to listing the names of the victims and dates of their deaths, the report also includes brief descriptions of the circumstances surrounding a number of these shootings.  Perhaps one of the most poignant is the following incident:

Gary, IN:  On June 30, Blake King, widely regarded in the community as "a fine young man," was shot and killed after having argued with a friend.  While Blake and his friend appeared to be settling their differences in a civilized manner, their argument became physical, with pushing and shoving.  After the fight and the argument appeared to be over, Blake's friend went home, retrieved a handgun, returned to the scene, and shot Blake in the head.  Rushed to a local hospital, he was pronounced dead approximately one hour later.  The victim, who was the nephew of Mayor Scott King, had turned 17 four days prior to the shooting.

Mayor King joined Mayor Webb at a press conference on the eve of Gun Safety Day and said, "one of the recurring duties of mayors is to attend the funerals of victims of gun violence, a very difficult duty.  On July 5, I attended yet another such funeral, but this one was for my nephew."

Mayor King's nephew was shot by a gun that was not secured by a safety lock.

"I don't suggest that passage of any laws is a cure for what ails us, but it is an important start... it could mean a few less Blakes," added Mayor King.