For Release: Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Washington, DC — More than 1,000 people died in murder-suicides in America in 2025, 92 percent of the killers were male, 87 percent of the killers used a gun, and 65 percent involved an intimate partner according to the ninth edition of the Violence Policy Center (VPC) study American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States.
The study, which analyzes news reports of murder-suicides for the six-month period January 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025, found that there were 237 murder-suicide events during this period, or nine murder-suicides per week. These incidents resulted in 526 deaths, of which 237 were suicides and 289 were homicides. Doubling the total number of fatalities results in a yearly estimate of 1,052 murder-suicide deaths for 2025.
VPC Government Affairs Director Kristen Rand states, “The presence of a gun can escalate an argument to homicide and suicide in an instant. The catalytic role played by firearms must be taken into account in any prevention strategy. Our findings also highlight the need for a public, comprehensive national data collection system detailing the full extent of murder-suicide.”
Among American Roulette’s key findings:
- Nine murder-suicides occur across the country each week, claiming more than 1,000 lives annually.
- Of the 237 murder-suicides in the first half of 2025, 207 (87 percent) were known to involve a firearm.
- Most of the killers in murder-suicides were male. Of the 237 suicides, 219 (92 percent) were male, 12 (five percent) were female, and six (three percent) were not identified by sex.
- Most of the victims in murder-suicides were female. Of the 289 homicide victims, 221 (76 percent) were female, 57 (20 percent) were male, and 11 (four percent) were not identified by sex.
- Sixty-five percent of the murder-suicides involved an intimate partner. Of these, 99 percent were females killed by their intimate partners, and 88 percent involved a gun.
- Eighty percent of the murder-suicides occurred in the home.
- Twenty-seven children and teens less than 18 years of age were survivors who witnessed some aspect of the murder-suicide.
- Forty-five of the homicide victims were children and teens less than 18 years of age (16 percent).
Specific recommendations from the study’s findings include:
- Passage of stronger domestic violence prevention legislation and the establishment of state domestic violence task forces.
- Restricting access to firearms where there is an increased risk of a murder-suicide; for example, where an individual has a history of domestic violence and/or has threatened suicide.
- Aggressive enforcement of laws that prohibit individuals with a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction or who are the subject of a protective order for domestic violence from purchasing or possessing a firearm.
- Providing aid to older caregivers faced with depression and the strain of providing care for a spouse in failing health have been cited as a significant contributing factor to murder-suicide among older persons. Health care options that provide aid to older caregivers and that aim to monitor and treat depression in such cases may be one useful intervention.
- Establishing a comprehensive, up-to-date, and publicly accessible nationwide database to track murder-suicides.
No publicly available comprehensive national database or tracking system exists on murder-suicides in the United States. As a result, the VPC study necessarily relies on news reports for its analysis. The study’s estimate for the total number of murder-suicides per year is consistent with other research.
To view the complete text of American Roulette, including examples of murder-suicides that have occurred across the country, visit: https://vpc.org/studies/amroul2026.pdf.
For past editions of American Roulette, please visit: https://vpc.org/revealing-the-impacts-of-gun-violence/murder-suicide/.
***
The Violence Policy Center is a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury. Follow the VPC on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BlueSky.
