A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as motorized vehicle or automotive vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on rails (such as trains or trams) and is used for the transportation of people or cargo. The ...

and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before law enforcement is able to respond. A drive-by shooting's prerequisites include access to a vehicle and a gun. The protection, anonymity, sense of power, and ease of escape provided by the get away vehicle lead some motorists to feel safe expressing their hostility toward others.

Historical conception

The invention of the drive-by shooting is attributed to

Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno, The surname "Makhno" ( uk, Махно́) was itself a corruption of Nestor's father's surname "Mikhnenko" ( uk, Міхненко). ( 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ("Father Makhno"),; According to ...

, commander of the

Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine ( uk, Революційна Повстанська Армія України), also known as the Black Army or as Makhnovtsi ( uk, Махновці), named after their leader Nestor Makhno, was a ...

at the beginning of the 20th century. He combined horse and carriage with a machine gun in order to quickly assault targets then flee before they could properly react. Motor vehicles offer similar concealment for transport of weapons to

crime scene A crime scene is any location that may be associated with a committed crime. Crime scenes contain physical evidence that is pertinent to a criminal investigation. This evidence is collected by crime scene investigators (CSI) and law enforcemen ...

s in situations like the 2015 San Bernardino attack, and can simultaneously serve as getaway vehicles. Using a vehicle allows the shooter to approach the intended target without being noticed and then to speed away before anyone reacts. Drive-by shootings may result from road rage or personal disputes between neighbors, acquaintances, or strangers unrelated to gang membership.

United States

There is no national data on the volume of drive-by shootings. National statistical databases such as the

Uniform Crime Reports The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program compiles official data on crime in the United States, published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). UCR is "a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of nearly 18,000 city, university and c ...

record the shooting outcome rather than the method. Non-gang-related drive-by shootings are not well researched, but journalistic accounts and police reports suggest that these constitute a significant proportion of the drive-by shootings to which police respond. Drive-by shootings that occur as an extreme form of

road rage Road rage is aggressive or angry behavior exhibited by motorists. These behaviors include rude and verbal insults, yelling, physical threats or dangerous driving methods targeted at other drivers, pedestrians or cyclists in an effort to intimi ...

appear to be rather unpredictable in terms of the times and locations, but often occur in reaction to seemingly trivial events, although the underlying motivation usually appears to be a series of unrelated stressors in the perpetrator's life. A drive-by shooting's prerequisites include access to a vehicle and a gun. Recent legislation has focused on transfer of guns rather than vehicles, so those who carry out drive-by shootings may use their own vehicle or one that has been borrowed, rented, or stolen. The primary motivations for a gang-involved drive-by include intimidation, terrorization, and assassination of rival street gang members. Such shootings are associated with

gang violence A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...

in urban areas of the United States but also occur in other contexts. The tactic is also called simply a "drive-by".

History

Motorcycle ride-by killings were a common form of murder used by drug lord

Griselda Blanco Griselda Blanco Restrepo (February 15, 1943 – September 3, 2012), known as ''the Black Widow'', was a Colombian drug lord of the Medellín Cartel, and in the Miami-based cocaine drug trade and underworld, during the 1970s through the early ...

during her years controlling the Miami cocaine trade routes in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Blanco herself died by this method after having been shot twice in the head by a motorcyclist in a drive-by shooting in Medellín, Colombia. Drive-by shootings are also included in the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Ca ...

's ''

modus operandi A ''modus operandi'' (often shortened to M.O.) is someone's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also more generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode (or manner) of o ...

''. Chicago

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

-era gangster and

North Side Gang The North Side Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was an Irish-Polish-American criminal organization within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early 1920s to the mid-1930s. It was the principal rival of the South Side Gang, al ...

boss

Bugs Moran George Clarence "Bugs" Moran (; Adelard Leo Cunin; August 21, 1893 – February 25, 1957) was an American Chicago Prohibition-era gangster. He was incarcerated three times before his 21st birthday. Seven members of his gang were gunned dow ...

was considered a "pioneer" of the drive-by shooting, with the

Tommy gun The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy Gun", "Chicago Typewriter", "Chicago Piano", “Trench Sweeper” or "Trench Broom") is a blowback-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed selective-fire submachine gun, invented by United St ...

being the weapon of choice. The notoriously vicious gang performed multiple shootings against their rivals, including the South Side gang led by

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...

and the Genna brothers. Other

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

gangs, such as the

Saltis-McErlane Gang Joseph Francis Saltis, (8 September 1894 – 2 August 1947), known as "Polack Joe", was a Polish-American Prohibition gangster who, with Frank McErlane, operated an illegal bootlegging racket in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago, Illi ...

, the

Sheldon Gang The Sheldon Gang was a Chicago criminal gang during the early years of Prohibition known for being the main rivals of the Saltis-McErlane Gang and the Southside O'Donnell Brothers. The gang's primary activities included bootlegging and hijacking ...

, and the Southside O'Donnell's, also executed drive-bys on one another in the Chicago area. During the Second Philadelphia Mafia War, two warring factions fought for control of the family; one led by former alleged boss,

John Stanfa Giovanni "John" Stanfa (; born December 7, 1940) is an Italian-born American former boss of the Philadelphia crime family from 1991 to 1995. Convicted of multiple charges in 1995, Stanfa was sentenced to life in prison. Early life Stanfa was b ...

; and the " Young Turks" led by up-and-coming gangster

Joey Merlino Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 13, 1962) is an Italian-American mobster and reputed boss of the Philadelphia crime family. He rose to power in the mid-nineties after he allegedly fought a war for control of the criminal organ ...

. On 5 August 1993, Merlino survived a drive-by shooting assassination attempt by two Stanfa gunmen, taking four bullets in the leg and buttocks, while his friend and associate Michael Ciancaglini was shot in the chest and killed. On 31 August 1993, a drive by shooting was performed on Stanfa and his son while they were driving on the

Schuylkill Expressway The Schuylkill Expressway , locally known as "the Schuylkill", is a freeway through southern Montgomery County and the city of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, and the easternmost segment of Interstate 76 (I-76) in the U.S. state of Penns ...

. Stanfa escaped uninjured and his son survived being shot in the jaw. In 1992, the

Mexican Mafia The Mexican Mafia (Spanish: ''Mafia Mexicana''), also known as ''La eMe'' (Spanish for "the M"), is a Mexican American criminal organization in the United States. Despite its name, the Mexican Mafia did not originate in Mexico, and is entirely a ...

prison gang announced an edict that no Sureno gangs were to commit drive-by shootings, in order to avoid police crackdowns throughout neighborhoods in southern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. Those who broke the edict were to be greenlighted for assault or even death in the California prison system. Numerous hip hop artists have been targeted in drive-bys; prominent rappers who were killed in such incidents include

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

Big L Lamont Coleman (May 30, 1974February 15, 1999), known professionally as Big L, was an American rapper and record executive. Emerging from Harlem in New York City in 1992, Coleman became known among underground hip-hop fans for his freestyling ...

, Mac Dre. Other rappers, such as Obie Trice, have survived being assaulted in drive-by shootings. On August 11, 1999, 4-time POGs championship winner Vanessa Rivas (b. January 10, 1984) was killed in a gang-related drive-by shooting while visiting her boyfriend, Latin Kings member Maximillano Castillo. Castillo was targeted by rival gang member Arthur Lopez Jr. and an associate Luis Acevedo. Rivas was killed by a stray bullet. In 2015, Jorja Leap, an UCLA anthropologist studying

gang culture A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...

, pointed out how drive-by shooting tactics are being replaced by the "walk-up shooting" method, because murders have become more targeted and while driving, there is low accuracy in aiming.

Italy

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

the circulation of firearms is low compared to that in the United States, and just over a million civilians own a firearm license, so face-to-face shooting or threats with firearms are rare. Drive-by shooting is then common especially in professional criminal context as the statistical incidence says that almost all assaults with firearms are carried out with a running car or

moped A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. The term used to mean a similar vehicle except with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typic ...

—this kind of vehicle is used for reasons of better mobility in the narrow city districts. From the 1970s into the 21st century, the

Camorra The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-typeMafia and Mafia-type orga ...

have been known for performing drive-by shootings during clan or gang wars, or to execute targeted murders. One of the most striking episodes of a drive-by shooting in Italy was the Macerata shooting, conducted against six African people by a far-right extremist, Luca Traini, using an

Alfa Romeo 147 The Alfa Romeo 147 (Type 937) is a small family car produced by the Italian automaker Alfa Romeo from 2000 to 2010. The 147 was voted European Car of the Year in 2001. The 147 was launched at the Turin Motor Show in June 2000 as a replacement fo ...

. However, the attack caused no deaths.

Syrian and Iraqi civil wars

In the first decade of the 21st century, drive-by shootings were also used for assassinations by militants in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, including that of the Waldemar Milewicz and Hatem Kamil. and in Syria.

References

External links

BBC article on 17 November shooting

Database of Iraqi civilian casualties
{{portal bar, Cars

Drive-by A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...

Gangs Guerrilla warfare tactics Urban decay