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 Track (rail transport), rails (such as trains or trams) and is used for the transportation of pe ...

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, 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 A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

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 scenes in situations like the

2015 San Bernardino attack On December 2, 2015, a terrorist attack, consisting of a mass shooting and an attempted bombing, occurred at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. The perpetrators, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a married couple ...

, and can simultaneously serve as

getaway vehicle A crime scene getaway is the act of fleeing the location where one has broken the law. It is an act that the offender(s) may or may not have planned in detail, resulting in a variety of outcomes. A :crime scene is the "location of a crime; e ...

s. 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 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 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 collectivel ...

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 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 ...

'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 op ...

''. Chicago Prohibition-era gangster and North Side Gang boss Bugs Moran 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 Stat ...

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

South Side gang The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, tha ...

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 gangs, such as the Saltis-McErlane Gang, the Sheldon Gang, 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; and the " Young Turks" led by up-and-coming gangster Joey Merlino. 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 Controlled-access highway, freeway through southern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County and the city of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Philade ...

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

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, Mac Dre. Other rappers, such as

Obie Trice Obie Trice III (born November 14, 1977) is an American rapper. He was signed to fellow Detroit rapper Eminem's Shady Records in 2002, where he released the albums ''Cheers'' (2003) and ''Second Round's on Me'' (2006). Trice formed his own record ...

, 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, 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

In Italy 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—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 On 3 February 2018, a right-wing terrorist shooting occurred in Macerata, Italy. It received widespread media coverage and affected Italian politics as it occurred during the political campaign for the 2018 Italian general election. Events On 3 ...

, conducted against six African people by a far-right extremist, Luca Traini, using an Alfa Romeo 147. 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, 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 Gangs Guerrilla warfare tactics Urban decay