Yes, there were more children killed in school shootings this year than there were on-duty law enforcement officers killed by gunshots.

On Tuesday, 19 children and two teachers were shot to death at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, 85 miles west of San Antonio. According to Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety, police shot and killed the 18-year-old gunman.

After the tragedy, podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen wrote a viral tweet which claimed that “more children have been killed in school shootings than police officers have been shot in the line of duty” in 2022. He went on to state, “It is more dangerous to be a student than a police officer in America in 2022.”

Have more children died in school shootings than police officers have been fatally shot in the line of duty so far this year?

Yes, as of May 25, more children have been killed in school shootings than police officers who have been fatally shot in the line of duty.

As of May 25, 24 children have been killed in 27 school shootings in 2022. Between 17 and 21 law enforcement officers have been shot to death in the line of duty during that time. Data on law enforcement officers is preliminary and subject to further review.

There are two sources of data on children who have died in school shootings: education weeka nonprofit organization that provides research and reporting on K-12 education, and the School Shooting Database Projectconducted by the Center for Defense and Homeland Security (CHDS), which works in collaboration with FEMA.

Some organizations define the “school shooting” in different ways. The School Shooting Database begins with a broad definition that includes all firearms incidents at or near a school, and provides the user with options to narrow their search as needed. VERIFY narrowed the criteria in its search through the School Shooting Database Project to a shooting that occurred on school property during school hours in which someone other than the shooter was injured. Shootings in which the only shots were fired by a law enforcement officer or with a pellet gun were excluded.

By that definition, there have been 27 school shootings so far this year, according to Education Week and the School Shooting Database. Both data sources report that shooters killed four students and one non-student teen in school shootings before the shooting at Robb Elementary School. So far, 19 have died in that shooting, bringing the total to 24 children killed in school shootings this year.

There are three sources of deaths for law enforcement officers killed on the job: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)the Fallen Officer Memorial Page and the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund. The last two sources are non-profit organizations that collect your data based on external submissions that are vetted and verified by organization staff.

FBI data found that in the first four months of 2022, 17 law enforcement officers were shot and killed in the line of duty. Of those 17 deaths, the FBI defined 16 as “criminal,” meaning the shooting came from someone who committed a crime or from a civilian who accidentally fired a gun. The agency defined the 17th death as “accidental.” The FBI has not released preliminary data for the month of May.

The fallen officer’s memorial page has recorded 21 serving law enforcement officers who have been shot to death this year through May 25, and one of those deaths was accidental. He has recorded two firearm deaths in Mayneither of which were included in the FBI data.

As of May 25, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund has recorded 20 firearm-related officer deaths in 2022.

That puts shooting deaths of on-duty law enforcement officers at between 17 and 21 so far this year. That’s fewer than the 24 children who died in school shootings this year.

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