A trigger-happy world: Worst shootings in past two decades

The mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday is among the most deadly worldwide in recent years. Here is a timeline of some of the worst shooting incidents carried out by one or two gunmen around the world in the past two decades. April 1982, South Korea: A police officer went on a drunken rampage in Sang-Namdo with rifles and hand grenades, killing 57 people and wounding 38 before blowing himself up. August 19, 1987, Britain: A 27-year-old gunman rampaged through the English town of Hungerford, killing 16 people and wounding 11 before shooting himself. July 1989, France: A French farmer shot and killed 14 people including members of his family in the village of Luxiol, near the Swiss border. He was wounded and captured by police. December 1989, Canada: A 25-year-old war movie fan with a grudge against women shot dead 14 young women at the University of Montreal, then killed himself. November 1990, New Zealand: A gun-mad loner killed 11 men, women and children in a 24-hour rampage in the seaside village of Aramoana. He was killed by police. [caption id=“attachment_558239” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  In Norway in July 2011, a lone gunman opened fire on a youth camp and killed 77 people. Reuters[/caption] September 1995, France: A 16-year-old youth ran amok with a rifle in the town of Cuers, killing 16 people and then himself after an argument with his parents. March 13, 1996, Britain: - A gunman burst into a primary school in the Scottish town of Dunblane and shot dead 16 children and their teacher before killing himself. April 28, 1996, Australia: A gunman unleashed modern Australia’s worst mass murder when he shot dead 35 people at the Port Arthur tourist site in the southern state of Tasmania. April 1999, USA: - Two heavily-armed teenagers went on a rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 students and staff before taking their own lives. July 1999, USA: A gunman killed nine people at two brokerages in Atlanta, after apparently killing his wife and two children. He committed suicide five hours later. June 2001, Nepal: Eight members of the Nepalese Royal family were killed in a palace massacre by Crown Prince Dipendra who later turned a gun on himself and died few days later. His youngest brother also died later raising the death toll to 10. April 26, 2002, Germany: In Erfurt, eastern Germany, a 19-year-old gunman opened fire at a school, killing 12 teachers, a secretary, two students and a policeman before killing himself. October 2002, USA: Two men killed 10 people in sniper-style shooting deaths that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area. April 16, 2007, USA:  A gunman killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech, a university in Blacksburg, Virginia. September 23, 2008, Finland: A student opened fire in a vocational school in Kauhajoki in northwest Finland, killing nine other students and one staff member, then killed himself. March 11, 2009, Germany: A 17-year-old gunman dressed in black combat gear killed nine students and three teachers at a school near Stuttgart. He also killed one other person at a nearby clinic. He was later killed in a shoot-out with police. November 5, 2009, USA: A gunman opened fire at Fort Hood, a U.S. Army base in Texas, killing 13 people and wounding 31. An Army major is charged in connection with the rampage. June 2, 2010, Britain: A gunman opened fire on people in towns across the rural county of Cumbria. Twelve people were killed and 11 injured. The gunman then killed himself. July 22, 2011, Norway: A gunman blew up a government building in Oslo and then opened fire at a youth summer camp of Norway’s ruling political party, on the holiday island of Utoeya, killing 77 people. July 20, 2012, USA: A masked gunman killed 12 people and wounded 58 when he opened fire on moviegoers at a showing of the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, a suburb of Denver. August 5, 2012, USA:  A gunman opened fire during Sunday services at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. He killed six people before he was shot dead by police. December 14, 2012, USA:  A heavily armed gunman killed at least 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, and a body was found elsewhere in the town. The gunman was also dead. Reuters