More people have died in schools than military service members in 2018: report

A new analysis by The Washington Post found that more people have been killed at schools so far in 2018 than have been killed while serving in the U.S. military, based on data from Defense Department news releases.

After the shooting deaths of 10 people at a Texas high school on Friday, the newspaper’s database has recorded 29 deaths in 16 different incidents in the U.S. as of Friday. 

Since the publication of the Post’s article, the death toll has risen to 10 people.

{mosads}During the same time period, according to Defense Department data, only 13 service member fatalities were recorded in seven incidents.

Seven of those fatalities occurred during a helicopter crash in Iraq this March. Three military casualties were not related to combat.

The Post, however, does not suggest that schools are more dangerous than combat zones. According to more recent data compiled from each of the military branches’ websites, there have been more people killed while serving than in school shootings.

Still, last year, the number of fatalities was significantly greater than the number of people killed in school shootings, the paper reported.

This, in part, is because of February’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead. 

The Post noted that there are more than 50 million students in public schools but only 1.3 million members of the armed forces. Service members are still about 17 times more likely to be killed than someone in a school shooting.