The FBI saw a considerable increase in tips following the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
An FBI official told Newsy that in the first full week following the back-to-back attacks, the agency's National Threat Operations Center received more than 38,000 tips from the public. That is a more than 70% increase from the amount of tips the center usually gets in an average week, which is around 22,000.
That being said, there are a few caveats. Although the FBI official said the center receives, on average, about 22,000 tips per week, that number does fluctuate, making it hard to put real numbers on it. They also said that not all tips called into the center become active FBI investigations; some are handed off to local law enforcement, some aren't actionable, and some aren't really tips at all – just people calling to give opinions or thank the FBI for its work.
Twenty-two people were killed in the El Paso shooting on Aug. 3 when a gunman opened fire in a Walmart. The following day, another shooter opened fire in a popular downtown area in Dayton, leaving nine people dead.
