Drive-by shooting

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A drive-by shooting (sometimes referred to merely as a drive-by) is an attack on a person carried out with one or more firearms, usually automatic handguns or sub-machine guns from a moving vehicle (or a momentarily stopped vehicle). They often result in the shooting of innocent bystanders because the objective is to overwhelm the target by a sudden, massive amount of firepower without attention to accuracy. The Irish-American gangster, "Mad Dog" Coll, is believed to have invented the drive-by shooting. Drive by shootings were popular in the 1920's Chicago era and were usually carried out by one or more persons equipted with "Tommy Guns" which were sub-machine guns.

Drive-by shootings are popular among criminals (and gang members in particular), because the shooter is already in the getaway car. One of the first documented drive-by shootings in the United States was during the Chicago, Illinois Race Riot of 1919. Drive-by shootings became common during the gang wars of the Prohibition era.

The Chinese Civil War saw the drive-by shooting elevated to military tactics, when warlords fielded armored cars (regular cars replated with steel sheets) with a mounted Colt machine gun on top. Drive-by assassinations of political leaders have been common in some regions and eras; they have been used extensively in postwar Iraq.

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