Washington: In a wave of weekend violence and mass shootings across the US, at least six people—among them a Pennsylvania state trooper—were killed and numerous others were hurt.
The shootings in Baltimore, Southern California, Washington state, Pennsylvania, St. Louis, and suburban Chicago come after a rise in homicides and other forms of violence over the past few years, which experts say was sped up by the coronavirus pandemic.
There has undoubtedly been an increase in violence, according to Carnegie Mellon University professor of public policy and statistics Daniel Nagin. Some of these cases appear to be simple disputes, frequently involving teenagers, and these disputes are resolved using firearms rather than fists.
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Regarding the cause of the increase, researchers cannot agree. According to Nagin, theories suggest that the high prevalence of guns in America, less aggressive police tactics, or a drop in prosecutions for misdemeanour weapon offences are to blame for the increase in violent crime.
None of the weekend-long incidents met the criteria for a "mass killing" as of Sunday night because fewer than four people per incident were killed. The majority of these incidents do, however, fit the generally accepted definition of mass shootings in terms of the number of injured.
Chicago, Illinois
Authorities reported that at least 23 people were shot early on Sunday in a suburban Chicago parking lot where hundreds of people had gathered to commemorate Juneteenth, one of whom died.
In Willowbrook, Illinois, about 20 miles southwest of Chicago, a "peaceful gathering" that had been going on suddenly turned violent, according to the DuPage County sheriff's office. Several people opened fire into the crowd.
The reason behind the attack wasn't immediately clear. According to Robert Carroll, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, investigators were speaking with "persons of interest" in the shooting.
Markeshia Avery, a witness, claimed that the event was intended to commemorate Juneteenth, a federal holiday observed on Monday in remembrance of the day in 1865 when slaves in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Avery told WLS-TV, "We just started hearing shooting, so we dropped down until they stopped."
Washington
When a shooter started firing "randomly" into a crowd at a campground in Washington state where people were staying to attend a nearby music festival on Saturday night, two people were killed and two others were injured, according to police.
At a distance of several hundred yards from the Beyond Wonderland electronic dance music festival, the suspect was shot during a confrontation with law enforcement officers and taken into custody.
People were warned by a public alert that there was an active shooter nearby and instructed to "run, hide, or fight."
According to Kyle Foreman, a spokesman for the Grant County Sheriff's Office, the festival lasted until early Sunday morning. The concert on Sunday was then postponed by the organisers via a tweet.
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
One state trooper was killed and a second critically wounded just hours apart in central Pennsylvania on Saturday after a gunman attacked a state police barracks.
The suspect drove his truck into the parking lot of the Lewistown barracks about 11 a.m. Saturday and opened fire with a large-caliber rifle on marked patrol cars before fleeing, authorities said Sunday.
Lt. James Wagner, 45, was shot and critically wounded after encountering the suspect several miles away in Mifflintown. Later, Trooper Jacques Rougeau Jr., 29, was ambushed and killed by a gunshot through the windshield of his patrol car as he drove down a road in nearby Walker Township, authorities said.
The suspect was shot and killed after a fierce gunbattle, said Lt. Col. George Bivens, who went up in a helicopter to coordinate the search for the 38-year-old suspect.
“What I witnessed ... was one of the most intense, unbelievable gunfights I have ever witnessed,” Bivens said, lauding troopers for launching an aggressive search despite the fact that they were facing a weapon that “would defeat any of the body armor that they had available to them.”
A motive was not immediately known.
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Saint Louis
According to the city's police commissioner, a 17-year-old was killed and nine other teenagers were injured in an early Sunday shooting in a downtown St. Louis office building.
Robert Tracy, the commissioner of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police, named the deceased as Makao Moore, a 17-year-old. According to a spokesman, police have taken into custody a minor with a handgun as a person of interest.
Around one in the morning on Sunday, shooting started while teenagers were having a party in an office setting.
The victims, who were aged 15 to 19, suffered injuries like multiple gunshot wounds. As she fled, a 17-year-old girl was crushed, seriously hurting her spine, according to Tracy.
The ground was covered with shell casings from various firearms, including AR-style rifles.
southern california
According to authorities, eight people were injured in a shooting at a pool party at a home in Southern California on Saturday.
In Carson, California, which is south of Los Angeles, authorities were called, according to KABC-TV.
According to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the victims' ages range from 16 to 24. According to the statement, they were taken to hospitals, where two were given critical condition statuses.
When they arrived at the scene of a call about a car that had crashed into a nearby wall, authorities claimed they discovered another 16-year-old boy who had been shot.
Baltimore
A shooting that happened in Baltimore on Friday night left six people hurt. Everyone was anticipated to survive.
Just before 9 p.m., police heard gunfire in the city's north and discovered three men who had sustained numerous gunshot wounds. They were taken to nearby hospitals by medics for treatment.
Three additional victims with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds walked into nearby hospitals, the police later discovered.
According to Lindsey Eldridge, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore Police Department, the injured were between the ages of 17 and 26.
