This past weekend, there were numerous mass shootings and acts of violence across the country that resulted in the deaths of at least six individuals, including a Pennsylvania state trooper. In Illinois, several gunmen opened fire on a throng celebrating the holidays, and in Missouri, juvenile partygoers were hit by flying bullets.
The murders and other violent crimes have increased significantly over the past few years, a trend that scientists say exacerbated during the coronavirus outbreak. These shootings come after that uptick. They occurred in Baltimore, Southern California, Central Pennsylvania, St. Louis, suburban Chicago, Washington state, and Washington.
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 arguments, frequently involving teenagers, and these disputes are resolved with firearms rather than fists.
Regarding the cause of the growth, researchers cannot agree. According to Nagin, theories include that the high prevalence of guns in America, less aggressive police methods, or a drop in prosecutions for petty weapon violations 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 less than four persons per incident were killed. The shooter is not included in the figure. However, the majority of the injured cases fall within the generally accepted definition of mass shootings.
This weekend’s shootings are summarized below:
Illinois’s Willowbrook
Authorities reported that at least 23 individuals were shot, one of whom died, early on Sunday in a Chicago suburb parking lot where hundreds of people had congregated to commemorate Juneteenth.
A “peaceful gathering” in Willowbrook, Illinois, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, turned violent at one point as several people fired multiple bullets into the crowd, according to the DuPage County sheriff’s office.
The reason behind the attack wasn’t immediately clear. According to Robert Carroll, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, investigators were speaking with “persons of interest” in the incident.
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 released, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Avery told WLS-TV, “We just started hearing shooting, so we dropped down until they stopped.”
In a statement, the White House described the violence as a tragedy and expressed the president’s condolences for the victims and injured. JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, declared in a statement that he was keeping an eye on the inquiry.
Holiday gatherings should be happy occasions, not times when families must flee for their lives due to a shooting, according to Pritzker.
WASHINGTON STATE
At a campsite in Washington State where many people were staying to attend a local music festival on Saturday night, a shooter started firing “randomly” into a crowd and caused the deaths of two people and the injuries of two more, according to authorities.
At a distance of several hundred yards from the Beyond Wonderland electronic dance music festival, the suspect was shot during a struggle with law enforcement personnel and taken into custody.
People were warned by a public notice 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 celebration lasted until early Sunday morning. The event on Sunday was subsequently postponed by the organizers via a tweet.
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
Following a shooting at a state police barracks on Saturday in central Pennsylvania, one state trooper died and another was badly injured hours apart.
At about 11 a.m. on Saturday, the suspect pulled his truck into the Lewistown barracks parking lot and fired a large-caliber weapon at a line of marked patrol cars before escaping, according to authorities.
Lt. James Wagner, 45, was shot after running into the suspect near Mifflintown from a distance of several miles, leaving him in critical condition. Later, as Trooper Jacques Rougeau Jr., 29, was traveling down a road in nearby Walker Township, he was ambushed and fatally shot through the glass of his patrol car, according to the authorities.
The 38-year-old suspect was shot and killed during a heated gunbattle, according to Lt. Col. George Bivens, who flew in a helicopter to oversee the hunt for the man.
Bivens praised troops for initiating an aggressive search despite coming across a weapon that “would defeat any of the body armor that they had available to them.” “What I witnessed… was one of the most intense, unbelievable gunfights I have ever witnessed,” Bivens added.
The reason wasn’t immediately clear.
Saint Louis
According to the city’s police commissioner, a 17-year-old was killed and 10 other adolescents 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 spokeswoman, police have taken into custody a minor with a firearm as a person of interest.
Around one in the morning on Sunday, gunfire started when 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 escaped, a 17-year-old girl was crushed, gravely hurting her spine, according to Tracy.
The ground was covered with shell casings from various firearms, including AR-style rifles.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Eight people were injured in a shooting at a pool party at a Southern California residence, according to authorities on Saturday.
According to KABC-TV, authorities were called to Carson, California, which is south of Los Angeles, shortly after midnight.
The victims’ ages range from 16 to 24, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Two of them were listed in critical condition when they were taken to hospitals, according to the statement.
When authorities responded to a call regarding a car that had crashed into a nearby wall, they claimed to have 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 individuals who had sustained many 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.
THE SAN FRANCISCO
Police reported that six persons were hurt in a “car-to-car” gunfire on Sunday night in San Francisco.
Two people were shot during the ongoing gunfire that started just before 7 o’clock, one of whom suffered life-threatening wounds, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott stated at a press conference on Sunday.
Near the northern waterfront, Scott claimed that two suspects in a black SUV and a white sedan “drove very recklessly and chased each other while engaged in gunfire”. One of the busiest tourist sites in the city, Fisherman’s Wharf, is located in this region.
According to Scott, three individuals were hurt by glass shards from “errant gunfire,” but none of the wounds were life-threatening.
One of the two automobiles struck two girls, ages 10 and 16, as they rode their bicycles across the street. According to Scott, the older daughter was unharmed while the younger girl suffered non-life-threatening injuries and had to be taken to a hospital.
“It seems like this was a one-off incident, and these people were going after each other. We don’t think this was at all random,” he said.
