The Fourth of July long weekend across the United States witnessed at least 16 mass shootings, killing 15 people and injuring 100. In a statement issued by White House, President Joe Biden urged Republican lawmakers to join him in advancing "commonsense reforms," such as a ban on assault weapons, widespread background checks, and an end to the legal immunity enjoyed by gun manufacturers.
Biden said, "Over the last few days, our nation has once again endured a wave of tragic and senseless shootings in communities across America -- from Philadelphia to Fort Worth, Baltimore to Lansing, Wichita to Chicago." In his statement, Biden said the "epidemic of gun violence" in the US is "tearing our communities apart".
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Mass Shootings in US
Three people were killed and 10 others wounded in a mass shooting during an outdoor party in Shreveport, Louisiana. No arrests have been made.
Nine people were shot and wounded, including two juveniles, early Wednesday in Washington. A dark coloured SUV seen driving through the neighbourhood, stopped and then shot at the victims outside enjoying the July Fourth holiday, Assistant Chief Leslie Parsons of the Metropolitan Police Department said, calling the shooting targeted.
A 14-year-old boy was killed and six other people were injured in a shooting at a Fourth of July block party on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
Thirty people were shot, two fatally at a block party in Baltimore early Sunday. Authorities say many of the shooting victims were under 18.
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A 40-year-old man with a rifle, a pistol, extra magazines, a police scanner and a bulletproof vest fatally shot four men in a Philadelphia neighbourhood and chased and killed a fifth man inside a house on Monday night.
Three people were killed and eight others injured when several men fired indiscriminately into a crowd of hundreds that had gathered in a Texas neighbourhood following a festival in the area, authorities said. The shooting in the Fort Worth neighbourhood of Como happened late Monday night, about two hours after the annual ComoFest ended.
And in Florida, a 7-year-old child was killed in a shooting during an altercation between two groups gathered for July 4th celebrations along a causeway that crosses Tampa Bay, police said. A man was also hit with gunfire, but was expected to survive, the Tampa Police Department said in a news release. The child was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, the statement said.
The Fourth of July holiday has accounted for the most mass shootings of any other days of the year in nearly a decade, according to a CNN analysis of the Gun Violence Archive’s mass shooting data since 2014. Over nearly the last decade, there have been more than 50 mass shootings on July 4, more than any other calendar day. The second most frequent day is the day after, July 5, CNN reported.
There have been more than 550 mass killings since 2006, according to database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University, in which at least 2,900 people have died and at least 2,000 people have been hurt.
