At least six people, including a Pennsylvania state trooper, have been killed and dozens injured in a string of shootings across the US.
The shootings in suburban Chicago, Washington state, Pennsylvania, St Louis, southern California and Baltimore follow a surge in homicides and other violence over the past several years that experts say accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.
“There’s no question there’s been a spike in violence,” said Daniel Nagin, a professor of public policy and statistics at Carnegie Mellon University. “Some of these cases seem to be just disputes, often among adolescents, and those disputes are played out with firearms, not with fists.”
Here’s a look at the shootings over the weekend:
WILLOWBROOK, ILLINOIS
One person was killed and at least 22 wounded in a shooting early Sunday during a party in a suburban Chicago parking lot.
The DuPage County sheriff’s office described a “peaceful gathering” to celebrate Juneteenth that suddenly turned violent in Willowbrook, about 20 miles southwest of Chicago.
A motive for the attack wasn’t immediately known, and as of early afternoon, no one had been arrested.
WASHINGTON STATE
Two people were killed and two others were injured when a shooter began firing “randomly” into a crowd at a Washington state campground where people stayed to attend a nearby music festival on Saturday night.
The suspect was shot in a confrontation with law enforcement officers and taken into custody, several hundred yards from the Beyond Wonderland electronic dance music festival.
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
One state trooper was killed and a second critically wounded just hours apart in central Pennsylvania on Saturday.
A man engaged troopers near the Lewistown barracks and shot one trooper who was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, police in Juniata County said.
The suspect fled, but was found about two hours later several miles away in Walker Township. A gun battle erupted, killing the shooter and mortally wounding a second trooper, police said.
Neither troopers’ names, nor the suspect’s were immediately released.
ST LOUIS
An early Sunday shooting killed a 17-year-old and wounded nine other teenagers in a downtown St Louis office building, the city’s police commissioner said.
St Louis Metropolitan Police Commissioner Robert Tracy identified the victim who was killed as 17-year-old Makao Moore. A spokesman said a minor who had a handgun was in police custody as a person of interest.
Teenagers were having a party in an office space when the shooting broke out.
The victims’ ages ranged from 15 to 19 and had injuries including multiple gunshot wounds. A 17-year-old girl was trampled as she fled, seriously injuring her spine, Tracy said.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
A shooting at a pool party at a southern California home left eight people wounded, authorities said.
KABC-TV reported authorities were dispatched shortly after midnight in Carson, California, south of Los Angeles.
The victims range in age from 16 to 24, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. They were taken to hospitals, and two were listed in critical condition, the statement said.
BALTIMORE
Six people were injured in a Friday night shooting in Baltimore. All were expected to survive.
Officers heard gunshots in the north of the city just before 9pm and found three men with numerous gunshot wounds. Medics took them to area hospitals for treatment.
Police later learned of three additional victims who walked into area hospitals with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
The wounded ranged in age from 17 to 26.