The Fourth of July holiday weekend saw hundreds of shootings across the country, despite a small year-over-year decline. At least 107 people were killed and another 283 were injured in 352 incidents of gun violence from Friday to Sunday, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.
The number of reported shooting incidents and fatalities should be considered preliminary, since law enforcement and media sources may lag in reporting incidents, particularly in rural areas and over a holiday weekend. Additionally, the toll may change to reflect those who later die from their injuries. The numbers represent a decline in gun violence deaths compared to the same period in 2014, when nearly 400 incidents between July 4 to 6 resulted in 173 fatalities and 347 injuries.
Chicago was among the cities that saw decreased violence over the holiday, but at least 10 people were killed and 55 others were injured, according to the Chicago Tribune. At least 30 people were shot in an eight-hour period Saturday night and early Sunday morning, including a seven-year-old boy who died after being shot while watching fireworks with his father.
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said in a press conference on Sunday that he was “outraged and saddened” by the outbreak of violence, which came despite a 30 percent increase in police presence over the weekend. He added that since Friday morning, police had confiscated illegal guns at a rate of one per hour.
Cleveland, meanwhile, reported a surge in violence between Friday and Sunday that left 12 people, including five minors, wounded by gunshots. In 2014, according to Gun Violence Archive data, guns in Cleveland only injured four people over the same period.
In York County, South Carolina, four people were found shot to death inside a home on Sunday afternoon, according to the Rock Hill Herald. And in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, a man murdered his wife and son and then turned the gun on himself, according to the Associated Press.
Nine people were injured, one critically, when shots were fired outside of a house party in Fort Wayne, Indiana, early Sunday morning, the Journal Gazette reports. Around the same time, eight people suffered “wounds ranging from minor to potentially life-threatening” in a shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, according to the Shreveport Times.
[Flickr user Eric Norris]
