At least six people are dead and dozens injured in a string of weekend violence and mass shootings across the U.S. The shootings — in Chicago, Washington state, Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Southern California and Baltimore — follow a surge of violence ove.
At least six people including a Pennsylvania state trooper were killed and dozens injured in a string of weekend violence and mass shootings across the U.S.
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.”
Researchers disagree over the cause of the increase. Theories include the possibility that violence is driven by the prevalence of guns in America, or by less aggressive police tactics or a decline in prosecutions for misdemeanor weapon offenses, Nagin said.
As of Sunday evening, none of the weekend events fit the definition of a mass killing, because fewer than four people died at each location. However, the number of injured in most of the cases does match the widely accepted definition for mass shootings.
Here’s a look at the shootings this 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.
