At least 17 people were killed from Friday to Sunday in mass shootings, the deadliest weekend of mass shooting gun violence so far this year, according to a USA TODAY analysis.
In Philadelphia; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Saginaw, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska; and other towns and cities across the United States, there were at least a dozen shootings with four or more people injured or killed by gunfire, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive and analyzed by USA TODAY. At least 82 people were wounded or killed in mass shootings from Friday to Sunday, the analysis found.
“America’s gun violence crisis was on full display this weekend, an emergency crying out for a solution that we know exists,” said Kris Brown, president of Brady, a gun violence prevention group.
The next worst weekend for mass shooting deaths so far this year occurred from May 13 to 15 – when 14 people were killed in mass shootings, including 10 at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store, according to the analysis of Gun Violence Archive data. Fourteen people were also killed in mass shootings during the weekend of Dec. 31, 2021, to Jan. 2.
There have been at least 245 mass shootings this year, according to the archive. Last year, there were 692 mass shootings, the highest number of mass shootings of any year since 2014.
This same weekend last year, June 4 to 6, seven people were killed and 53 wounded in mass shootings, according to Gun Violence Archive data. In 2020, the first weekend of June saw six mass shooting deaths and 50 people wounded, the archive’s data shows.
A mass shooting listed in the Gun Violence Archive’s data as occurring Saturday could not be independently verified by USA TODAY or in other news reports and was not included in the analysis. No fatalities were reported in the archive’s listing of that shooting. Shootings that involved fewer than four or more people shot or killed did not meet the archive’s definition of a mass shooting and were not included.
“These shootings are a horrific reminder that gun violence in this country is a policy choice and that the failure to act threatens public spaces like South Street in Philadelphia and private events like graduation parties with the potential for gun violence,” Brown said. “Enough is enough.”
This weekend’s bloodshed comes after a spate of gun violence in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, that has rocked the nation in recent weeks and focused renewed attention on gun laws.
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Philadelphia shooting: Charges coming for 2 people
Police in Philadelphia on Monday were still searching for multiple gunmen after a shooting Saturday left three people dead in a crowded downtown street.
Police in the area of the popular South Street entertainment district heard gunshots nearby, and one officer saw a gunman firing into a large crowd, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a Sunday new briefing.
Outlaw said police believe the shooting may have stemmed from a physical altercation. Two of the people killed were “innocent bystanders,” Outlaw said, while one of the people killed was believed to have been involved in the incident. Eleven people were wounded as the gunshots broke out.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said Monday that charges would be coming against two people in nonfatal shootings during the melee.
Police identified Alexis Quinn, 27, and Gregory “Japan” Jackson, 34, as two of those who lost their lives when violence erupted in the entertainment district. Teacher’s union AFT Pennsylvania identified Kristopher Minners, 22, as the third victim.
“We’re absolutely devastated, devastated by this incident,” Outlaw said.
Outlaw said when an officer saw one gunman firing, he also opened fire, prompting the gunman to drop his weapon. According to police, five guns were fired; two handguns were recovered at the scene, including one with an extended magazine, which carries more bullets. Krasner said at least four guns – three 9mm weapons and one 40-caliber firearm – were involved.
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Chattanooga, Phoenix, other cities and towns see mass shootings
A shooting at a Chattanooga, Tennessee, nightclub Sunday morning, left two people fatally shot and a third dead after being hit by a vehicle during a scramble following the shooting, Chattanooga Police Chief Celeste Murphy said. Overall, 14 people were hit by gunfire and three were hit by vehicles, Murphy said.
In Saginaw, Michigan, three people were killed in a shooting early Sunday, and two others were wounded, police said. Meanwhile, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a man was killed and three others were injured in a shooting downtown early Sunday, MLive reported.
Graduation parties, one in Chester, Virginia, one in Summerton, South Carolina, and another in Socorro, Texas, were the sites of three other mass shootings. In Chester, a 20-year-old man was killed and at least five other people were shot, WTVR-TV reported. In Summerton, a 32-year-old woman was killed and at least seven other people were shot, WIS-TV reported. In Socorro, five teenagers, ranging in age from 16 to 18 were wounded at a high school graduation house party, said police Chief David Burton.
Saturday morning in Phoenix, a 14-year-old girl was killed and eight others were wounded after an altercation between multiple parties escalated at a strip mall, police said.
In Omaha, one person was killed and three others injured in a shooting Friday, the Omaha World-Herald reported. One person was killed and three were injured in a shooting in Macon, Georgia, on Saturday, WMAZ-TV reported. A 19-year-old man was killed and three other people wounded in Hempstead, New York, on Saturday, WNBC-TV reported.
Outside a Mesa, Arizona, bar early Sunday, two men were killed and two others, including a security guard, were wounded, Mesa police said.
Contributing: John Bacon, USA TODAY; James McGinnis, Bucks County Courier Times; Brandon Holveck, The News Journal; Zayna Syed, Arizona Republic; The Associated Press