Mass shootings erupt in 6 states, killing at least 12
PHILADELPHIA — Three people were killed and 11 were injured late Saturday in a shooting in downtown Philadelphia, authorities said, part of surge in gun violence over the weekend that also included deadly mass shootings in Tennessee, Michigan, Arizona, South Carolina and Virginia.
Police officers were patrolling the area on South Street when they heard gunshots and witnessed several people firing into a large crowd just before midnight, said Police Inspector D F Pace. An officer shot at one of the people, and police believe the man was struck before he fled.
“You can imagine there were hundreds of individuals just enjoying South Street, as they do every single weekend, when this shooting broke out,” Pace said.
Two men and a woman were killed in the shooting. Two handguns were recovered, including one with an extended magazine, police said. No arrests have been made.
South Street is known for its entertainment venues and nightlife with multiple bars, restaurants and businesses. Surveillance video from a local business posted by WTXF-TV showed scores of people milling about on the sidewalks and in the street who suddenly began to flee as the gunfire began.
Mayor Jim Kenney called the shooting “beyond devastating.”
“Once again, we see lives senselessly lost and those injured in yet another horrendous, brazen and despicable act of gun violence,” he said Sunday.
Kenney said the rise in gun violence in the city and across the nation “makes me not just heartbroken, but angry.” He said, however, fighting it will be a struggle without measures to address the “availability and ease of access to firearms.”
Eric Walsh, closing up the outdoor seating area of a bar along the block, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the scene was “chaos.”
“People were coming off the street with blood splatters,” Walsh said. “We literally just were balling up napkins and wetting them and handing them to people.”
In Tennessee, a shooting near a Chattanooga nightclub early Sunday led to three deaths and 14 people suffering gunshot wounds and other injuries, police said.
Fourteen people were hit by gunfire and three were hit by vehicles while trying to flee the scene, police Chief Celeste Murphy said. Two people died from gunshot wounds and one person died after being hit by a vehicle, Murphy said.
In Michigan, two men and a woman were killed early Sunday in Saginaw, around 100 miles northwest of Detroit. Two other men also were shot and were being treated at a hospital, police said.
In Arizona, a 14-year-old girl was killed and eight others were wounded early Saturday in a shooting in a crowd of people at a strip mall in Phoenix, police said.
In South Carolina, one person was fatally shot and seven others were wounded at a graduation party Saturday night in Summerton, the Sheriff ’s Office in Clarendon County said.
In Virginia, one man died and seven others were injured amid a flurry of more than 50 gunshots at a party late Friday in Chester, about 20 miles south of Richmond.
The Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization that tracks shooting deaths, has counted 246 mass shootings so far this year, defined as one in which four or more people were killed or injured. Shootings in the United States rose sharply during the pandemic.
Sen. Chris Murphy, DConn., who is participating in bipartisan talks on measures to reduce gun violence, said the group is “closer than ever before” to agreement.
“As late as last night, we were engaged in conversations,” Murphy said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” though he remains “anxious about failure.”