Shootings and other violence over the July 4 holiday weekend left at least 26 people dead, including 11 in Chicago, and dozens more injured nationwide, authorities said.
The Fourth of July is historically one of the deadliest days of the year in the country. A year ago, a series of shootings around the holiday left more than a dozen people dead and more than 60 injured. And a year before that, seven people died in a shooting at a Fourth of July parade near Chicago.
In that city, as of Friday morning, 11 people had been killed and 55 others wounded in shootings earlier this week, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The violence included a mass shooting Thursday that killed two women and an 8-year-old boy.
The recent violence “has left our city in a state of mourning,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “We are devastated by the recent violence […] and we extend our deepest condolences to the families and communities affected by these recent events,” he added.
Violence in Southern California
In Huntington Beach, California, two people were killed and three others injured in an Independence Day attack less than two hours after a fireworks display ended, police said. Authorities arrested a suspect after responding to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon Thursday night.
15-year-old boy arrested in Niles, Ohio shooting, 10-year-old girl dies in Cleveland
In the northeast Ohio community of Niles, Police Chief Jay Holland reported that a 15-year-old male is in custody after a 23-year-old male was fatally shot Thursday night at a party at a residence.
A 10-year-old girl was also fatally shot in a Cleveland neighborhood, police said. It was not immediately clear what triggered the shooting or whether she was targeted.
Deadly drive-by shooting in Philadelphia
A 19-year-old man was killed and six others injured in a drive-by shooting in Philadelphia Thursday night.
The injured, including four minors, were being treated in hospitals for various non-life-threatening injuries. It is not yet clear what motivated the shooting.
Boston-area shootings leave 1 dead, 5 injured
Three shootings occurred in the Boston area following the celebrations, leaving one person dead. The fatal shooting happened around 1:30 a.m. Friday in a park near Boston’s South End neighborhood. Around the same time, three other people were injured in the nearby Jamaica Plain neighborhood. A third shooting at a gas station later left one victim critically injured.
A 17-year-old man was shot in the stomach in a separate shooting Thursday night in the parking lot of a condominium in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
Connecticut woman shot dead in car
In Connecticut, a woman was found shot in her car Friday morning and was pronounced dead at a hospital. Police identified her as Shamyria Williams, 23, of Hartford. Relatives told reporters they believed she had just left a Fourth of July party.
Six teens shot dead in Albany home
Police in Albany, New York, said six males aged 16 to 19 are being treated at a hospital for injuries not considered life-threatening after a shooting at a large gathering.
Police responded to reports of a shooting at a home around 12:15 a.m. Friday. None of the victims were found at the scene, but police found evidence consistent with gunshots in the yard behind the residence and on the street.
Four shot and injured at Tampa nightclub
Four people were injured in a shooting early Friday outside a Tampa adult nightclub after an altercation between the club’s security guard and two men, police said.
The two men drove their car outside the Pink Pussycat Lounge and one of them shot the security guard with a handgun, police said. The security guard was taken to a hospital for surgery and was in stable condition. Three other men suffered minor injuries, but their conditions were not immediately clear. Police said the two suspects were arrested and charged with multiple felonies.
Violence elsewhere
In the Queens borough of New York, an 8-year-old boy was fatally stabbed in an apartment during what police described as a domestic dispute. Police said officers later shot and killed a 20-year-old man who was holding a knife to his 43-year-old father’s throat and refusing orders to drop the weapon.
In High Point, North Carolina, a shooting at an unofficial fireworks display left one man dead after a large crowd gathered in the city’s parking lot about 90 miles (145 kilometers) west of Raleigh, police said. The victim was identified as Keith S. Lynch, 32, of High Point.
Shootings at two Fourth of July rallies in the St. Louis area left two people dead and five others injured, two of them seriously, police said.
In West Virginia, Charles Speer, 42, of Kermit, died early Friday after being shot multiple times following a physical altercation at another man’s home, state police said.
And a road rage incident led to the shooting death of a 36-year-old man in Taneytown, Maryland, according to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office.