Shootings killed nearly 200 people in US over July Fourth weekend, Gun Violence Archive says
LOS ANGELES - Hundreds of Americans were killed in shootings during this past Independence Day weekend, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive.
The Gun Violence Archive reported on Monday evening that 189 people were killed and more than 500 were injured in shootings over a 72-hour period from Friday.
On Tuesday, FOX News reported that at least 35 people were shot in New York City in 29 shooting incidents from Friday through Monday. Two of these incidents resulted in deaths, the New York Police Department told FOX News.
Joe Biden calls for gun control amid surge in crime | NewsNOW From FOX
President Biden says administration plans to reduce gun violence through revoking licenses to sell guns for those who use loopholes. The President spoke at the White House amid a surge of violence seen in major cities in the country.
During the same period last year, the NYPD recorded 55 shooting incidents, 78 shooting victims and 16 homicides.
RELATED: US averaging 10 mass shootings per week in 2021 so far, Gun Violence Archive says
On Tuesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order declaring a disaster emergency on gun violence.
"Gun violence is a public health crisis, and we must treat it like one," Cuomo wrote on Twitter.
In Chicago, two police officers were shot and wounded early Monday while trying to break up a crowd following Fourth of July gatherings, authorities said.
The shooting happened at about 1:45 a.m. on the city’s West Side, less than an hour after a drive-by shooting in Washington Park on the city's South Side left two people dead and four others wounded.
Between Friday night and early Monday morning, 12 people had been fatally shot in Chicago and at least 40 more suffered gunshot wounds, according to department statistics. Monday is considered part of the long holiday weekend, so final numbers won't be available until Tuesday.
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said at a press conference that the officers "will be alright."
Chicago has seen a number of mass shootings in recent weeks, stoking broader concerns about a spike in U.S. gun violence. Statistics released last week by Chicago police show fewer killings but more shootings in the city so far this year than the same period a year ago.
In Cleveland, 11 people were reported shot in a five-hour period from Sunday into early Monday, according to Cleveland.com. Throughout the holiday weekend, 17 were reportedly shot in total across the city. None of the shootings resulted in deaths, police said.
Denver police reported that five separate shootings occurred within a four-hour period beginning just after 11 p.m. Sunday. Police said the five victims appeared to suffer non-life-threatening injuries.
In Georgia, a manhunt is underway for a suspect who allegedly shot and killed golf pro Eugene Siller at Pinetree Country Club in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon after driving a pickup truck on the green of the golf course’s 10th hole. Two more bodies were also discovered in the bed of the truck.
A shooting in Fort Worth, Texas, left eight people wounded shortly after 1:30 a.m. Sunday when someone fired multiple shots near a car wash, with some of the victims returning fire.
In New Jersey, a 10-year-old girl was shot and killed on the Fourth of July, authorities said.
Prosecutors said the girl was hit in what appeared to be a drive-by shooting at a Vineland home. Her name wasn’t released. Investigators are working to determine the intended target of the gunfire, prosecutors added.
The shootings come amid an easing of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in much of the country.
Many hoped that a spike in U.S. shootings and homicides last year was an aberration perhaps caused by pandemic-related stress amid a rise in gun ownership and debate over policing. But those rates are still higher than they were in pre-pandemic times, including in cities that refused to slash police spending following the death of George Floyd and those that made modest cuts.
The Gun Violence Archive, which monitors media and police reports to track gun violence, defines mass shootings as those involving four or more people who were shot, regardless of whether they died. Overall, according to its database, more than 8,700 people have died of gun violence in the U.S. this year.
The GVA also found that mass shootings spiked in 2020 to about 600, which was higher than in any of the previous six years it tracked. According to this year’s count, there have been at least 267 mass shootings in the U.S. so far, including the latest three overnight Friday into Saturday.
This story was reported from Los Angeles. FOX News and The Associated Press contributed.