OHIO- The first weekend of summer brought a tragic but already familiar toll for American cities plagued by armed violence: dozens of deaths and injuries at a party in Alabama, an entertainment district in Ohio and a supermarket in Arkansas.
It was the second weekend in a row that there was an outbreak of gun violence in the United States, prompting many mayors to call for help.
In Michigan, a police officer was fatally shot while pursuing a suspected stolen car in what the agency called an ambush. In Philadelphia, a police officer was seriously injured Saturday while stopping a car carrying four people.
Police in Montgomery, Alabama, say hundreds of bullets were fired at a crowded party early Sunday, leaving nine people injured. Acting Police Chief John Hall said detectives recovered more than 350 shell casings.
“This senseless violence has to stop,” said Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, who added that it was a miracle that no one died, and called for measures to prevent firearms from falling into the hands of criminals.
Shots were also fired Sunday morning on the main thoroughfare of a popular dining and entertainment district in Columbus, Ohio.
Ten people were injured, one in critical condition, prompting the mayor to call for more action from local and federal authorities to keep guns off the streets and for parents to better monitor their children. Mayor Andrew Ginther said gun violence “is crazy, it is unacceptable and it must stop.”
The weekend violence began Friday at a supermarket in Fordyce, Arkansas, where four people were killed and 11 others were injured, including the alleged attacker.
The gunshots sent shoppers and employees running for safety. Among the deceased was a 23-year-old woman who had just become a mother for the first time.
Source: With information from AP
