Dozens of people were killed and hundreds more injured in shootings across the nation over the weekend, and experts warn gun violence could increase as summer gets underway on Thursday.
Since Friday, at least 73 people were killed and 308 were injured in shootings including several incidents at outdoor spaces and gatherings like a Juneteenth celebration in Texas, a splash pad in Michigan, a park in Illinois, and a party in Massachusetts, says the Gun Violence Archive.
The archive's Mark Bryant said that although there have been fewer shootings in 2024 than at the same point last year, the country typically sees an uptick in gun violence as temperatures rise and people gather outside for activities during the summer.
"We've been having some very quiet weekends," Bryant said. "So this weekend, which seems like it popped, was actually back up to normal for summertime."
Police said six people were injured, including a 15-year-old girl who was shot in the neck, during a Monday morning shooting at a Chicago Park. Four adults were shot and another suffered a broken ankle.
Officers responded to a shooting in West Humboldt Park on the city's Northwest Side around 12:45 a.m.,
Eight people were injured during a shooting at a "pop-up" party attended by hundreds of people in Methuen, Mass., north of Boston, early Sunday. ,
On Saturday evening, nine people were injured during a shooting at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad outside Detroit. Victims included a mother and two children, a husband and wife and a 78-year-old man. The suspect, Michael William Nash, 42, died by suicide after being "contained" at a nearby home for several hours.
Despite the violent incidents over the weekend, Bryant said his data shows there has been a marked decrease in gun violence after record highs in 2020 and 2021, though mass killings and murder-suicides have risen.
In 2024, there have been more than 7,700 people killed and more than 14,600 people injured by guns. Bryant believes the overall decline is likely to continue through the second half of the year.
By this point last year, the U.S. already had six mass killings - attacks in which four or more people are killed - in public places, says criminologist James Alan Fox of Northeastern University. So far this year, there have been none. "This is obviously a terrible weekend, but in the larger context, things are actually better than they have been," he said.
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