At least 43 people were killed and many others wounded in a wave of gun violence across the United States over the Fourth of July weekend, marking the nation's semiquincentennial with tragedy. The victims included a woman and a child among four people shot during a gathering of Mexico soccer supporters in Los Angeles following their team's World Cup elimination on Sunday night.
Los Angeles shooting at World Cup gathering
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, a suspect pulled out a gun during an argument at about 9:30 p.m. local time on Sunday after Mexico's 3-2 defeat to England and started firing. The shots struck two intended victims and two bystanders—a woman and a boy who left the scene to seek help. All four were treated at local hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries. No other details about the victims or the age of the minor were released, as reported by KTLA.
Nationwide toll and data
The Gun Violence Archive reported that at least 43 people were killed since early Saturday in a succession of shootings across numerous cities and neighborhoods. The database has recorded 6,604 fatalities from gun violence year-to-date as of Monday morning, including at least 224 mass shootings—defined as incidents where at least four people were killed or injured, not including the shooter.
Other fatal incidents
In Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, two people were killed on Sunday in a shooting while in a large crowd. Authorities identified the victims as Ronald Cleveland Brown, 39, and Devante Elliott, 34, who were both declared dead at the scene, according to WJBF. In Austin, Texas, a man and a woman in their late teens or early 20s were shot dead in the parking lot of a nightclub early Sunday. The shooting followed an altercation at about 4 a.m., said Travis County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Kristen Dark. "I can't say that it stems from the nightclub at all," she told CBS Austin. "It happened in the parking lot of the nightclub, but we don't know at this point in time what led to the altercation." Investigators were also working on a separate gun fatality in the city—the death of a man in a parking lot of a sports bar late on Saturday during a shooting in which another male was injured.
In Compton, California, three people were killed in incidents at separate Independence Day block parties on Saturday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office. In the first shooting, a woman and a man were killed; a man was the victim in the second. In Wilkinson County, Mississippi, the Centreville Police Department is investigating a mass shooting early Saturday in which two adult men were killed and at least nine others wounded, WLBT News reported.
Broader context of US gun violence
Constantly high rates of gun violence in the US have prompted many to call on Congress to implement more substantial federal firearms control, but Congress has been unable to pass such restrictions over the years. Findings from at least one study suggest gun violence can be more likely to occur in US communities during major holidays than at other times.
