Multiple shootings in US leave at least eight dead over Halloween weekend

At least eight people are dead and more than 50 others injured after multiple shootings across the country over the Halloween weekend.

In Texas, three people were killed and three others injured at a Saturday night party in the small city of Texarkana, after rifles were pulled out during a fist fight. The suspected shooter, a 20-year-old male, remains at large, according to the Texarkana police department.

Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, one woman was killed and eight others were shot during a large party around midnight on Saturday. All the victims range in age from 16 to 22, Indianapolis Metropolitan police said. Several people have been detained for questioning and multiple firearms were located on the scene.

At a nightclub in Wichita, Kansas, one person was killed and two others injured after a lone gunman entered and fired multiple gunshots. According to local news, the shooter has not been located.

Wichita police are asking for those with information about the incident to call the See Something Say Something hotline at 316-519-2282, or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.

And in Florida on Saturday, at least two people were killed and 18 hospitalized when a gun fight broke out during Halloween festivities in Tampa. Also on Saturday, six teenagers aged 15 to 19 suffered gunshot wounds as a Louisiana house party, leaving one youngster in a critical condition, local authorities in the town of Lake Charles said.

The US continues to grapple with high levels of deadly gun violence – a complex public health crisis driven by easy firearm access and poor gun control, as well as racial injustice, social, and economic factors. Lawmakers have failed to enact tighter federal gun controls despite at least 579 mass shootings in 2023 alone.

A spate of shootings across Chicago, America’s third largest city, left at least 25 people injured and one dead. In the worst mass shooting over the weekend, at least 15 people were hurt in a mass shooting at a Halloween party in the early hours of Sunday morning that left two partygoers critically injured.

Six women aged between 26 and 32, and nine men aged between 26 and 52 were injured in the shooting, which according to one witness interviewed by local news media took place just after 1am when a fight broke out and the alleged shooter was denied re-entry into a party.

“He came back and put his arm through the door and started shooting,” said Andre Williams.

Initial police reports suggested that two people sustained critical injuries. A 26-year-old woman who sustained a gunshot wound to the left hip and right buttocks, and a 48-year-old male who sustained a gunshot wound to the right hip, thigh and two gunshot wounds to the left thigh.

A male suspect was detained while trying to escape the scene on foot, according to the Chicago police department. The alleged shooter was carrying a handgun when apprehended close to the party in North Lawndale, a neighborhood in south-west Chicago, according to the police.

No further details about the victims or the suspect are currently available. Chicago police said investigations were ongoing.

Earlier on Saturday, four people leaving a gathering were injured in a drive-by mass shooting – shortly after a man suffered fatal injuries in a separate shooting in the city, according to police reports.

Chicago’s firearm homicide rate is six times higher than New York City’s and three times higher than in Los Angeles.

So far this year, at least 15,704 people in the US have been killed by gun violence, while almost 31,000 others have suffered non-fatal gun shot injuries, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The grisly 2023 death toll includes 1421 children.

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