Staff Writer
Nine people were shot and injured early on Wednesday while celebrating Independence Day in the nation’s capital, according to police, as a wave of violence ruined the occasion.
A 9-year-old and a 17-year-old were among the victims when police arrived on the scene of the mass shooting at 1 a.m. in a suburb 20 minutes’ drive east of the White House, according to Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Leslie Parsons.
According to authorities, the victims, who were not recognized publicly, were hospitalized with injuries that weren’t life-threatening.
According to Parsons, who described the shooting as targeted, the rounds were fired from a dark SUV that was spotted passing through the Deanwood neighborhood.
Police made a plea to the public for information to aid in their investigation, saying it was unclear if there were many shooters in the car and that no arrests had been made.
The July Fourth weekend saw a spate of horrific mass shootings, with the Washington incident being the most recent.
At an early-morning Sunday block party in Baltimore, 30 people were shot, two of whom died. Authorities reported that many of the shooting victims were minors.
A shooter wearing a bulletproof vest started shooting on the streets of Philadelphia on Monday night, killing five people and injuring two young boys, ages 2 and 13, before turning himself in, according to authorities.
Authorities reported that when several guys opened fire indiscriminately into a throng of hundreds that had congregated in a Texas neighborhood after a festival in the region, three persons were killed and eight others were injured.
Late on Monday night, only two hours after the annual ComoFest had ended, a shooting took place in the Como district of Fort Worth.
In Florida, a 7-year-old boy was shot and killed after a fight between two groups who had gathered to celebrate the Fourth of July along a causeway that straddles Tampa Bay, according to authorities.
A man was shot as well, but he was expected to live. At a hospital, the youngster was pronounced dead.
