Another Day, Another Tragedy: Panic In US As 9 Killed In 3 More Mass Shootings
Nine people, including two students, have died in three shooting incidents in the US, the news agency AFP reported today.
The incident comes only 2 days after at least 11 people were killed and more injured after a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California. The shooting happened as the city¡¯s large Asian American community was celebrating Lunar New Year weekend.?The shooter, identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, shot himself dead when surrounded by cops.
Half Moon Bay shooting?
Two shootings were reported at farms in northern California's Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco. Seven people died and three were critically injured. Police said a 67-year-old resident named Chunli Zhao had been taken into custody.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who was in Monterey Park where Saturday's shooting took place, took to Twitter moments after news broke of the new incidents. "At the hospital meeting with victims of a mass shooting when I get pulled away to be briefed about another shooting. This time in Half Moon Bay. Tragedy upon tragedy."
The shooting happened around 2:20 p.m. local time at two separate locations near Highway 92 and the Half Moon Bay city limits, about 30 miles south of San Francisco, the authorities said.?
Des Moines shooting
Another shooting was reported in Iowa's Des Moines city. The incident took place at Starts Right Here, which runs an educational mentorship programme for at-risk youths. Two students were killed and three people were wounded, two of them critically.
Des Moine police said in a statement that two teenagers, aged 18 and 16, died after being hospitalised with critical injuries. William Holmes, the 49-year-old founder-CEO of Starts Right Here, is in critical condition.
Police said on Monday that one man had been charged in the shooting, and two other people remained in custody. Preston Walls, 18, of Des Moines, was charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for the shooting. He was also charged with criminal gang participation.
Authorities said the shooting was the result of an ongoing gang dispute. Police said Walls was on supervised release for a weapons charge and had removed his ankle monitor 16 minutes before the shooting.
Gun violence mars US?
The scenes of agony and horror are increasing all across America. In fact, Monday's mass shooting joins a staggering 37 other shootings from just the first three weeks of 2023, per the Gun Violence Archive.
The last year saw as many as 647 mass shooting incidents, with at least four people shot or killed by a shooter, according to the Gun Violence Archive website.More than 44,000 people died from gunshot wounds in 2022 across the US, more than half of which were suicides.
According to an estimate by the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey, there are about 393 million privately owned firearms in the US, and that's 120 guns for every 100 Americans.
While the exact number of civilian-owned firearms is difficult to calculate due to various factors ¨C including unregistered weapons, the illegal trade and global conflict ¨C no other nation has more civilian guns than people.
About 45% of US adults say they live in a household with a gun, according to an October 2022 Gallup survey.
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