Seven injured in Washington shooting; US mass killings on record pace

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
23 Apr 2023 09:48

According to the numbers, 88 people were killed in 17 mass killings in 111 days in the United States.

A police officer sits in his vehicle while responding to a mass shooting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, US, November 20, 2022 (Reuters)

The United States is setting a record yearly pace for mass killings, with around one each week, a database maintained by the Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University highlighted.

According to the numbers, 88 people were killed in 17 mass killings in 111 days. They were all shot. In the same time span, only 2009 witnessed as many such killings.

Since 2006, 2,842 people have died in mass killings in the US, the database, which counts killings involving four or more fatalities not including the perpetrator, showed. On average, a mass killing occurs every 6.53 days in the US in 2023.

Murder-suicides and domestic violence are among the motives of the killings, as are gang vengeance, school shootings, and workplace feuds.

Nonetheless, it looks that a ban on semi-automatic weapons is unlikely, and the US Supreme Court has put weapons limitations into doubt.

According to data, 32 mass killings and 172 fatalities were recorded in 2009, close to the average of 31.1 mass killings and 162 victims per year. However, these numbers sharply rose, as the death toll of mass killings in 2017 set a record of 230. That year, a shooter opened fire on a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, killing 60 people, the highest number of deaths in a modern US mass shooting.

"If somebody is determined to commit mass violence, they’re going to," indicated Jaclyn Schildkraut, executive director of the Rockefeller Institute of Government’s Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium.

"It’s our role as society to try and put up obstacles and barriers to make that more difficult," Schildkraut pointed out.

There has been no evidence of significant legislative changes at the state or federal levels, but some states have made efforts to implement tighter gun restrictions.

Last Friday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation requiring criminal background checks for purchasing firearms and shotguns. In the same context, the Washington state legislature approved on Wednesday a ban on dozens of semi-automatic firearms.

At the federal level, US President Joe Biden signed in late June 2022 a landmark gun violence bill that supposedly toughened background checks for the youngest gun buyers and helped states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged to be dangerous.

At least seven shot in southeast suburb of Washington mass shooting

In a related context, local media reported a mass shooting in a residential area in the southeast suburb of Washington.

🚨#BREAKING: Mass shooting with multiple people shot In the southeast suburb of Washington, D.C.

📌#Washington | #DC

Currently, numerous Law enforcement and other agencies are responding to a mass shooting in a southeast Washington, D.C. suburb. As Seven people have been… pic.twitter.com/VyzHRYzxH4
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) April 22, 2023

Rawalerts said that as many as seven people, including a 12-year-old girl, have been confirmed shot in different locations, adding that authorities are currently searching for a potentially armed suspect.