Rash of mass shootings kills 10 in US ahead of July 4 holiday

Mass shootings in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Fort Worth claimed the lives of 10 people ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, officials said, a grim illustration of the United States’ decades-long failure to curb gun-fueled violence.

In Fort Worth, Texas, three people were killed and eight wounded in a mass shooting following a local festival, police said on Tuesday.

In a separate shooting incident in Philadelphia on Monday evening, five people were killed and two were injured when a suspect in a bullet-proof vest opened fire on apparent strangers, according to local police. A toddler and a teenager were among the wounded.

The Monday night shootings came a day after two people were shot dead and 28 others injured, about half of them children, in a hail of gunfire at an outdoor neighborhood block party in Baltimore, Maryland.

The motives in all three shootings weren’t immediately clear.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said her force had arrested a suspect, identified as a 40-year-old man, telling a late-night news conference that “we have absolutely no idea why this happened.”

Police in Fort Worth said no arrests have been made.

“We don’t know if this is domestic-related, if it is gang-related. It is too early to tell at this point,” said Shawn Murray, a senior police official.

Police have said they are seeking multiple suspects in the Baltimore shooting.

The latest shootings took place around the anniversary of last year’s Highland Park mass shooting near Chicago where seven people were shot dead and 48 others were wounded at an Independence Day parade. A 22-year-old man remains in custody after being indicted on 117 felony charges for the carnage.

The United States has been struggling with a large number of mass shootings and incidents of gun violence. There have been over 340 mass shootings so far in 2023 in the country, according to data collected by the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.