2 women in Chicago, Cleveland officer among those killed in July Fourth shootings

Two women in a Chicago home, a police officer serving an arrest warrant in Cleveland and an armed man making threats in Yellowstone National Park were among those killed in shootings on July 4, historically one of the deadliest days of the year in the country.

Violence and mass shootings often increase in the summer monthswith more people gathering for social events, teenagers out of school and higher temperatures.

Three boys, ages 8, 7 and 5, were also wounded in the shooting Thursday in Chicago, which police said was the result of a personal dispute. The women killed were 42 and 22.

Two vehicles drove into a neighborhood on the city’s south side and several people got out and fired shots into the home, Deputy Chief Don Jerome said. Multiple casings from both a rifle and a handgun were found at the scene, he said.

The police officer killed in Cleveland was identified as Jamieson Ritter. The 27-year-old officer was part of a team that was called around 1 a.m. to serve a warrant on a man for aggravated assault, Police Chief Dorothy Todd said, according to local news sources. That man was seen fleeing the home and allegedly fired a gun multiple times, striking the officer, Todd said.

Also on Thursday, in Yellowstone Gunfire were exchanged between a person who authorities say made threats and park rangers.

The shooting happened in Canyon Village, an area in the central part of the park that includes a campground, lodging and a visitor center, park officials said in a statement. The statement did not say exactly where the shots were fired or whether visitors were affected by what it called “a significant law enforcement incident” that began overnight.

The ranger was in stable condition in hospital, according to the statement. It did not specify how the ranger was injured.

A 13-year-old girl was fatally shot Wednesday night at a suburban Seattle shopping mall after a fight broke out between two groups of teenagers and one of the teens fired a gun, police in Lynnwood, Washington, said.

Jayda Woods-Johnson, who was killed, was a bystander who was not involved in the fight, police said.

Police said the teens fled the scene, but later that night a 16-year-old boy suspected of firing the gun was taken to police by his mother.

a flood of shootings around July 4 a year ago, killing more than a dozen people and injuring more than 60. Just two years ago, another mass shooting during a 4th of July parade in which seven people died near Chicago.