CHICAGO– a to shoot Two people were killed and more than a dozen injured at a block party in Detroit, capping a violent holiday weekend in the U.S. that also saw mass shootings in Kentucky and Chicago.
More than 100 people were shot in Chicago, 19 of them fatally, during the long Independence Day weekend, when is often a spike in violence. A mass shooting Two women and an 8-year-old boy were killed Thursday in a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. Two other children were also seriously injured.
“We can’t take our eyes off the ball,” Chicago Police Chief Larry Snelling said at a news conference Monday. “We can’t stop thinking about the people who were victims of this crime.”
City officials announced plans for an emergency center to open Monday night for people struggling with trauma, while Mayor Brandon Johnson blamed the pervasive violence on years of disinvestment and poverty, particularly in the city’s black neighborhoods. Johnson, who took office last year, said Chicago has not received enough federal funding for victims and recently renewed a request for help.
The four-day weekend in Chicago saw a spike in violence compared to the same period last year, when 11 people were killed and more than 60 injured.
“We are losing a piece of the soul of Chicago,” Johnson said at the news conference. “We are not going to let criminal activity ruin and harm our city.”
In Detroit, two people were fatally shot and at least 19 people were injured during a block party on the city’s east side, authorities said. Detroit police scheduled a news conference Monday to announce new security strategies for block parties.
Shootings also took place over the holiday weekend California And Kentuckywhere police say four people were killed and three others were injured in an early morning shooting during a house party. The shooting suspect later died after fleeing his home in Florence, Kentucky, and driving into a ditch during a police chase, authorities said. Florence is a city of about 36,000 people located about 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of Cincinnati, Ohio.
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Callahan reported from Indianapolis.