More than 150 people were killed and more than 400 wounded in a “bloody” Fourth of July weekend as many of America’s major cities struggled to address a worsening epidemic of gun violence.
CNN, which reported the latest numbers Tuesday afternoon, noted that the death toll could be even higher. According to the network, “233 people were killed and 618 people were injured by gun violence in more than 500 shootings across the country during the Fourth of July weekend, a 26% drop from last year’s holiday weekend, according to the latest data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive.”
“According to data released Tuesday morning, which looks at shootings from 5 p.m. Friday through Monday, there were 314 fatal shootings with 751 injuries during the same period last year, the GVA said,” per CNN.
The network was quick to note, though, that the number of people killed over the Independence Day weekend in 2021, was less than the number of people killed over the same weekend in 2020 when most major cities experienced a record-breaking spike in gun violence.
New York City and Chicago, Illinois — two cities that saw such record-breaking violence in 2020 — were among those that saw a spike in gun violence over Independence Day 2021.
‘In New York City, at least 35 people were shot in 29 shooting incidents from Friday through Monday, with at least two of the incidents resulting in deaths, the NYPD said. Overall, at least four murders occurred in the city,” Fox News noted Tuesday. “During the same period last year, the NYPD recorded 55 shooting incidents, 78 shooting victims, and 16 homicides.”
Chicago actually saw more homicides over the 2021 holiday than it did in 202o, according to the latest numbers. Two police officers and at least two children were among the weekend’s wounded.
“At least 108 people were shot in Chicago over the long Independence Day weekend, including two police officers; children, including 5- and 6-year-old girls; and a group of six people early Monday in the Washington Park neighborhood — where a man was killed hours later in an unrelated shooting,” the Chicago Tribune reported. “He was one of at least 17 people who died from injuries suffered in shootings from about 5 p.m. Friday to just after 1 a.m. Tuesday, according to police information and Tribune data.”
CBS News added the numbers. In 2019, “68 people were shot,” and in 2020, “nearly 80 people were shot.”
The network reported Tuesday that it seems the rate of violence is actually increasing, even though raw numbers seem to show crime dropping off from 2020.
“Although official data has yet to be released by the federal government, a survey of law enforcement agencies in dozens of U.S. cities conducted by the Major Cities Chiefs Association found a higher rate of homicides and aggravated assaults in January through March of 2021 compared with the same time period in 2020,” CBS News said.
Cities like Chicago have begged the White House for help in handling the spike in crime — and particularly the spike in gun violence — but the Biden administration has limited its assistance to help in pushing increased gun control at the federal level.