Page 28 - bon-dia-aruba-20210614

A28 u.s. news
Dialuna 14 Juni 2021

Rash of mass shootings stirs US fears heading into summer

(AP) — Two people were
killed and at least 30 oth- The database tracks all mass
ers wounded in mass killings including shootings,
shootings overnight in defined as four or more peo-
three states, authorities ple dead not including the
said Saturday, stoking perpetrator.
concerns that a spike in
U.S. gun violence could According to that definition,
continue into summer as there have been 17 mass kill-
coronavirus restrictions ings, 16 of those shootings,
ease and more people are already this year, said James
free to socialize. Alan Fox, a criminologist and
professor at Northeastern
The attacks took place late University.
Friday or early Saturday in
the Texas capital of Aus- The Gun Violence Archive,
tin, Chicago and Savannah, which monitors media and
Georgia. mid-afternoon Saturday. easing of COVID-19 pan- a reversal of 20 years of de- police reports to track gun
demic restrictions in much clines in these crimes.” violence, defines mass shoot-
In Austin, authorities said In the south Georgia city of of the country, including ings as those involving four
they arrested one of two male Savannah, police said one Chicago, which lifted many Tracking ups and downs in or more people who were
suspects and were searching man was killed and seven of its remaining safeguards crime is always complicated, shot, regardless of whether
for the other after a shooting other people were wounded on Friday. Many hoped that but violent crime common- they died. Overall, accord-
early Saturday on a crowd- in a mass shooting Friday a spike in U.S. shootings and ly increases in the summer ing to its database, more than
ed pedestrian-only street evening, police said. Two of homicides last year was an months. Weekend evenings 8,700 people have died of gun
packed with bars and restau- the wounded are children aberration perhaps caused and early-morning hours also violence in the U.S. this year.
rants. Fourteen people were — an 18-month-old and a by pandemic-related stress are common windows for
wounded, including two crit- 13-year-old. amid a rise in gun ownership shootings. The GVA also found that
ically, in the gunfire, which and debate over policing. But mass shootings spiked in
the city’s interim police chief Savannah’s police chief, Roy those rates are still higher Many types of crime did de- 2020 to about 600, which was
said is believed to have start- Minter, Jr., said the shooting than they were in pre-pan- cline in 2020 and have stayed higher than in any of the pre-
ed as a dispute between two may be linked to an ongoing demic times, including in cit- lower this year, suggesting vious six years it tracked the
parties. dispute between two groups, ies that refused to slash police the pandemic and the activ- statistic. According to this
citing reports of gunshots be- spending following the death ism and unrest spurred by year’s count, there have been
No arrests were reported by ing fired at the same apart- of George Floyd and those the reaction to Floyd’s death at least 267 mass shootings in
late Saturday in the two other ment complex earlier in the that made modest cuts. didn’t lead to an overall spike the U.S. so far, including the
shootings. week. in crime. latest three overnight Friday
“There was a hope this might into Saturday.
In Chicago, a woman was “It’s very disturbing what simply be a statistical blip that According to a database
killed and nine other people we’re seeing across the coun- would start to come down,” compiled by The Associ- “It’s worrisome,” Fox said.
were wounded when two try and the level of gun vio- said Chuck Wexler, executive ated Press, USA Today and “We have a blend of people
men opened fire on a group lence that we’re seeing across director of the Police Execu- Northeastern University, beginning to get out and
standing on a sidewalk in the the country,” he told report- tive Research Forum. “That only three mass shootings oc- about in public. We have lots
Chatham neighborhood on ers Saturday. “It’s disturbing hasn’t happened. And that’s curred at public places — the of divisiveness. And we have
the city’s South Side. The and it’s senseless.” what really makes chiefs wor- lowest total for that category more guns and warm weath-
shooters also got away and ry that we may be entering a in a decade — out of 19 total er. It’s a potentially deadly
hadn’t been identified by The attacks come amid an new period where we will see mass shootings in 2020. mix.”

Police arrest 1 of 2 in Austin mass shooting that wounded 14

(AP) — Police have ar- two of them critically. but it provided no other de- The mass shooting — one sures for many of these pa-
rested one suspect and tails other than to say it is of at least three in the U.S. tients, including applications
are searching for another The Austin Police Depart- continuing to follow up on overnight — sparked panic of tourniquets; applications
after a mass shooting on a ment said in a news release leads for the suspect still at along 6th Street, a popular of chest seals,” he said.
crowded downtown Aus- that the U.S. Marshals Lone large. nightlife destination in the
tin street left 14 people Star Fugitive Task Force as- city that’s home to the Uni- Because of the chaos on
wounded early Saturday, sisted in making the arrest, Interim Police Chief Joseph versity of Texas. the barricaded street, police
Chacon said the shooting drove six of the wounded to
happened around 1:30 a.m. One witness, Matt Perlstein, hospitals in their squad cars.
on a street packed with bars told KXAN-TV that he was Ambulances transported four
and barricaded off from ve- waiting with a friend to enter people and the other four
hicle traffic. He said inves- a bar when gunfire erupted. made their own way to hos-
tigators believe it began as a pitals, he said.
dispute between two parties. “Everything was totally fine,”
Chacon said both suspects Perlstein said, then gunfire Gov. Greg Abbott issued a
are male, but declined to dis- erupted. “We just heard like statement thanking police
close details such as whether ... a bunch of gunshots go- and other first responders
both fired shots, saying the ing off. Everyone got on the and offering prayers to the
investigation was ongoing. ground. We couldn’t even victims.
comprehend what was going
“Most of the victims were on at the time.” Abbott said the state Depart-
innocent bystanders, but ment of Public Safety is as-
we’re still sorting out all of Chacon said his officers re- sisting in the investigation
the victims to see what their sponded quickly to the area. and Chacon said the FBI and
involvement is in this case,” the Bureau of Alcohol, To-
Chacon said. “They were able to immedi- bacco and Firearms were also
ately begin life-saving mea- assisting.