At least 4 people were killed and more than two dozen others injured in shootings in Illinois, Missouri and Washington state in a deadly night of gun violence.
At least one person was killed with 22 more injured at a strip mall in Willowbrook, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, police said. Authorities described the gathering as a peaceful "celebration of Juneteenth" that began at 6 p.m.
"At approximately 12:25 AM police were called away due to a 911 call alleging a fight had broken out nearby," the DuPage County Sheriff’s office said Sunday. "As deputies responded, they heard gunshots and immediately returned to the scene of the gathering."
Preliminary witness and victim reports indicated “that there were at least 20 individuals shot,” Eric Swanson, the deputy chief of the DuPage County Sheriff’s office said early Sunday. “At this time one victim is deceased,” he added.
He added that the victims had been taken to nearby hospitals, adding that the names and ages of the victims were not available. Some people were also injured as they fled the scene but not struck by gunfire.
“The motive behind this incident is unclear and this is still an active investigation,” he said.
Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital said it received 12 patients in relation to the shooting Sunday, seven of whom were treated and released. Four patients remained in good condition, with one person described as being in "fair" condition.
Some witnesses
told NBC Chicago they were leaving the gathering when shots rang out
"We were all just out, and next thing you know, shots just got going off," said Craig Lottie. "Everybody ran, and it was chaos."
The shooting came hours after two people were killed and three injured near the the Beyond Wonderland electronic dance music festival in Washington State.
There, police said the suspect shot “randomly into the crowd,” at a campground near the Gorge Amphitheater, in the small city of George, around 149 miles east of Seattle.
Another deadly shooting took place just after 1 a.m. in St. Louis, Missouri. One person was killed and 9 others injured, according to St. Louis Metropolitan Police.
Those who were shot ranged in age from 15 to 19 years old, police said Sunday. The person killed was identified as a 17-year-old, according to police chief Robert Tracy.
The injuries range from graze wounds to gunshot wounds, including two people who were shot in the back. One teenage girl was trampled while running away and suffered serious injuries, according to Tracy. Their conditions were not immediately known.
Tracy said officers in the area noticed a group of people fleeing a building downtown and called for backup at the same time that multiple calls came in reporting a shooting.
It appears the shooting occurred at a party being held on the fifth floor of the building, an office space, Tracy said. The bullet casings at the scene indicate more than one gun was fired and "multiple firearms" were recovered at the scene.
One person of interest, a juvenile, has been taken into custody, Tracy said.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones told reporters at a press conference Sunday that her office was working to expand resources for city youths to keep them away from gun violence. She also called on parents throughout the area to engage with their children and monitor their teenagers.
"We’re seeing downtown St. Louis become a place for teens from across the region to gather on a late night," Jones said. "The city of St. Louis is leveraging every resource we have making major investments and youth programming ... working with communities to create safe educational spaces for kids while they're out of school."
There have been 307 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2023, according to the Gun Violence archive, a nonprofit that tracks incidents and which defines a mass shooting as a single incident in which at least four people — other than the shooter — are shot.
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