In the US, the epidemic of gun violence and mass shootings is still going strong. In the most recent incident, a 72-year-old man murdered 10 people on Saturday night at a dance studio and club in Monterey Park, a city close to Los Angeles with a sizable Asian population. Huu Can Tran, who committed suicide on Sunday as the police approached him, was identified by the authorities as the man. Witnesses to the mass shootings reported that the shooter looked to have an ample supply of ammo and had fired randomly. Five men and five women, the majority in their 50s or 60s, were among the fatalities, according to police, and about ten more people were hurt.
While the exact definition of a mass shooting is unclear, the group defines it as an incident in which at least four people have been killed or injured
The very following day, news of another large-scale shooting in which 12 people were hurt came from a Louisiana nightclub in Baton Rouge. The status of one of the victims is critical. The early morning attack was “targeted,” according to the police, who have not yet made any arrests.
“This was not a random act of violence, based on the preliminary investigating efforts,” Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul said at a news conference Sunday afternoon. “We believe this was a targeted event, where someone was specifically targeted and others were injured in that process.”
Only 23 days into the year, and the US has already had at least 36 mass shootings, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, illustrating the seriousness of the crisis. This indicates that there have been more mass shootings this year than there were in 2023. While the exact definition of a mass shooting is unclear, the group defines it as an incident in which at least four people have been killed or injured.
It estimated 648 in the previous year, with 21 occurrences involving five or more fatalities. Since the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which was reported on May 24 of last year and left 19 children and two teachers dead, the shooting in Monterey Park has been the deadliest. Additionally, it was California’s second significant occurrence in less than a week. A teen woman and her six-month-old child were among the six persons who perished in a gang-related shooting that took place in Tulare County last week.
Following a shooting on November 13 at the University of Virginia, three student football players died and at least two more sustained injuries
On November 19, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich opened fire at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, killing five people and injuring 19. Aldrich was holding an AR-15-style gun and many magazines of ammo. Richard M. Fierro, a former US Army soldier, quickly tackled the shooter and managed to take the rifle out of his grasp.
Following a shooting on November 13 at the University of Virginia, three student football players perished and at least two more sustained injuries. Police were able to apprehend the suspect, a University of Virginia student and former UVA football player, hours after a fierce manhunt. The Memphis police detained a 19-year-old black American suspect in connection with several shootings, one of which he uploaded on Facebook. On September 7, the shooter went on a rampage and started shooting randomly, killing four people and injuring at least three others.