NAVARRO, Texas (Dispatches) – Nine people have been killed and six others injured in separate shooting incidents in the U.S. state of Texas, according to authorities.
Police said a man shot and killed 4 members of his family and injured three others before killing himself in Navarro County.
The suspect identified as Kevin Milazzo, 41, shot dead his 68-year-old stepfather, William Mimms; his mother Connie Mimms, 61; his 21-year-old son Joshua Milazzo; and his former friend’s son, 4-year-old Hunter Freeman.
Milazzo was reportedly on the run, according to ABC affiliate WFAA. Police intercepted him on a road and used a monitoring service to shut his engine off.
Officers approached his vehicle to see Milazzo critically injured with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
The conditions of the three survivors are not immediately known.
Also after midnight on Saturday, police responded to the scene of another shooting in Corsicana, which is about 55 miles outside of Dallas.
According to Corsicana Police Chief Robert Johnson, a man and a woman were shot and killed in Corsicana. Two other people were wounded in the shooting.
Shortly after the incident, police responded to another shooting in the nearby town of Frost, according to the Daily Sun.
A man and a child were shot and killed in Frost, while another one was wounded.
A day earlier, several shots were fired just before midnight near the Melody Hookah Lounge in Blacksburg’s downtown area.
U.S. authorities shut down the Virginia Tech campus for several hours and urged students to remain indoors amid reports of an active shooter near the campus.
Virginia Tech lifted their “shelter in place” guidance shortly after 03:15 ET 08:15 GMT at the university where 32 people were killed in a mass shooting in 2007.
Just after midnight, Blacksburg police could be seen blocking off the road where the shooting took place.
Blacksburg police said they are investigating the incident and offered no other details.
Gun violence in the United States has been a chronic social problem that seems to have no solution.
According to the latest data by the GVA, some 400 Americans were killed in gun violence only in the first four days of 2022.
The United States saw a record high of 691 mass shootings in 2021 as gun violence surged within the year, according to reports.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated that a record number of 17 million guns were sold from January 2021 through November of 2021.