Fresh Gun Violence Engulfs U.S. States

Date: 18 June 2023 - 21:41

News ID: ۱۱۶۲۵۳

WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- At least six people were killed and more than two dozen others injured in shootings in Illinois, Missouri, Washington state, and Pennsylvania in a deadly night of gun violence.
At least one person was killed early Sunday with 19 more injured at a strip mall in Willowbrook, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, police said.
Eric Swanson, the deputy chief of the DuPage County Sheriff’s office, told a news conference that deputies “heard numerous gunshots fired and responded to an area where a large gathering of people was happening.”
Preliminary witness and victim reports indicated “that there were at least 20 individuals shot,” he said. “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.
“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.
“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 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 nine others injured, according to St. Louis Metropolitan Police, who have yet to release more information on the incident.
A state trooper was killed and another was critically injured during two violent encounters with the same armed suspect in central Pennsylvania, the first unfolding near State Police barracks, authorities said.
The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was fatally shot during a gunfight with the trooper who was killed, according to the Pennsylvania State Police.
The violence began at 12:45 p.m. Saturday when the gunman opened fire on a Pennsylvania state trooper near the State Police barracks in Mifflintown, about 45 miles northwest of Harrisburg, police said.
The suspect fled the scene after shooting the trooper, who was in critical condition at a hospital, according to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Following an intense three-hour search, state police cornered the suspect in Walker Township, about 50 miles northwest of Mifflintown, according to authorities.
A gunfight broke out between the suspect and another state trooper, authorities said. During the exchange of gunfire in Walker Township, both the suspect and the trooper were killed, officials said.
The name of the trooper who was fatally shot was not immediately released.
A motive for the shootings remained under investigation Sunday.
At least 25 U.S. law enforcement officers have now been shot to death in the line of duty this year, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. In 2022, a total of 61 U.S. law enforcement officers were killed by gunfire in the line of duty, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page website.
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.