Gun violence soared over the Fourth of July weekend, with shootings reported in nearly every US state, killing a total of at least 220 people and injuring nearly 570 others, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The database, which collects information on deaths and injuries related to incidents involving firearms, updated its records early Tuesday. The number of shootings over the weekend nearly equaled the number of injuries, with more than 500 shootings nationwide documented between Friday and Monday, according to published data. There were only five states where one or more shootings were not reported in that time period.
Of all the gun violence reported over the holiday weekend, at least 11 were classified as mass shootings by the Gun Violence Archive. Any situation in which four or more people, excluding the shooter, are killed or injured by gunshots is considered a mass shooting.
The database lists 315 mass shootings nationwide since the start of this year and an estimated 22,500 deaths caused by any form of gun violence. The number of injuries so far linked to gun violence is approaching the total number of deaths.
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— The Gun Violence Archive (@GunDeaths) July 5, 2022
An increase in gun violence around the Fourth of July is not uncommon in the US, and last weekend’s reports from the Gun Violence Archive mirror those released in previous years. In 2021, more than 180 people were killed and 516 were injured in shootings that occurred on the same holiday weekend.
The devastating impact of gun violence was widespread over the holiday, but certain areas were hit harder than others. In Highland Park, an Illinois suburb about 25 miles north of Chicago, at least seven people were killed and more than two dozen injured in a mass shooting targeting the neighborhood’s Fourth of July parade. Some of the victims, including at least one child, were in critical condition when they were transported from the scene, Highland Park Fire Chief Joe Schrage said Monday.
A Lake County, Illinois police officer walks down Central Avenue in Highland Park on July 4, 2022, after a gunman opened fire at the Fourth of July parade. Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
About nine hours after the gunman opened fire on parade attendees in Highland Park, authorities arrested a person of interest, who they identified as Robert Crimo III, in connection with the shooting. Crimo has not been charged in the attack.
But the Highland Park shooting was far from the only crime involving gun violence in the Chicago area over the weekend. Eight deaths and 68 injuries from gun violence were confirmed in the city in the days leading up to July 4, as well as the holiday itself, according to CBS Chicago. The victims reportedly ranged in age from 17 to 90 years old.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article misstated the number of non-shooting states.
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