Communities across the country are grappling with a wave of violence in the final days of spring that included at least four mass shootings in one weekend, and continued on Monday with stabbings outside an Indiana shopping center.
On Saturday, a Lone gunman opened fire at a recreational splash pad in suburban Detroit, injuring nine people, including an 8-year-old child who was shot in the head. In Texas, a fatal shooting broke out at a Juneteenth celebration, with two people pronounced dead.
Other shootings and stabbings, in places from Massachusetts to Indiana, marked the days before spring turned to summer. suffocating heat takes over many regions.
Chris Dennison, a University at Buffalo sociology professor who researches crime, said the arrival of seasonal weather presents more opportunities for crime and violence, amid growing concerns about mental health issues and destructive outcomes.
“More people are out, more people are traveling, the days are longer, the weather is better: people are much more inclined to go out, and with that, the potential for crime is also invariable,” Dennison said Monday. fair. .
The wave of violence is a counterpoint to the FBI data points to a sharp drop in violent crimes across the country earlier this year.
Brian Higgins, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said summer heat, large social gatherings and alcohol consumption typically fuel a seasonal increase in violence.
“That was to be expected,” said Higgins, the former police chief of Bergen County, New Jersey. “Is it worse than in other years? That remains to be seen.”
In suburban Detroit, nine people were injured, including two young children and their mother, while gunman opened fire on Saturday at a splash pad where families were gathered to escape the summer heat. An 8-year-old child among the victims was shot in the head and is in critical condition.
Authorities said gunman Michael Nash, 42, fired up to 28 rounds, stopping several times to reload. He later returned home to Shelby Township, where he killed himself. Nash had no criminal record, but apparently He privately struggled with “mental health challenges,” according to police.
Splash pad is a leisure area with a non-slip surface where people can play in fountains and water jets.
Also on Saturday, six people were shot in a residential neighborhood in Lathrup Village, another Detroit suburb.
The shooting began on Saturday night during a June tenth celebration in a public park in Texas, about 30 miles north of Austin.
Round Rock police on Monday identified the two women killed in the shooting as Lyndsey Vicknair, 33, and Ara Duke, 54. Neither woman was involved in an altercation at the event that turned into the shooting that injured 14 others, it said. the police. There were no immediate arrests as police searched for a suspect.
O shooting at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock also injured two childrensaid Round Rock Police Chief Allen Banks.
In Indianapolis, nine people were injured — three of them seriously — early Monday in a stabbing outside a shopping mall, police said.
Officer William Young of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said investigators believe a disturbance between two groups preceded the stabbings in a parking lot across from a restaurant and lounge. Three of those hospitalized were in critical condition. No immediate arrests were made, while police spoke to several witnesses and requested surveillance camera footage.
Also on Monday, Chicago police said 11 people were injured in two shootings that occurred about an hour apart in the city’s Humbolt Park and Englewood neighborhoods.
Seven people were shot and injured while fleeing when Shootings broke out on Sunday at a large gathering of young people in Methuen, Massachusetts.
Authorities say the shooting began at 2 a.m. after hundreds of people gathered for a pop-up party organized on social media. The victims ranged in age from 17 to 22, with two people listed in critical condition.
Metheun Police Chief Scott McNamara said authorities monitor “hot spots” where such gatherings typically occur, but Sunday’s gathering took place in a new location and turned violent.
Also on Sunday, police officers in Denver shot and killed a woman holding a large hunting knife at a downtown intersection. Officers used a Taser on the woman twice, but she began to advance toward them as they tried to move away from her, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said at a news conference.
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Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Rick Callahan in Indianapolis, Colleen Slevin in Denver and Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, NJ, contributed to this report.
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