Vviolence and mass shootings frequently spike in the summer months, especially around the Fourth of July, historically one of the deadliest days of the year.
A wave of shootings around the holidays a year ago left more than a dozen people dead and more than 60 injured. Just two years ago, another mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade left seven people dead near Chicago. The mother of a 10-year-old boy who was paralyzed by the attack said Wednesday that her family will not attend this year’s parade, which returns for the first time since the shooting.
“I don’t know if we’ll be able to watch the parade again,” said Keely Roberts, who was also injured.
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The Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass shootings involving four or more people regardless of whether they died, shows that June, July and August had the highest total number of mass shootings in the last decade. The lowest totals were from December to March.
Independence Day topped the list with 58 mass shootings in the past 10 years — closely followed by July 5, according to the filing.
“It’s the meeting, the free time, the drinking,” said James Alan Fox, a criminologist and professor at Northeastern University who has overseen a massacre. data base maintained by the Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with the university.
In the first half of this year, there were 19 mass murders – 14 of them shootings – with at least four deaths in the US, according to the database. In 2023, the country recorded the highest number of mass shootings – 39 – since tracking began.
Researchers point to a combination of factors that have historically caused the summer months to see an increase in violence and shootings.
School’s out for the summer
Mass murders are much more likely to happen in a home, and most of the time, the victims are relatives of the shooter or close acquaintances.
When classes are out, families spend more time together, children are often home all day and there are more likely to be more victims when everyone is under the same roof, said Jesenia Pizarro, a criminology professor at Arizona State University. .
Teenagers also have more free time available. “It’s like the opportunities change in the summer,” she said.
After two mass shootings hours apart in Dayton, Ohio, that left a total of three dead and eight injured in late June, police said one of the shootings occurred in a vacant home where hundreds of teenagers and young adults had gathered. .
“It could have been a lot worse,” said Eric Henderson, the city’s deputy chief, who noted that this was the third large party since mid-June in which problems arose after young people occupied an empty house.
More social events, more drinks
Family gatherings, block parties and summer festivals bring more people together – and create more opportunities for trouble, especially when drinking is involved.
“That doesn’t mean this kind of thing doesn’t exist in March or January. They are present in a smaller proportion than in the summer,” said Alex Piquero, a criminologist at the University of Miami. “We know that almost every summer there is an increase in violence. So I fully predict that to happen this summer. I fully foresee this happening next summer and the summer after that.”
The likelihood of being a victim of a mass shooting is still extremely low, but it means there is the potential for more victims if something happens at a crowded event.
During the first weekend of this summer, there were several shootings where several people were killed or injured in large gatherings, including in Montgomery, Alabama, where gunfire erupted during an unauthorized street party with more than 1,000 people. Police said nine people were shot and that investigators found more than 350 spent shell casings.
Tempers rise with high temperatures
Several studies linked hot weather and warmer than normal temperatures with rising tempers – and not just in summer. They also associate increased time with more violent crimes, although other factors often come into play.
Former New York police officer Jillian Snider, now a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said she saw this firsthand in neighborhoods where a lack of air conditioning pushed people onto the stairs or into parks on sweltering days.
“It makes people a little angry because there is no place to calm down and tensions rise,” she said. “You can’t escape this, you’re just more upset.”
—Associated Press journalists Sharon Johnson in Atlanta and Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
