Gun violence in the United States does not stop. This past weekend, at least four mass shootings were reported in different parts of the country: two in Michigan and others in Texas and Massachusetts. Among the four events, all in less than 48 hours, two people were killed and 30 others were injured, including an eight-year-old boy who was shot in the head in a Detroit suburb on Saturday.
The first shooting of the weekend took place in Rochester Hills, north of Detroit, when Michael William Nash, 42, opened fire at a water recreation area around 5:30 p.m. Michigan time. Nash fired indiscriminately into the crowd, firing up to 36 shots and stopping several times to reload his gun, according to local police. When he finished, the shooter was apparently in no hurry. “He Solo walked calmly back to his car,” said county police chief Mike Bouchard, according to statements collected by the AP agency. During the chaos of the shooting, “people were falling, getting hit and trying to run,” Bouchard added.
In total, nine people were injured, of which two remained in critical condition this Monday, including the eight-year-old boy who was shot in the head. His four-year-old brother was also shot in the leg and his mother in the abdomen.
Nash fled the park after the shooting, but apparently left one of his guns behind (he used two during the attack). Authorities used the gun’s registration information to track him down, tracking him to a home in Shelby Township that she shared with his mother. When the police arrived at the home they found a car that matched the suspect’s vehicle. Upon entering the home, officers found that Nash had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Until now, the police do not know what his motive was, since the man had no previous police incidents or criminal record.
Hours later, in another suburb of Detroit, there was another shooting at 12:20 a.m. According to local police, six young people — in their teens and twenties — were injured after someone broke into a party at a private home in Lathrup Village. Authorities believe it was a specific attack and continue to investigate it.
Two victims in Texas
That same day, more than 1,300 miles away, in Texas there was another shooting that left two dead and 14 injured. The incident occurred around 11 p.m. local time during a Juneteenth holiday celebration at Round Rock Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, Texas, north of Austin. The shooting began after an altercation between two groups, in which the victims had nothing to do. The injured – including two children – were taken to hospitals with gunshot wounds, at least six of them with “potentially serious” injuries.
Local authorities have not arrested any suspects so far. Police said in X that they are looking for a man of “slim build, approximately 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 meters) tall, with short dreadlocks and who was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt at the time of the incident.”
The latest shooting of the weekend took place in Methuen, Massachusetts, north of Boston, on Sunday around 2 a.m. local time, during a huge youth party organized on social media. The ages of the injured range between 17 and 22 years old, according to authorities, who have not arrested anyone so far.
So far this year, there have been at least 229 mass shootings in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive, an organization that tracks the epidemic of gun violence in the United States. This platform defines a mass shooting as an incident with four or more victims, excluding the shooter.
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