This year’s Halloween weekend, which began on 31st October (Saturday), was plagued by gun violence in the United States, with numerous shootings turning celebrations into tragedies, leaving over a dozen people dead and over 90 injured. At least 24 people were killed and 94 injured nationwide as a result of the shootings, which unfolded from California to Delaware. They took place outside stadiums, close to college campuses, at nightclubs and in costume shops.
According to a review of FBI data for Boston from 2005 to 2009 by Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox, 31st October is the third most violent day of the year, after 4th July and 1st January, reported The New York Times. He noted that Halloween is the most dangerous day of the year for minors.
The recent carnage took place around customary fall American events, such as Halloween, football and college parties. On the eve of Halloween, one of the first incidents happened at a Christmas shop in Fairfield, California, which is northeast of San Francisco.
Gunfire broke out around 8:30 pm and killed a 31-year-old pregnant mother of four, Constance Hages, at a Spirit Halloween store. Three of the six people injured were critical. Afterwards, the retail centre called off its trick-or-treating event for the following day.
On Saturday, a shooting at a Flint, Michigan, party killed one woman and injured two teenage boys and a man before 12:30 am. Four people were shot during an after-party in Kansas early on the same day, including a 36-year-old man who was struck in the face by a stray bullet while staring out of his window.
Two shootings occurred just minutes apart after Alabama State University and Alabama A&M University’s Magic City Classic ended on Saturday night in Birmingham, Alabama. The incidents took place near vendors set up outside of Legion Field just before 8:00 pm, and resulted in one fatality and eight injuries.
A five-year-old girl in Detroit was shot in the chest while playing in her home’s back room. Her condition is currently stable. On Saturday night, Delaware reported two mass shootings in a little more than an hour. Nine people were hit by a gunman who opened fire on an outdoor party in Ellendale just before ten o’clock at night, after which a 17-year-old girl eventually passed away from her wounds. The injured were aged between 17 and 22.
Six people were shot on a busy Main Street close to the University of Delaware in Newark at approximately 11:13 pm and were brought to hospitals. Just before midnight, seven people were similarly hurt at a Halloween birthday celebration near Edinburg, Texas.
Early on Sunday, shootings were also reported in two cities named Bloomington, one in Illinois and the other in Indiana. On a residential street close to Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, authorities found several victims who had been shot. Seven people were hurt, including a woman in severe condition, and a 19-year-old woman was declared deceased at the scene.
Seven people between the ages of 17 and 27 were hurt when the shooting started in the downtown area of Bloomington, Indiana, close to a sizable gathering. Six people were shot in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and were transported to hospitals.
Three different shootings in the Deep Ellum neighbourhood of Dallas resulted in at least four fatalities and fifteen injuries. Early on Sunday, masked men inside a Jackson, Mississippi, nightclub hosting a costume party opened fire, killing two people and injuring four more.
Two individuals were killed and eleven injured in two different shootings at Halloween parties in Jacksonville, Florida. A 17-year-old girl was killed while waiting in queue for a party at around 1.45 am, with two others injured. A 20-year-old guy was killed, and nine others were injured when a shooting broke out at a house party just over two hours later.
Notably, just over two weeks have passed since a mass shooting in an Oregon elementary school claimed the lives of three kids and a teacher inside a special needs classroom.
