JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It was a deadly weekend in America.
At least a dozen people were killed and more than 60 others injured in 10 mass shootings across the country.
The deaths come as the nation is already grieving after a series of other killings in recent months, including the Uvalde Texas School shooting, a deadly attack at a medical facility in Oklahoma and the racist murders of 10 Black people in a New York supermarket.
New cell phone video on Philadelphia’s South Street shows where at least three people were killed and dozens of others were hit by gunfire in a bustling entertainment district. The bloodshed continued this weekend at graduation parties, strip malls and a nightclub. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, three people were killed and at least 14 others were shot outside a club.
In Socorro, Texas, at a graduation party, five people were wounded after a shooter fired into a crowd.
There was another graduation party shooting this weekend in Summerton, South Carolina, where one person was killed and at least eight others were wounded. The seven people wounded range in age from as young as 12, up to 36 years old.
So far in 2022, there have been at least 246 mass shootings. A mass shooting is defined as an incident where at least four people have been shot. The gun violence epidemic is tearing through communities big and small. New York’s governor says prayers won’t help.
”There’s more to do. Thoughts and prayers won’t fix this. But taking strong action will and we’ll do that in the name of the lives that have been lost,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Over the weekend, key senators said there is growing momentum for a bipartisan response to the recent mass shooting that could tighten federal gun laws for the first time in decades.
Gov. Hochul signed new gun reform bills into law Monday banning anyone under the age of 21 from buying or possessing a semiautomatic rifle.