Mass shootings claim lives at gatherings over the July Fourth holiday

SHREVEPORT, La. — Mass shootings broke out at festivals, block parties and other gatherings in a handful of cities this week as the U.S. celebrated the Fourth of July.

Gun violence that flared in Washington, D.C, Louisiana, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Texas and Florida left more than a dozen dead and almost 60 wounded — including children as young as 2 years old.

In Shreveport, Louisiana, four people were killed and 10 others wounded late Tuesday night, Shreveport police Sgt. Angie Willhite said. One of the injured was in critical condition Wednesday but the others were expected to survive, she said.

No arrests have been made.

“We are struggling with getting information from those who were present. We’re not getting a lot of cooperation,” Willhite said.

Nine people outside enjoying the Independence Day festivities in the nation’s capital were shot and wounded early Wednesday, police said.

Officers responding around 1 a.m. to the mass shooting in a neighborhood about a 20-minute drive east of the White House found a 9-year-old and a 17-year-old among the victims, Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Leslie Parsons said. The victims, who were not publicly identified, were hospitalized with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening, police said.

The gunshots were fired from a dark SUV seen driving through the neighborhood, Parsons said, calling the shooting targeted. It was unclear if there was more than one shooter in the vehicle, and no arrests had been made, police said.

On Monday night, a shooter in a bulletproof vest opened fire on the streets of Philadelphia, killing five people and wounding two boys, ages 2 and 13, before he surrendered, police said.

Three people were killed and eight others were injured when several men fired indiscriminately into a crowd of hundreds that had gathered in a Texas neighborhood after a festival in the area, authorities said. The shooting in the Fort Worth neighborhood of Como happened late Monday night, about two hours after the annual ComoFest ended.

Thirty people were shot, two fatally, at a block party in Baltimore early Sunday. Many of the shooting victims were children, authorities said.

And in Florida, a 7-year-old child was killed in a shooting during an altercation between two groups gathered for July Fourth celebrations along a causeway that crosses Tampa Bay, police said. A man also was hit with gunfire but was expected to survive. The child was pronounced dead at a hospital.