Two women at a Chicago home, a police officer serving an arrest warrant in Cleveland and an armed man making threats in Yellowstone National Park were killed in shootings on Thursday, July 4, historically one of the deadliest days of the year in the United States.
Violence and mass shootings often increase during the summer months, with more people gathering for social events, teenagers out of school and warmer temperatures.
Three boys, ages 8, 7 and 5, were also injured in Thursday’s Chicago shooting, which police said stemmed from an apparent personal dispute. The women killed were 42 and 22.
Two vehicles pulled up in a south side neighborhood and several people got out and opened fire on the home, Deputy Chief Don Jerome said. Several shell casings from a rifle and a handgun were found at the scene, he said.
The slain Cleveland police officer has been identified as Jamieson Ritter. The 27-year-old officer was part of a team dispatched to serve a man with a warrant for felony assault around 1 a.m., Police Chief Dorothy Todd said, according to local media reports. The man was seen fleeing the home and allegedly fired a gun multiple times, striking the officer, Todd said.
Also Thursday in Yellowstone, gunfire broke out between a person who authorities said had made threats to park rangers.
The shooting occurred in Canyon Village, an area in the central part of the park that houses a campground, lodging and a visitor center, park officials said in a statement. The statement did not specify exactly where the shots were fired or whether visitors were affected by what it called “a significant law enforcement incident” that began overnight.
The ranger was in stable condition in hospital, according to the statement, which did not specify how he was injured.
A 13-year-old girl was fatally shot at a suburban Seattle mall Wednesday night after a fight broke out between two groups of teenagers. One of the youths fired a handgun, police in Lynnwood, Washington, said.
Jayda Woods-Johnson, who was killed, was a bystander who was not involved in the fight, police said, adding that the teens fled the scene. Later that night, a 16-year-old boy suspected of firing a gun was taken to police by his mother.
A year ago, a series of shootings around the Fourth of July 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.
