A Michigan mother and children, a Memorial Day festival and a house party: 79 Americans in mass shootings in 6 days since Uvalde
Since 19 students and two teachers were shot dead in Robb Elementary School, 79 people have been killed or injured in 16 more mass shootings in America, reports Rachel Sharp
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Your support makes all the difference.A Michigan mother and her three young children, a woman celebrating Memorial Day at a festival in Oklahoma and a man enjoying a house party in California are among the 79 people who have been killed or wounded in mass shootings in America in the six days since the Uvalde massacre.
On 24 May, 19 students aged between nine and 11 years old and two heroic teachers were shot dead in Robb Elementary School in one of the worst mass shootings in American history.
Since then, there have been 16 more mass shootings across America and dozens of families have been torn apart, according to harrowing data from the Gun Violence Archive.
In total, 12 people have been killed and 67 have been injured.
Yet, even these figures don’t give a full picture of the extent to which lives have been torn apart by gun violence in the last six days.
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The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as an incident where four victims are shot – either injured or killed – not including the shooter.
It does not include the people injured or killed where three or fewer people have been shot.
Last Tuesday’s shooting in Uvalde, carried out by an 18-year-old who was able to legally purchase two AR-15s and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition under Texas’s loose gun laws, has reignited calls for gun reform across the country.
State Senate Democrats are demanding “common sense” gun laws in the state while governor candidate Beto O’Rourke confronted Texas Governor Gregg Abbott in a press conference saying that he was “doing nothing” and that the shooting was “totally predictable”.
Meanwhile, state Republicans are already refusing to introduce new measures, claiming that the answer instead lies in arming more teachers and increasing mental health resources.
Several ploughed ahead with appearances at the NRA convention in spite of the week’s events.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden promised the grieving community in Uvalde that he will take action.
When he was met with pleas to “do something” as he left a midday mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church after meeting with victims’ families that day, he responded: “We will”.
His visit marked the second in two weeks where he has travelled to comfort two communities torn apart by gun violence.
Just 10 days before the Uvalde massacre, a self-proclaimed white supremacis and racist shot dead 10 Black people and injured several others in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
Mr Biden ran on a campaign promise to tackle the nation’s “gun violence epidemic” and he has repeatedly called on Congress to pass gun control laws.
It remains to be seen whether – this time – tragedy can be turned into action.
In the meantime, Americans are dying every day.
Here are the stories of just some victims of US mass shootings since Uvalde:
Teenagers shot on their way to prom
It was only a matter of hours after the tragedy at Robb Elementary School that America was rocked by its next mass shooting.
On Wednesday night, four people were shot on their way to a prom in Philadelphia.
The shooting took place around 7pm in the city’s Mantua neighborhood as a 19-year-old woman, her 19-year-old male prom date, her mother, 34, and another man, 60, were headed to the party together.
Police said a gunman riding a bike opened fire on the group with a semi-automatic weapon, firing at least nine shots.
Investigators believe the 19-year-old male was the target of the attack while the three other victims were struck by stray bullets.
All four victims were taken to hospital. The 19-year-old male was said to be in critical condition while the other three suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Michigan mother and three young children shot dead
A 40-year-old mother and her three young children, aged 3, 4 and 6, were shot and killed in Michigan, on Friday afternoon.
Dawn Gillard, Katelynn Gillard, 6, Ronald Gillard, 4, and Joshua Gillard, 3, were found dead inside their home in Austin Township after police were called to reports of a man with a gun and shots being fired.
A man suffering a gunshot wound to the head was also found on the scene and was rushed to hospital.
Ms Gillard’s other daughter Hailey Salisbury told ABC13 that the man is her stepfather.
“I am in total shock. I am so devastated,” she said.
Shooting unfolds at Memorial Day festival
A 39-year-old woman was killed and seven other people were injured while celebrating Memorial Day weekend at a festival in Taft, Oklahoma.
The shooting unfolded in the early hours of Sunday morning when an argument broke out at the event.
The dispute escalated into gunfire, sending panicked festivalgoers running for cover.
The woman was shot and killed while the seven surviving victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Ohio Bureau of Investigations.
The youngest shooting victim was just nine years old, rising in age to 56 years old.
The suspected gunman Skyler Buckner, 26, surrendered to authorities later that day after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
California house party turns deadly
A California house party turned deadly on Sunday morning when four people were shot – including one fatally – at a home in Merced County.
Investigators believe the party got out of control when people turned up uninvited, and gunfire broke out.
Polie arrived on the scene to find two people suffering from gunshot wounds.
The victims were rushed to hospital where an adult male was pronounced dead.
Two other shooting victims also turned up at the hospital on their own. Two of the three surviving victims are minors.
This article was amended on 31 May 2022. It previously inaccurately referred to the Robb Elementary School shooting being in February .
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