Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Three children as young as 11 shot dead in separate incidents in US within hours

Two boys killed when the van they were in was sprayed with bullets while another was shot at a birthday party

Phil Thomas
New York
Monday 25 November 2019 20:32 GMT
Comments
A gun control rally in New York
A gun control rally in New York (AFP/Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Three children aged between 11 and 14 were shot dead in two different incidents in the US – one of them at a birthday party – within hours of each other.

Two boys were killed when the van they were sitting inside was sprayed with bullets in the car park of an elementary school in Union City, about 30 miles from San Francisco in California.

One of the boys, who was 14, was pronounced dead at the scene while the other, who was 11, died on the way to hospital.

There have been no arrests and police have said they are still trying to establish a motive. The East Bay Times reported that detectives are investigating whether the murders could have been gang-related.

The paper quoted Shirley Sedano, a family member of one of the boys – who have not been publicly identified – saying: "Both of them were such a young age.

"What can an 11- and 14-year-old do to somebody so bad to have 15 to 20 bullet holes in a van? If they're trying to get back at somebody, why target the kids? They're just starting to live their life.

Callers to emergency services said they had heard gunfire close to Searles Elementary School at about 1.26am on Saturday.

In the other incident, another 11-year-old boy died after being shot in the chest at a birthday party in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tyshaun Taylor was shot in an apartment in the east of the city on Saturday evening.

Again, police were yet to make any arrests and no motive for the killing was immediately clear.

Neighbour Willie Gambell told local news station WJW: "He just liked riding bicycles. He was real good. He was a respected kid. When I found out about what happened, I saw his picture and I was like, man, it can't be true, it can't be true.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit data research group, 190 children aged 11 or below have been shot dead in the US in 2019, with another 432 wounded.

Some 689 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 have been killed by firearms in 2019 with another 2,078 wounded, the group said.

The total number of deaths attributed to gun violence this year is 35,267, of which 13,553 are attributed to homicide or accidents and 21,714 to suicide.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in