The Fourth of July has generally been one of the deadliest days of the year in the United States. Three people were shot and killed: two women in a Chicago home; a police officer serving a warrant in Cleveland; and a person with a gun making threats in Yellowstone National Park.
Since more people are going to social events, kids are not in school, and it’s hotter, violence and mass shootings tend to happen more often in the summer.
Three boys, ages 8, 7, and 5, were also hurt in the shooting in Chicago on Thursday. Police say it seemed to be the result of a personal disagreement. The women who were killed were 42 and 22 years old.
Deputy Chief Don Jerome said that when two cars pulled up to a neighborhood on the south side of the city, several people got out and shot at the house. He said that several shell casings from both a rifle and a pistol were found at the scene.
Jamieson Ritter was named as the police officer who was killed in Cleveland. The 27-year-old cop was sent to serve a man with a warrant for felony assault around 1 a.m., according to local news sources. Police Chief Dorothy Todd said this. Todd says that man was seen running away from the house and reportedly fired a gun several times, hitting the officer.
On Thursday, there was also gunfire in Yellowstone between park guards and someone who the police say had been making threats.
A statement from the park said that the shooting happened in Canyon Village, which is in the middle of the park and has a campground, lodging, and a tourist center. It wasn’t clear from the statement where the shots came from or if the “significant law enforcement incident” that started overnight had any effect on the visitors.
The statement said that the ranger was in safe condition at a hospital but did not say how the ranger was hurt.
On Wednesday night, a 13-year-old girl was fatally shot at a mall in a neighborhood of Seattle. Police in Lynnwood, Washington, said that one of the teens involved in a fight broke out with a gun and shot the girl.
Police say that the person who was killed, Jayda Woods-Johnson, wasn’t even involved in the fight.
Police said the teens ran away, but later that night, the mother of a 16-year-old boy who was thought to have fired the gun brought him to the police.
A year ago, there were a lot of killings around the Fourth of July that killed 12 people and hurt over 60. Seven people were killed in another mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade near Chicago just two years ago.
