at least one dead and three injured after a shooting in Washington

First modification: 04/12/2023 – 00:03Last modification: 04/12/2023 – 00:05

A new violent event occurred during the celebration of a funeral in Washington, the capital of the United States, leaving one fatality and at least three injured while the debate over arms control in that country grows.

According to Robert Contee, chief of the Metropolitan Police, a police officer was guarding a funeral home in northeast Washington at the request of relatives, when the shooting took place around 12:30 noon (local time).

The tragic event occurred about 20 minutes after a homicide victim’s funeral ended. At least four people were injured by gunshots, according to Contee.

One man died at the scene and three other people were taken to the hospital in critical condition, according to a DC Fire and EMS spokesperson.

“At this point, it appears that a number of people who were on the block were targeted specifically,” Contee told a news conference outside the funeral home. “We’re not sure why that is, why these people were attacked, let alone why they were attacked at a funeral. We don’t understand it,” she added.

The United States is experiencing a series of mass shootings, the most recent victims being five people killed in a Louisville bank on Monday.

Kentucky, Tennessee leaders call for tighter gun control after mass shootings

After two mass shootings killed 11 people in Louisville and Nashville, political leaders called for tougher gun laws, ones that prevent people in various crises from accessing firearms.

“I’m asking the legislature to come up with thoughtful and practical measures to do that, to strengthen our laws, to separate these dangerous people from firearms, while preserving the constitutional rights of the people of this state,” he said. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee.

The law would be a complement to an existing one that allows courts to prohibit perpetrators of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking from possessing firearms. Lee was speaking after the Republican-dominated General Assembly expelled two African-American Democrats who staged a protest at the Tennessee State Capitol calling for tighter controls on firearms.

One in five American adults say they have been threatened with a firearm

In Louisville, Rep. Morgan McGarvey called on federal lawmakers to support universal background checks.

McGarvey is theorizing that the Louisville shooter may have been flagged as a risk, citing reports that the man legally purchased the assault rifle he used on April 4, and sent a message to someone warning of the violent act he planned to commit. .

“We do not have the necessary tools to deal with someone who represents an imminent danger to himself or to others,” the congressman declared.

For his part, Mayor Craig Greenberg, brought the number of people killed by gun violence in Louisville to 40 in 2023calling the level of gun violence in his city “beyond horrible.”

“The laws we have now are allowing violence and murder,” he added.

The United States is experiencing a violent wave where mass shootings seem out of control. So far in 2023 alone, there have been 146 across the country, the highest number since the same period since 2016, according to the Gun Violence Archive, the group that monitors gun incidents in that country. This defines a mass shooting as having four or more gunshot wounds or deaths, not including the shooter.

Another body, the Kaiser Family Foundation, revealed that one in five American adults say they have been personally threatened with a firearm and that 19% of Americans have a family member who has been killed by a firearm, including suicide.

With AP and Reuters