Teacher, 14 among hundreds of Americans hit by gunfire over the weekend

CHICAGO, June 6 (Reuters) – A Philadelphia teacher, an Arizona teenager and a Chicago police officer were among hundreds of people hit by gunfire over the weekend, part of a wave relentless shootings that have forced the United States to consider ways to curb gun violence.

More than 124 people have been killed and 325 injured in more than 300 recorded shootings in the United States since Friday, according to GunViolenceArchive.org, a Washington DC nonprofit that tracks shootings.

The weekend’s eruption of violence came on the heels of a series of shocking mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, Buffalo, New York and Tulsa, Oklahoma, which reignited a debate over tougher restrictions on possession of firearms, which gun rights advocates fiercely oppose.

After the weekend shootings, mayors in some major US cities expressed frustration at the impact of the violence on their communities.

“I’m tired of standing in front of you talking about guns and dead bodies,” Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly told reporters at a news conference on Sunday, hours after two people were killed. killed and 14 injured in a shooting at a nightclub in his city.

“The rise in gun violence we’ve seen across the country and here in Philadelphia not only makes me heartbroken, but angry,” Mayor Jim Kenney said Sunday, the day after three people were killed and 12 injured when shots were fired. in a crowded bar on South Street.

Kris Minners, a sophomore resident counselor at Girard College in Philadelphia, a private boarding school, was among the victims who lost their lives in the shooting, according to a Pennsylvania teachers’ union.

“We see lives needlessly lost and people injured in yet another horrific, brazen and despicable act of gun violence,” Kenney added.

On Monday, in response to the gun violence, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law 10 gun control bills. Read more

Washington DC lawmakers are also considering several gun control measures, but any new federal gun legislation faces significant roadblocks from Republicans, particularly in the Senate. Read more

“Change needs to happen now,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a tweet after a 14-year-old girl was killed and eight others injured in a shooting at a mall on Saturday.

Over the weekend, police officers were also shot in Baltimore and Chicago. On Sunday afternoon in Chicago’s South End, a police officer was injured during a traffic stop, becoming the second officer with gunshot wounds in the area in the past four days.

“How many officers and residents need to be victims of gun violence before we act?” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement after the shooting.

Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Bill Berkrot

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