This is terrible.
The fourth of July weekend proved to be a deadly weekend for cities across the U.S.
Although dozens of homicides and shooting incidents were reported by major cities, the mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, 45 minutes from North Chicago, spotlighted the violence that has become synonymous with the fourth of July weekend.
In the Highland Park incident, a gunman opened fire on a fourth of July parade from a rooftop on an adjacent building, killing seven and leaving dozens more injured.
Noting the spike in violence, Joseph Giacalone, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and retired New York Police Department detective Sergeant, stated, “July 4th always tend to be pretty bloody.”
In his statement, first published by Fox News Digital, Giacalone also offered possible explanations, saying those with “illegal guns or fire them off try to mask it through the fireworks that go on.”
The retired detective sergeant also pointed to the warmer weather, more outside activity, and parties involving drugs and alcohol being potential causes for the increase in violence.
He added that in New York, most of the weekend’s violence is perpetrated by youngsters between 13 and 19 years old, saying, “Some of it might be gang-related. Some of it might be drug-related. … It’s a little hard to pinpoint exactly what the causes are. It just seems to be a lot of guns in the street with little fear of the criminal justice system.”
New York City Police Department reported 52 people were shot, nine killed between Friday and Monday.
In Chicago, data released by the Chicago Police Department shows between Friday morning and Monday evening, 81 people were shot, 12 fatally.
In Philadelphia and Baltimore, 8 and 4 people died from shootings, with each city’s Police Department reporting the deaths.
