Biden Decries Mass Shootings Overshadowing Independence Day

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – U.S. President Joe Biden decried escalating gun violence after several mass shootings killed and injured dozens of people overshadowing the nation’s long Independence Day holiday weekend.

“Our nation has once again endured a wave of tragic and senseless shootings in communities across America,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “Today, [my wife] Jill and I grieve for those who have lost their lives, and, as our nation celebrates Independence Day, we pray for the day when our communities will be free from gun violence.”

Biden spoke after he and first lady Jill Biden returned to the White House from Camp David, where he was briefed on the shootings surrounding the July 4th Independence Day celebrations.

In one of the bloodiest latest incidents, a heavily armed gunman in a bulletproof vest opened fire on the streets of Philadelphia, killing five people and injuring two before surrendering to police, authorities said.

Police named the suspected gunman as 40-year-old city resident Kimbrady Carriker, but on Tuesday, no motive was still suggested, and the gunman appeared to shoot at random. He was expected to appear in court on Wednesday.

The victims were identified as Daujan Brown, 15; Lashyd Merritt, 20; Ralph Moralis, 59; Dymir Stanton, 29; and Joseph Wamah Jr, 31, all males. The two hospitalized wounded victims are boys aged two and 13.

MORE VIOLENCE

Across the country, Texas was entering the holiday to news that another shooting had killed three people in Fort Worth, occurring just before midnight amid a gathering in a parking lot that also wounded eight.

In Chicago, a total of five people were killed and at least 33 wounded in shootings across the city, one year after a shooter took seven lives at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, near Chicago.

The shootings came as Highland Park’s mayor, Nancy Rotering, planned a musical performance, a moment of silence, and a walk along the parade route on Tuesday afternoon to mark the 2022 mass shooting.

Also, police in Kansas on Tuesday said 11 people were hurt over the weekend when a gunman opened fire inside a Wichita nightclub.

Separately in Baltimore, Maryland, a teenager was among two people dead following a mass shooting there.

At least nearly 30 were injured following the
incident in the Brooklyn Homes area in the south of the city in the state of Maryland, where people had gathered for an event called “Brooklyn Day.” Media reports said 20 to 30 shots were fired.

BIDEN CONCERNED

Biden said the shootings underscored that “much more must be done across America to address the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our communities apart.”

There have been more than 550 mass killings since 2006, according to The Associated Press/US Today media outlets database, in which at least 2,900 people have died and at least 2,000 people have been injured.

Biden praised Mayor Rotering and other leaders for pushing through a ban on military-style assault weapons for the general public in Illinois, adding: “Their achievement will save lives. But it will not erase their grief … Much more must be done in Illinois and across America to address the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our communities apart.”

Biden urged other states to ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines and once again called on the U.S. Congress to renew a national ban on such weapons.

The gun lobby and other critics say, however, that the Constitution gives law-abiding Americans the right to keep arms to protect themselves against the government, if necessary.

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