Seven people have been killed and five injured in shootings across the United States in just 24 hours. The shootings have taken place in public places, by lone attackers and only one of them has been arrested.
In Shreveport, Louisiana, a man has been shot in a liquor store on one of the city’s avenues. Five people have been hospitalized, some with a serious prognosis. The local police have not given more details of the event or the identity of the attacker.
Increase in attacks
The wave of shootings comes days after the massacre at the FedEx warehouse
Hours earlier, three people were killed in a shopping center in Austin, Texas, in an attack similar to the one in Louisiana. The suspect in the shooting, a former county detective, has managed to escape. “There is a possibility that he will take hostages and hole up somewhere to wait for us to leave,” said Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon.
In Wisconsin, three people died and two were seriously injured inside a tavern, from which he managed to flee. In this case, authorities maintain that it was not an indiscriminate attack, but “that the attacker knew who his target was,” according to Sheriff David Beth.
For more control
Two-thirds of Americans favor greater control of the sale
These attacks follow the massacre at a FedEx warehouse last week, in which eight people were killed. Since his arrival in the White House, Joe Biden has tried to tackle the problem with weapons without much success.
A couple of weeks ago, the president approved an executive law to limit the sale of parts needed for “ghost guns,” homemade guns without serial numbers or controls.
The frequency of these mass shootings has increased social alarm and some media are already referring to an “epidemic of violence”. However, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos and USA Today, two-thirds of Americans are in favor of greater control of the sale, although the majority are against its total ban.
