Happy July 4th...
Shooting in Fort Worth leaves at least 3 dead and 8 others wounded
By
, Christine Sever and Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN
Updated 2:42 PM EDT, Tue July 4, 2023
Authorities respond to the scene of a shooting in Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday.
WFAA
CNN —
Gunfire erupted just before midnight Monday in Fort Worth, Texas, leaving at least three dead and eight others wounded, police said.
Ten of the victims are adults and one a minor, according to a news release from the Fort Worth Police Department’s homicide unit.
Hours after the tragedy, the neighborhood held its Fourth of July parade on the same street where the shooting occurred, with parade-goers waving at children on colorful floats and riders on horseback.
Monday night, officers discovered multiple people shot in a parking lot in the Horne Street area of the Como neighborhood, police said. Several victims were brought to local hospitals by private vehicles, while others were transported by ambulance, authorities said. One victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
“We had a shooting. It appears that we had multiple victims that were shot. Probably three of them were transported to Harris Southwest,” police Capt. Shawn Murray said during a news conference. “Five more victims were transported to John Peter Smith.”
It’s too early to tell if the shooting was gang related, a domestic dispute, or something else, police said.
There was a large crowd in the neighborhood when police responded, Murray said.
“Traditionally, the Como neighborhood, July 3 is their big celebration,” said Murray. The sound of fireworks could occasionally be heard in the background as he spoke to reporters.
“They have their parade, and July 3 in the evening, they gather up as a neighborhood and come together,” he said.
“Everybody was just having fun and then you just heard gunfire, and everybody started running away,” Mike Valle, who witnessed the shooting, told CNN’s Ed Lavandera.
Valle said his friends had warned him the annual event can get out of hand.
A shooting that erupted just before midnight in Fort Worth, Texas, left at least three dead.
WFAA
On the same date and in the same area,
and a child was hit by a vehicle after gunfire broke out following an argument near a car wash in 2021.
“My heart breaks for the victims, their loved ones, and the entire Como community that works to build positivity and celebration in their community and our city,”
said Tuesday in a tweet.
Last year, a gunman opened fire on a July Fourth
, killing seven people between the ages of 8 to 85 and injuring dozens more. The ensuing manhunt paralyzed the Chicago area before a suspect was arrested later in the day.
The deadly gunfire in Fort Worth is one of at least 345 mass shootings in the nation this year, according to the
.
The archive, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.
Police are also investigating a
in Philadelphia they believe left five people dead and two children injured Monday evening. They have arrested a suspect who they say had a bulletproof vest, an AR-15 style rifle and a handgun.
President Joe Biden released a statement on Tuesday condemning gun violence and calling for legislative action.
“It is within our power to once again ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, to require safe storage of guns, to end gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability, and to enact universal background checks,” Biden said.