TEHRAN, YJC.-- Five people, including a 4-year-old girl, have been killed in a string of separate shootings across the United States as gun violence continues to plague the country.
The first killing occurred on
Saturday evening at about 6:10 p.m. (local time) in the US city of Miami
when 4-year-old girl Rahquel Carr was shot as she was waiting in a car
outside her grandfather's home.
The girl was airlifted to a hospital where she was later pronounced
dead by police. Meanwhile, the detectives are trying to find out whether
another young child inside the vehicle fired the gun.
In a separate incident, three people in their 20s were killed and
another was seriously injured in a shooting outside a bar in the US city
of Auburn in the state of Washington.
The shooting happened early Sunday in the parking lot of a bar in
the city, which is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Seattle,
according to Auburn Police Cmdr. Mike Hirman.
Hirman said the gunfire erupted following a fight in the parking lot
when several people pulled out their handguns, firing shots. The
incident led to the death of three men while a fourth victim suffered
multiple gunshot wounds and was rushed to a medical center in Seattle.
"We know there this dispute escalated to gunfire but in
terms of why, we don't know that yet,” Hirman said, adding, "We've had
several dozen people at the scene... Trying to piece together all those
stories does take time.”
The latest fatal shooting took place in Ashtabula, in northeast
Ohio, outside a church, which claimed at least one life according to a
parishioner.
Police have launched an investigation into the gunfire incident
while a member of the church said that a man was shot after Easter
services ended, about 1:15 p.m. on Sunday.
Every year, more than 30,000 people are shot and killed in the
United States. This is while about 4.5 million firearms are sold
annually in the country at a cost of two to three billion dollars.
According to the University of Chicago Crime Lab and the Centers for
Disease Control, the US has an average of 87 deaths each day as a
result of gun violence, with an average of 183 injured.