With weekend shootings, no end in sight to rising gun violence in U.S. cities

WASHINGTON, July 19 (Xinhua) -- A series of shootings over the weekend in some major cities across the United States have again underlined rising gun violence in the country.

Three people were shot outside Nationals Park, home to Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals, in southeast Washington, D.C., on Saturday night during a game against the San Diego Padres, according to police.

The shooting caused echoes of gunfire inside the stadium, prompting baseball fans and players to scramble for safety. Witnesses reported hearing multiple loud bangs during the bottom of the 6th inning.

"Scariest day ever," tweeted Wall Street Journal reporter Amara Omeokwe, who was watching the game inside Nationals Park with others. "We hear BIG shots. Crowds of people start running. We had no idea if we were in an active shooter situation. Apparently shooting was outside, not inside. We are safe now but those moments when we didn't know."

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Washington Nationals issued a joint statement on Sunday, condemning the "senseless acts of gun violence."

"We stand together against senseless acts of gun violence in the city we love. Gun violence -- no matter where it occurs in our city -- is unacceptable and will not be tolerated," the statement said.

The statement added an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department was ongoing and that the incident appeared to be "related to a dispute between individuals in two vehicles." Police also said they believe the shooting was completely unrelated to the game.

"Baseball games, movie theaters, schools, churches. This is normal in America -- but it doesn't have to be," U.S. Senator from Virginia Tim Kaine tweeted on Sunday. "We can and must do more to keep our communities safe."

The chaos that unfolded inside and around the D.C. stadium on Saturday came only a day after a drive-by shooting in the U.S. capital killed a six-year-old girl and five adults.

"Today our city is heartbroken. A child's life was taken, and there is no way to make sense of the callousness or cruelty," Bowser tweeted early Saturday. "We will never accept gun violence as normal, &we must never allow people to get away with murdering our children."

Over the weekend, other U.S. cities also saw a burst of gun violence, a trend that has heightened following the ease of COVID-19 restrictions.

At least three people have died and over 30 others were injured by gunfire in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the past 48 hours. In shootings across Chicago, Illinois, eight individuals have been killed, while at least 47 others have been wounded since Friday evening.

There have been over 24,300 gun violence deaths so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a U.S. website that tracks gun incident trends. Those totals include fatalities from more than 370 mass shootings, defined as four or more people shot or killed, not including the perpetrator.

In major U.S. cities, gun assault rates in the first quarter of 2021 were up by 22 percent -- 1,407 more gun assaults -- than in the same period of 2020, according to the latest findings by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice.

U.S. President Joe Biden has called gun violence a "public health epidemic," as the White House has held at least two meetings this year on gun violence and other violent crimes and recently introduced a series of measures to address the issues.

Violent crime, however, remains a partisan topic in the U.S. Biden's predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, has tried to pin the blame on the Democrats, while excoriating the administration's border policies.

"Crime in our Country is escalating at a pace we've never seen before," Trump said in a statement on Sunday.

"At the same time, people are pouring through our Borders totally unchecked," he claimed without providing any evidence. "Jails in other countries are being emptied out into the United States."

Some have acknowledged they don't expect to see a solution to gun violence in the U.S. soon, though a growing number of local authorities and media outlets have sounded the alarm.

"I want to believe that a shooting outside of a baseball park filled with political folks and their families in the nation's capital will spur change, and yet, I know, deep down, that this will be off the nation's collective radar inside of 48 hours," Charlotte Clymer, a U.S. activist, tweeted on Sunday.