U.S. San Francisco suffers weekend gunbattles amid national burst of violence

SAN FRANCISCO, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Officials of San Francisco, U.S. state of California, on Monday called a gunbattle in the city over the weekend that left six hurt an illustration of violence rattling cities throughout the nation.

"We have a problem with guns in this country, and San Francisco is not immune," San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said on Monday.

Police have apprehended two people following the "car-to-car" shooting on Sunday along the Embarcadero near the Fisherman's Wharf area, a famous tourist attraction of the city.

At least one of the people detained is from Pittsburg, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin said.

"It's horrific, it's unthinkable," he said, adding that "no innocent bystanders were killed or critically injured, which is kind of amazing with a one-mile running vehicular gunbattle in a totally crowded area."

Supervisor Joel Engardio called for "swift arrests and strong prosecution of criminal acts."

Oakland also saw a string of shootings during the weekend, one of which left a 6-year-old wounded in the crossfire. A mass shooting happened last week in the city's Mission District that injured nine people.

Such incidents have been relatively rare in the city, though violence has accelerated in recent years, The San Francisco Chronicle said in a report.

In 2020, the most recent year with complete nationwide data available from the FBI, San Francisco police reported 544 violent crimes per 100,000 city residents, ranking 14th among 23 cities with 750,000 people or more.

Violent crime increased in San Francisco in 2021 and 2022, inching back toward pre-pandemic levels. Through June 11, violent crime was up 4 percent in 2023 when compared with the same period last year, according to city records.

The mass shooting was part of a spate of gun violence over the weekend that killed and wounded people across the United States, including at least 60 shot in the Chicago area alone, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

This weekend, four people were shot dead and a suspect was arrested in the small town of Kellogg, Idaho. A Pennsylvania state trooper was slain and a second critically wounded after an ambush at a police barracks by a man who was then killed in a gun battle.

Poverty, unemployment, and an inadequate social safety net have left many people angry and alienated, leading relationships to fray and tensions to flare, UC Berkeley law Professor Jonathan Simon said, adding that escalations of assaults and shootings can have ripple effects for years.