Three incidents involving gun violence have taken place in the United States within 24 hours.
One person was killed and at least five others were injured on a Fort Worth freeway in Texas on Friday night.
Hours later, on Saturday morning, one person was killed and three others were critically injured in a shooting at a convenience store in southern Missouri.
At around the same time, two deputies were shot in South Salt Lake, Utah.
Texas
In Texas, two vehicles, which police said each had several occupants, were traveling eastbound on the Southwest Loop of the 820 freeway just after 10 p.m. local time when people began shooting for unknown reasons, according to police.
Stray bullets hit a woman driving an unrelated vehicle and a man who was inside his house, police said.
CNN reported that a 19-year-old male died early on Saturday in the ICU, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s records. At least five other people were shot and taken to hospitals, police said, where they were being treated for gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening.
Missouri
The Missouri shooting occurred at a Snappy Mart convenience store in Koshkonong, a town of about 200 people on the Missouri-Arkansas border.
Officers were alerted when a clerk inside the store called 911. The suspect walked into the store and started firing with a handgun. Several witnesses inside the store escaped without injury, Oregon County Sheriff Eric King said.
A 28-year-old suspect from Thayer, Missouri, was arrested about four hours later in neighboring Howell County, King said. Authorities do not believe anyone else was involved.
The suspect and at least one of the victims knew each other, the sheriff said. Three of the victims, including the person who died, were from out of state.
Utah
In Utah, two deputies were patrolling a complex that includes the Salt Lake County Metro Jail, when the shooting occurred.
They encountered a man on the grass near the north parking lot, and as they approached him, he pulled out a handgun and shot at them. Both deputies were shot in the face and taken to the hospital. One shot back and killed the suspect. The motive for the shootings is unknown.
One deputy was hit in the cheek and is in stable condition. He sustained “quite a bit of damage” to his face, Sheriff Rosie Rivera said Saturday afternoon, but he is expected to be released from the hospital soon.
The other, who got shot in the eye, was a critical condition. He will remain in the hospital for surgery, but is expected to survive.
Gun violence in U.S.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday announced new measures to tackle gun violence across the country in what the White House has described as a first step to curb mass shootings and suicides.
In March, the New York Times reported on the relationship between gun violence and gun availability in the United States.
“It’s not just that every other high-income country in the world has many fewer guns and many fewer gun deaths. It’s also that U.S. states with fewer guns – like California, Illinois, Iowa and much of the Northeast – have fewer gun deaths.”
