While the nation’s attention was fixated on this weekend’s mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, seven were killed and dozens more were injured by gunfire across Chicago, which included two mass shootings in less than three hours.
In the city’s two mass shootings more than a dozen people in Chicago were wounded and one was killed, according to CBS2. Both of the mass shootings occurred in the Lawndale neighborhood early Sunday morning.
The first occurred around 1:20 a.m. Police said that there was a group of people standing in a park when a black Chevrolet Camaro pulled up and began firing into the crowd, wounding four men and three women. All were in their early 20s, except for one 19-year-old woman.
At 3:45 a.m. in the same neighborhood a group of unknown shooters began firing at a large group of people who were attending a block party. Seven were wounded by the shots and 33-year-old Demetrius Flowers was killed.
Flowers’ father, Keith Flowers, said Demetrius was his second son killed by violence in the city and pleaded for something to be done to stem the shootings.
“Please stop. It’s killing our families, it’s destroying the fiber of our communities. We have to stop this senseless killing,” Flowers said emotionally. “Because if we don’t there’s nothing going to be left.”
Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who is a Democratic presidential contender, tweeted about this weekend’s violence in Chicago, noting that it was overshadowed by the publicity surrounding the Texas and Ohio shootings.
“Gun violence is an epidemic. It impacts our communities every single day. Not just when the cameras are on and where headlines are focused. We need to act,” Harris, 54, tweeted.
Gun violence is an epidemic. It impacts our communities every single day. Not just when the cameras are on and where headlines are focused. We need to act.https://t.co/GqZAZurc8D
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 5, 2019
Former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, wrote, “As we watched in horror at the events in El Paso and Dayton, Chicago suffered its most violent weekend of 2019. We cannot go on like this. We must muster up the courage to take on the @NRA, pass common-sense reform, and end our gun violence epidemic.”
As we watched in horror at the events in El Paso and Dayton, Chicago suffered its most violent weekend of 2019.
We cannot go on like this. We must muster up the courage to take on the @NRA, pass common-sense reform, and end our gun violence epidemic. https://t.co/0eUEzzUCQJ
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 5, 2019
On Saturday a gunman in El Paso opened fire at a Walmart, killing 22. The suspect reportedly penned a manifesto prior to the rampage expressing the desire to stop the “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” Hours later another gunman began shooting outside a bar and restaurant in Dayton, killing nine and wounding 27 others.
