At least 8 people were killed and 25 injured in Wisconsin, Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia, Chicago, Oklahoma, and Michigan as New Year’s celebrations across the US turned violent Saturday night.
In New Orleans, multiple early-morning shootings left at least one victim dead on New Year’s Day. At least 8 shootings took place Sunday in Philadelphia, which caused at least 11 injuries and one fatality. Miraculously, the nine shootings which rocked Milwaukee Saturday and Sunday didn’t claim the lives of any victims.
While much of the violence across the country seemed to boil down to interpersonal disputes, a number of this weekend’s episodes seemed more sinister, according to Sputnik.
In New York, a 19-year-old man named Trevor Bickford has been taken into custody after allegedly attacking three police officers with a machete in an incident that officials are reportedly investigating as a possible terrorist attack.
In Alabama, graphic footage posted to social media showed a body lying in the street after an unknown perpetrator shot one person dead and left 9 others injured, just blocks away from where thousands were celebrating an event in the state’s capital.
Another video shows the moment chaos breaks loose and hundreds of New Year's revelers flee from the scene of the attack in Alabama.
Local media reports the 24-year-old victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and nine other victims, ranging in age from 17 to 57, were taken to a local hospital to receive treatment for gunshot wounds.
According to Forbes, New Year's Day is the sixth most dangerous holiday in the US based on data sampling overall fatalities as well as fatalities associated with alcohol. Thanksgiving Day is the most dangerous holiday in the US followed by Labor Day and Independence Day.
But according to a study published on the seasonal pattern of mass shootings in the US, the months of May through September are typically when most mass shootings occur, whereas October through April sees fewer instances of mass shootings.
MP/PR