TEHRAN, Jul. 05 (MNA) – At least three people were killed and six others were injured late Tuesday night in a shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, the 17th mass shooting to be reported over the Fourth of July weekend.

The incident took place just before midnight on Tuesday at a neighborhood in the city’s northwest where people had gathered for a Fourth of July party, according to local outlet KTAL News as cited by the Forbes website.

Two of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting and a third person was declared deceased after arriving at a hospital, the report added.

The police and other emergency responders faced some difficulties in reaching the victims after arriving at the scene, due to the number of vehicles parked in the area, local broadcaster KSLA reported.

The shooting in Shreveport is the 17th mass shooting to be reported across the country since the four-day weekend began on Friday evening, according to Gun Violence Archive. The total death toll from these shootings stands at 18, and at least 102 others were injured. Early on Wednesday, nine people—including two minors—were injured in what police believe was a targeted shooting in Washington, D.C. On Tuesday evening, three people were killed and eight others were injured after several gunmen opened fire at a crowd of hundreds of people in Fort Worth, Texas. Five people in Philadelphia and two people in Baltimore were killed in mass shootings on Monday and Sunday respectively. At least 28 others—mostly teenagers and young adults—were injured in the Baltimore shooting, which took place at a block party in the city’s Brooklyn neighborhood.

2023 is on track to be the deadliest year for mass shootings in the U.S. since the Gun Violence Archive started tracking this data in 2014. So far, the GVA’s tracker has recorded 351 mass shootings this year, well ahead of 2021’s number of 324 during the same period. With a total of 690 mass shootings, 2021 is currently the deadliest year on record for such incidents.

MNA