Halloween party shootings across U.S. leave at least 11 dead, scores injured
Shootings across the U.S. over the weekend before Halloween have left at least 11 people dead and more than 70 injured, authorities said.
The deaths between Friday and Sunday included two in Tampa, Fla.; three in Texarkana, Texas; and two each in Dodge City, Kan,; San Antonio; and Mansfield, Ohio, according to police. Many involved altercations arising from Halloween celebrations, including a mass shooting that injured multiple people in Tampa’s Ybor City section early Sunday as bars were closing and scores of people in costumes spilled out on the streets before groups began arguing.
The spate of weekend violence unfolded as people mourn the 18 people killed by a gunman last week in Lewiston, Maine. More than 1,000 people turned out Sunday for a vigil.
“A neighborhood bar. A bowling alley. A Halloween party. It seems we can’t go one day without a mass shooting in America,” said Kris Brown, president of Brady, a gun violence prevention group. “Anger plus firearms is a deadly combination that can escalate any situation into a war zone in seconds.”
One suspect, 22-year-old Tyrell Phillips, is charged with second-degree murder in the Tampa case and there may be other arrests, Police Chief Lee Bercaw said Sunday. Police initially said there were 18 injured in Tampa but have now revised that number to 16, with five remaining hospitalized Sunday night.
Shootings across California and elsewhere made for a violent Father’s Day and Juneteenth weekend, with at least a dozen killed in seven states.
Phillips had his initial court appearance Monday but has not yet entered a plea. He remains jailed without bail pending another hearing set Thursday. Court records did not yet list an attorney to speak for Phillips.
In Indianapolis, a shooting early Sunday at a large party left a teenager dead and nine other people between the ages of 16 and 21 injured, police said. The injured were in stable condition.
As of Monday morning, there have been no arrests, said Officer Samone Burris, who said “the case remains active and the investigation is ongoing.” Multiple firearms were found at the scene.
“I am frustrated and angry at the news of young people shot at a Halloween party last night,” Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said in a statement Sunday morning. “There are far too many guns in the hands of those who have no business having them, and shocking violence is too often the result.”
The first half of 2023 saw the deadliest six months of mass killings — all but one of them shootings — recorded in the U.S. since at least 2006.
In Chicago, police said at least 15 people were injured, two of them critically, after a shooter fired into a crowd at a Halloween party early Sunday. The suspect was taken into custody, but officials had not announced any charges as of Monday morning.
In Texas, five people were killed and another six were hurt in two separate shootings Saturday night.
San Antonio police said a 13-year-old girl was wounded and her parents were killed after a shootout at a house party. A 20-year-old man arrived at the party and an argument ensued, police said. The man started firing a gun, and a 40-year-old man returned fire.
The older man and a 35-year-old woman died at the scene, police said. The younger man and his relative and the 13-year-old girl were taken to the hospital with wounds that were not life threatening, police said. Police have announced no charges.
In Texarkana — 450 miles away along the Arkansas border — police said three people died and three others were wounded during a party in the backroom of a business. Two men started fistfighting when rifles were pulled and gunfire erupted, police said. No arrests have been made.
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