A total of 19 people were injured during mass shooting sprees in entertainment districts in Tucson and Minneapolis early on Sunday, authorities in each city said. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE
A total of 19 people were injured during early morning mass shootings in entertainment districts in the U.S. cities of Tucson and Minneapolis, authorities said Sunday.
Tucson Police Department officers were on foot patrol in the area around 2 a.m. local time on Sunday when they heard gunfire and ran toward the crowded scene, police spokesman Frank Magos told reporters.
There they encountered a male suspect and ordered him to drop his weapon, he said.
After repeating the order several times, an officer shot and injured the suspect, who was then hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.
Magos described the suspect as a local man whose identity was being withheld.
Police said all nine of the hospitalized victims were adults and that most of them sustained injuries to their extremities.
A 10th person suffered minor injuries.
Meanwhile in Minneapolis, nine adults were injured in a shooting outside a nightclub in the city’s Uptown district early on Sunday, according to interim Minneapolis Police Chief Bill Peterson.
Two of the male victims sustained potentially life-threatening injuries, he told reporters.
The first officers arrived on the scene in less than a minute after the initial gunfire reports and found “a chaotic scene, with multiple victims and a large crowd.
“This was a brazen act of violence in a crowded entertainment district where innocent people were placed at tremendous risk that is absolutely unacceptable,” Peterson said.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero called the incident in her city “another serious and senseless act of gun violence.
“A shooter recklessly began shooting in a crowded area striking nine people before being stopped by a Tucson Police Officer,” she said in a statement. “Thanks to the quick actions and excellent care provided by our fire fighters and police officers, all victims were stabilized and taken to the hospital where we are hopeful they will all recover.”
The mayor blamed “easy access to guns” and “Arizona’s weak gun safety laws” for continuing to “put all of us at risk. From requiring universal background checks to extreme risk laws to funding violence prevention there is more lawmakers can and should do.”
“I’m heartbroken to learn that nine people were shot early this morning in downtown Tucson,” added former Arizona congresswoman and gun control advocate Gabby Giffords, whose political career was cut short when she was nearly shot to death during an attempted assassination.
“Too many lives have been changed forever because of America’s gun violence crisis, in my hometown and across the nation,” she said in a statement. “[Husband and U.S. senator] Mark [Kelly] and I are grateful for the bravery of Tucson’s first responders as we await
Source
