More than 850 dead, close to 3,000 wounded in the year 2022 – these may seem like yearly statistics of havoc caused by a communicable disease, but these are results of a different kind of epidemic which plagues the United States.
But the epidemic is not spread via any deadly pathogens, it is an epidemic whose primary vector is guns.
Children, senior citizens, young couples, people partying in nightclubs or pubs, independence day or pride parades, birthday parties or students inside schools and colleges – none shall be spared.
Mass shootings are keeping (most) Americans concerned – but they fear that they are increasingly getting used to it.
Gun violence became the leading cause of death among children and teenagers in the year 2020, according to researchers who analyzed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.
According to Everystat, the rate of gun deaths has increased 33% from 2011 to 2020, which means that in 2020 there were 12,871 more gun deaths than in 2011.
While politicians indulge in politicking – Republicans warn that the Democrats will come for everyone’s guns and Democrats promise of effective gun control – people die in mass shooting incidents in schools, colleges, nightclubs, convenience stores and shopping malls or at least live in the fear that they might.
2022 was no different.
From Uvalde to Chesapeake, from Colorado Springs to Illinois – innocents died as gunmen ran rampant killing children and adults.
Here is a look at some of the deadliest mass shootings the US witnessed in 2022:
(Mass shootings are defined differently by different media outlets. The statistics for the year 2022 have been taken from the website Mass Shooting Tracker which count the number of people shot rather than the number people killed)
Uvalde, Texas – Robb Elementary School
May 24 was a normal day for Robb Elementary in Texas, Uvalde.
Teachers were teaching young kids in their classrooms but only a few kilometres away, Salvador Ramos had just shot his grandmother with an AR rifle and was marching towards Robb Elementary.
Over the course of an hour, Ramos killed nineteen children and two adults, marking one of the deadliest school shootings in Texas’ history.
Police officers stood by as Ramos entered classrooms and slaughtered children.
It was a tactical team that killed Ramos, even though there were false claims that an off-duty border patrol agent killed the shooter.
The events that followed are as blurry as the incident itself.
The Uvalde school district suspended the entire police force and later in October, the Texas state police fired one of its officers who was among the first to respond to the school shooting.
Now, Uvalde residents and those affected turn to murals to heal from the emotional and psychological wounds that were inflicted on them.
Some have joined groups that advocate banning of guns and push for stronger gun control laws, but their efforts will not matter much as Texas’ lawmakers have only loosened gun restrictions over the past few years, despite eight mass shootings in 13 years.
Highland Park, Illinois – Independence Day Parade
July 4 Independence Day celebrations in the US are unmatched because even for those living outside that country, it is a lively event, much like Christmas or New Year’s.
The revellers who had congregated at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois to celebrate the day were also in a festive mood.
But shortly after, it was a scene of chaos as children were running around looking for their parents, without even knowing that they may have been shot dead.
Robert “Bobby” Crimo III killed seven people when he opened fire at them from the roof of a business near the parade route with a high-powered rifle.
Five adults died at the scene of the shooting and two others died later. 25 people suffered gunshot wounds and the patients’ ages ranged from 8 to 85 years old, with four to five of them being children.
Crimo was arrested by the police but the ones who died or were injured in his hands, their lives changed forever.
Chesapeake, Virginia – Walmart Store
31-year-old Andre Bing, who worked as a night manager at the Walmart Supercenter, in Chesapeake, Virginia, killed six other workers and injured half a dozen others on November 23.
The longtime employee was armed with one handgun and multiple magazines, but according to other employees, he may have been struggling from mental health issues.
One employee said he taped the camera of his phone because he was convinced that the government was keeping an eye on him.
He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
There were at least 50 people inside the store when Bing started shooting his coworkers.
A 16-year-old was also killed in the attack.
Colorado Springs, Colorado – Club Q Nightclub Shooting
22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich opened fire at a gay club on November 20. Aldrich entered Club Q on Sunday evening and started firing indiscriminately at patrons before he was subdued by Richard Fierro and Thomas James who later handed him to the police.
Aldrich, who identifies as non-binary, killed five people, injuring 25 of which 17 people were shot.
What was once considered a safe haven for LGBTQIA+ people and party goers in the community, turned out to be a site where they saw their friends and family massacred.
“My first thought for me, what I can’t stop thinking about is the visuals of the evening of the bodies, of the blood, of the broken glass, of the carnage in the wreckage and seeing a safe place turned into a war zone,” a Club Q worker told CBS.
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma – Broken Arrow Murder-Suicide
Two adults died by suicide after they killed their six children by setting their room ablaze on October 27 in Oklahoma’s Broken Arrow.
The quiet residential area’s community was shocked as it was the first homicide-suicide to have been reported this year.
It was relatively known as a peaceful area but the incident shocked the Broken Arrow police department.
The children who died in the incident were aged between 1 to 13 years.
Buffalo, New York – Tops Friendly Market Mass Shooting
In a racially motivated attack, 18-year-old white man Payton Gendron, dressed in military gear, drove into the parking lot of the Tops Friendly Market and started firing indiscriminately while livestreaming his actions on camera on May 14.
He killed 10 people and injured three others. All 10 of his victims were Black Americans.
Earlier in November, when he was presented in court, he was asked if he killed those present there because of their race, to which Gendron said ‘yes’, without any remorse.
He also authored an 180-page document where he described himself as a fascist and white supremacist.
He will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole.
(data and statistics on gun violence and mass shootings has been collected until December 22)
(with inputs from CBS News, BBC, NBC News, Mass Shooting Tracker, Texas Tribune and Everystat)
Read all the Latest News here
Comments
0 comment