With a massacre on National Day, Americans experience the third major orgy of violence in just a few weeks. This further fuels the gun debate.
Chicago/Vienna. It should have been a day of unity in a deeply divided nation. On July 4th, Independence Day, Americans tend to forget about internal political struggles and social inequalities. They celebrate their country – with pompous parades and family picnics under the blue, white and red flag. This year, however, the celebration of American democracy has turned into an American nightmare.
In Highland Park, an affluent Chicago suburb, the National Day parade was in full swing when the gunshots suddenly erupted. Cellphone videos show families on the side of the road waving flags and cheering for the bands and floats, initially reacting little. Then shouts were heard: “Guns! shots! Run! The assassin fired indiscriminately from the roof of a building into the crowd. Panic broke out and people fled in all directions.
“When it started, I thought it was a Navy gunfire,” eyewitness Alexander Sandoval told the New York Times. “I took my kids and I ran and tried to break a store window to get to safety.” Eventually, Sandoval managed to escape around a corner. He hid his two children in a garbage can.
Six dead and two dozen injured
When the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Robert C., finally stopped shooting, five people were already dead and another person died a little later. 25 people were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds. And the country, already traumatized by the escalation of armed violence, was made richer by an armed massacre.
The suspect initially managed to escape, but was arrested about ten hours later after a chase at an intersection. More details were known on Tuesday: the alleged perpetrator can be identified by his weapon, US media reported. Investigators found DNA on the gun he left behind. In addition, he would have previously posted video clips with gun violence scenes on the Internet. One reason initially remained unclear.
Visitors to the 4th of July parade had to flee. IMAGO/ZUMA wireIn several Chicago suburbs, festival parades were canceled after the attack. JB Pritzer, Democrat and governor of Illinois, expressed dismay. “There are no words for such a monster that is lurking and shooting at a crowd of families with children.” He will “end this plague”. US President Joe Biden initially contented himself with a written statement: He was “shocked by the senseless gun violence”.
Unprecedented level of gun violence
The events will further fuel the debate over gun rights in the United States, which is pitted against two irreconcilable camps: shooting fans and the powerful NRA gun lobby, on the one hand, which the conservative Supreme Court has just supported with a historic landmark. decision. On the other hand, advocates of strict gun control led by US President Biden. He recently signed a cross-party law that provides for more intensive screening of young gun buyers.
Meanwhile, in the wake of this dispute, gun violence in the United States has reached unprecedented levels. The Highland Park massacre was the third orgy of violence in just a few weeks: in May, a white supremacist shot 10 black people in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Shortly thereafter, an 18-year-old killed 19 students and two teachers at a school in Uvalde, Texas. According to the US NGO Gun Violence Archive, the Highland Park attack was the 15th shooting this year in the United States in which at least four people died.
Armed violence in the United States
There have been 15 armed attacks across the United States this year, killing at least four people, according to the NGO Gun Violence Archive. In mid-May, an assassin killed ten people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. An 18-year-old killed 19 students and two teachers at a school in Uvalde, Texas. Six people have already died in Highland Park.