A mass shooting during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, sent families running for cover as marching bands and truck floats made their way through the Chicago suburb’s downtown.
At least six people were fatally shot and more than two dozen others were injured on 4 July after a gunman fired dozens of rounds from a rooftop above the crowds.
The shooting follows mass acts of violence that have stunned Americans and left craters in the communities across the US.
A mass shooting that left 10 Black people dead in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York on 14 May was the deadliest mass shooting of the year, until 10 days later. The massacre of 19 schoolchildren and two fourth-grade teachers in Uvalde, Texas on 24 May is the deadliest school attack since the 2012 killings of 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.
The tragedy in Highland Park is the 15th mass killing of 2022 and the 11th mass shooting of the holiday weekend, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Halfway through the year, there have been at least 309 mass shootings.
The organisation defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot or killed. Within the first 185 days of 2022, there have been an average of 11 a week.
There were 692 mass shootings in 2021, according to the archive. In 2020, there were 610, and 417 in 2019.
A mass killing is defined by the FBI as an incident in which four or more people are killed.
Despite the proliferation of high-powered guns and regular acts of mass gun violence across the US, lawmakers have been slow or absent in their response, while gun control advocates continue a decades-long push to demand their political and moral courage to combat the crisis.
The violence in Buffalo and Uvalde moved elected officials in Washington DC and in state legislatures across the US to consider gun reform legislation to combat the proliferation of firearms. Following years of gridlock, members of Congress passed a measure signed into law by President Joe Biden that aims to strengthen restrictions for domestic violence offenders and increase background checks for prospective buys under 21 years old, among other measures.
In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law that implements new restrictions on firearm owners seeking a concealed-carry permit and limits where people can carry a weapon.
That legislation follows the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a century-old New York law requiring handgun owners to show “proper cause” in order to obtain a license to carry a concealed weapon, dealing a blow to state-level efforts to combat the proliferation of firearms and potentially expanding the scope of Second Amendment protections.
The decision could invite legal challenges in at least six other states with similar laws, opening them to scrutiny, and potentially expanding how, and where, guns can be carried in public.
Four gun owners in the Washington DC area already have filed a lawsuit challenging the district’s law that prohibits people with concealed-carry permits from bringing firearms into the city’s transit system.
The federal lawsuit is the first of many that are likely in the wake of the high court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc v Bruen.
Below are the mass killings of 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive:
4 July – Highland Park, Illinois
Six people were killed and 31 others were injured after suspected gunman Robert Crimo allegedly fired a high-powered rifle from a rooftop above a Fourth of July parade.
7 June – Portsmouth, Virginia
A suspect is still at large after a shooting that left four people dead.
2 June – Centerville, Texas
Before his death in a shootout with police, escaped convict Gonzalo Lopez killed a man and his four grandchildren who ranged in age from 11 to 18.
1 June – Tulsa, Oklahoma
Michael Louis fatally shot two doctors and two others at a medical facility before killing himself.
27 May - Stanwood, Michigan
Charles Gillard fatally shot his wife and three children before attempting to kill himself. He was subsequently charged with four counts of homicide open murder and child abuse-related charges, among others.
24 May - Uvalde, Texas
Salvador Ramos fatally shot 19 schoolchildren and two teachers and wounded 17 others at Robb Elementary School, the deadliest attack in a school since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.
14 May – Buffalo, New York
Payton Gendron was charged with 10 counts each of a hate crime resulting in death and using a firearm to commit murder following the racist mass killing of 10 Black people inside a grocery store. A complaint against him also includes three counts each of a hate crime involving bodily injury and an attempt to kill and using a firearm in a violent crime.
27 April – Biloxi, Mississippi
Jeremy Alesunder Reynolds allegedly killed the owner and two employees of a motel and another man in a subsequent carjacking before he died from smoke inhalation from a fire he reportedly set while hiding from police.
21 April – Mountain View, Arkansas
Donnie Trammell was charged with four counts of first-degree murder, residential burglary and possession of a firearm in the deaths of his mother and father as well as another woman and her son.
20 April – Duluth, Minnesota
Brandon Taylor Cole-Skogstad fatally shot his aunt and uncle and their two young girls, as well as a dog, before killing himself.
3 April – Sacramento, California
Three people were arrested and charged in connection with a mass shooting that left six people dead and 12 others injured.
23 February – Sacramento, California
David Mora Rojas fatally shot his three children and a chaperone during a supervised visit before killing himself.
5 February – Corsicana, Texas
Kevin Milazzo fatally shot his mother, stepfather and his two sons as well as the four-year-old son of his ex-girlfriend before killing himself. Several others were wounded.
23 January – Inglewood, California
Four people were killed and one person was wounded in a shooting at a birthday party.
23 January – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Travis Lamar Birkley was charged with six counts of felony murder for the deaths of six people in a Milwaukee home.
This story was originally published on 4 July and has been updated
