A seven-year-old boy was fatally struck in the head by a stray bullet on Independence Day during a dispute between two groups about jet skis, according to Tampa, Florida, police.
The shooting began on Tuesday evening near the Courtney Campbell Causeway boat ramp, according to police, when one group became angry that another group was riding their jet skis too close to shore, where kids were playing.
The boy’s grandfather heard gunfire break out and pulled him into a truck to take cover, but both ended up being shot anyway, with the grandfather sustaining a non-life-threatening injury to the finger.
The names of the victims haven’t been released.
Police cars arrive at the scene of a 4 July, 2023, shooting in Tampa— (WFLA screengrab)
"We need to do better as a community, really, as Americans," Tampa deputy police chief Calvin Johnson said at a news conference on Wednesday. "There’s a better way to deal with anything you may be going through, other than going to that firearm."
The police called the shooting “senseless” and asked the perpetrator to turn themselves in.
"Turn yourself in. ... Just imagine if that was your child that was killed over this,” Mr Johnson added.
At least 15 people were killed and another 94 were injured in Independence Day weekend shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
As The Independent reported, violence erupted across the country, from Texas to Washington, DC, to Illiniois.
The shootings included incidents at block parties in Baltimore and in Louisiana, that killed a total of five people and left 34 injured.
Meanwhile, nine were injured in a Washington drive-by shooting, and another five people were killed by a masked mass shooter in Philadelphia.
Earlier this week, Joe Biden praised Illinois officials for banning assault weapons after a 2022 mass shooting a 4th of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park.
“Their achievement will save lives. But it will not erase their grief,” Mr Biden said.
“And as we have seen over the last few days, much more must be done in Illinois and across America to address the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our communities apart.”
