Gunfire mars Fourth of July celebrations across cities

It was more than the sound of fireworks echoing across the US over the Fourth of July weekend — some of it was gunfire.

A police officer in New York was shot in the back early on Sunday, but survived thanks to a bulletproof vest. A second officer was also hurt while arresting the 18-year-old suspect after a foot chase. Police said four officers were parked in an unmarked vehicle when the armed suspect approached the car, prompting the officers to exit the vehicle and speak with him.

"This has to stop," said Scott Munro, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, at a news conference on Sunday. "Our members are out there day and night, hours and hours protecting the people of the city of New York, doing a job that they took an oath to take and they need to be respected, and thank God this detective is going home."

The shooting of the officer came after at least eight people were shot on Saturday in Coney Island in New York, including four children. All were in stable condition, apart from one 21-year-old woman listed as critical. Police said a masked gunman opened fire on the group, which was having a family barbecue, before running away.

Police are still trying to identify the suspect.

In Chicago, authorities said 21 people were shot in a number of incidents, three of whom died. Three others were stabbed.

The most severe incident involved a shooting of six people, who Chicago police said were standing in a crowd when unidentified individuals opened fire on them. The victims, between the ages of 17 and 20, were all listed in good condition.

That shooting occurred just nine minutes after a 17-year-old girl was shot on the same block. The girl remained in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the chest, and police are trying to determine whether the two incidents are linked.

Chicago police said that over the Fourth of July weekend, 21 people, including two police officers, were shot, and three people were killed.

At least 52 people were shot across the country, with five dead so far, The New York Times reported.

Most violent days

According to criminologist James Fox, July 4 and July 5 are the two most violent days of the year in the United States.

"Holidays and celebrations, they often involve drinking, sometimes drug use, and unfortunately also guns," he told the Times. "If there's lots of strangers, altercations and arguments can arise."

This year's soaring temperatures may have also contributed to heated encounters.

Elsewhere in the US, six people were shot and one killed in San Antonio, Texas; five were shot and injured at a party in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan; eight people were injured and one woman was killed in Fort Wayne, Indiana; and seven people were injured in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, after two groups of gunmen began shooting each other at a public beach.

In 2024, the latest year with complete data, 44,447 people died from gun-related injuries in the US, according to Pew Research. The largest percentage of those, 62 percent, were suicides, while 35 percent, or 15,364, were homicides, though that is down from a record 20,958 in 2021.

Pew Research reported that 76 percent of all homicides in the US in 2024 involved a firearm. While that is down slightly from recent years, it is still among the highest percentages since 1968, the earliest year for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has online records.

Adjusted for population growth, there were 12.8 gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2024, down from the peak of 16.3 per 100,000 in 1974, Pew Research reported.