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Four killed and six injured in shooting at Fourth of July block party in Louisiana

Several mass shootings occurred across the US during the holiday weekend

Ariana Baio
Wednesday 05 July 2023 20:04 BST
Police are pictured at the scene of a mass shooting in Shreveport
Police are pictured at the scene of a mass shooting in Shreveport (KSLA)

Four people were killed and six more injured in a mass shooting that took place at an annual Fourth of July block party in Shreveport, Louisiana on Tuesday evening.

Gunfire erupted late Tuesday night at a “family and community event”, District A Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor said.

Shreveport police lieutenant Van Ray told local news outlet KSLA that when authorities arrived at the scene on Pearl Avenue, two people were found dead.

Two others were later pronounced dead at the hospital.

The six injured suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Police had a difficult time reaching the victims because there was still “an enormous amount” of people and vehicles at the scene when authorities arrived.

“Getting here and getting EMS here was a difficult thing. A lot of us had to park our cars and take off running because there were so many cars on the side of the street,” Mr Ray said.

Shreveport District A Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor expressed her frustrations with the shooting to KSLA.

“This should not happen. Now we are the victims of a mass shooting in our community,” Ms Taylor said.

“It is trauma for those individuals that only wanted to have a very good time on this holiday,” she added.

Louisiana joins several states in experiencing a deadly mass shooting over the holiday weekend. Three people died in Forth Worth, Texas and five others were killed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Monday, 3 June.

Nine people were injured during a drive-by shooting in Washington DC on Wednesday.

There are been 350 mass shootings in the US this year, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.

The Independent has reached out to the Shreveport Police Department for comment.

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