The United States witnessed its 400th mass shooting in 2023 after deadly violence broke out in a park in Houston, ABC reports.
The incident was one of six acts of gun violence happening across the nation on July 22 and July 23. As the year comes to an end in just five months, data from the Gun Violence Archive shows that mass shootings are up 9%, jumping from 365 shootings in July 2022 to 647 in 2023.
Autumn Vallian, 21, was the victim as a birthday party was ending at Margaret Jenkins Park. Vallian and her mother, Ebony, were trying to leave the party when at least two people started an argument, pulled guns, and started shooting.
“I looked back and my baby was down on the ground. Gone,” Vallian said. “I lost my baby. She was in school, trying to get a job, trying to become something, and she’s gone now.”
Mass shootings have made July a particularly violent month, taking the lives of 81 people, with 65 shootings this month alone.
Gun violence at an illegal street racing event in Seattle marked the 401st shooting this year, leaving four people hospitalized with one in
critical condition, according to police. About five people were shot during an event in Memphis, and another shooting took place in Wade, North Carolina, during a “physical disturbance” at a gas station.Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Houston, Dallas, and New York, as well as El Paso, Texas, Lansing, Michigan, and Shreveport, Louisiana, each had at least two mass shootings in July.
The Biden Administration has pushed several initiatives to put an end to massive
acts of gun violence, including an executive order to expand background checks for gun purchases, according to Forbes. On the other side of the legislative aisle, GOP lawmakers have made the argument that mental health issues are the cause of the violence and are pushing for armed resource officers at public schools to stop mass shootings.