NEW YORK >> The Fourth of July brought celebrations from coast to coast, as millions watched fireworks, parades and more in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
But the weekend was also marked by spasms of gunfire, with shootings in New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Arizona, Indiana, Tennessee, Michigan and South Carolina. At least five people were killed out of at least 52 gunshot victims, authorities said.
Violence flared at a beach, an apartment complex, a downtown entertainment district and at least one block party, according to police reports. In New York’s Coney Island, where gunfire erupted as crowds gathered to watch fireworks, eight people were shot, including four children and a woman who was in critical condition early Sunday.
Large gatherings with heavy alcohol consumption and hot weather create the conditions for violent outbursts, according to researchers. Gun Violence Archive data from 2013 to 2025, analyzed by criminologist James Alan Fox, shows that July 4 and July 5 rank as the most violent days of the year, followed by Jan. 1.
“Holidays and celebrations, they often involve drinking, sometimes drug use, and unfortunately also guns,” Fox said.
In San Antonio, six people were shot, including the suspected shooter, and one person died.
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Five people were shot at a block party in Mount Clemens, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at around 11 p.m. Saturday, authorities said. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, one woman was shot and killed and eight people were treated for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds at local hospitals, police said.
In Memphis, Tennessee, as police responded to reports of early morning gunfire on Sunday, they pursued a man carrying a handgun, according to a Memphis Police Department statement. According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, two National Guard soldiers joined the foot chase and shot at the man, 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson, killing him. The police department said Johnson had “turned toward NG members with his weapon.”
The National Guard officers were part of the task force that has patrolled Memphis, conducting traffic stops and arrests, following an executive order from President Donald Trump in September.
Trump, in his Fourth of July speech Saturday night, spoke about the right to bear arms enshrined in the Constitution.
“For the almost six years that I was president, I guarded very, very powerfully your Second Amendment,” the president said from the National Mall in Washington, D.C., late Saturday.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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