Gunfire erupted during a Fourth of July block party in Shreveport, La., killing three and wounding at least seven others, officials said.
Dozens of people were gathered together for an annual “family and community event” when the shooting unfolded on Tuesday, Shreveport District A Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor told CNN. When authorities arrived at the residence on Pearl Avenue just before midnight, they discovered two people dead from gunshot wounds, according to KSLA.
A third victim was rushed to Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport, where they succumbed to their wounds a short time later.
Another seven people were wounded in the violence and taken to various local medical facilities. The condition of these victims was not provided.
Police said they struggled to access the scene because of the block party event, which has been held in Shreveport for more than a decade.
“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,” Shreveport police Lt. Van Wray.
So far, there have been no arrests in connection with the mass shooting — just one of many to unfold amid the holiday weekend.
In Baltimore, two people were fatally shot and another 28 wounded during a Sunday block party. Most of the victims were in their teens and the suspect remains at large.
Another five people, among them a 15-year-old boy, were shot during a violent rampage spanning several blocks in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Kingsessing. One suspect, identified as Kimbrady Carriker, has been arrested so far in connection with the violence.
And in Fort Worth, Tex., three people were killed and eight others were wounded just hours before the neighborhood’s Fourth of July parade took place on the same street.