JAKARTA - Mass shootings rocked the United States again ahead of the country's independence anniversary, killing 10 people and injuring 40 others in separate incidents in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Fort Worth, Texas.
In Fort Worth, three people were killed and eight others injured in a mass shooting following a local festival to mark the 4th of July US Independence Day holiday, police said Tuesday.
In a separate mass shooting incident in Philadelphia on Monday night, five people were killed and two injured, including two boys aged 2 and 13, both shot in the leg, when a suspect was wearing body armor and armed with an AR-15 shooting at people, according to local police.
Monday night's shooting came a day after two people were shot dead and 28 others injured, about half of them children, in a hail of gunfire at an outdoor neighborhood block party in Baltimore.
The motives in all three recent shootings remain unclear.
US President Joe Biden condemned the violence, repeating his call to tighten America's lax gun laws.
"Our nation has once again experienced a wave of tragic and senseless shootings," the president said in a statement released on Tuesday.
President Biden also asked Republican lawmakers "to discuss sensible and beneficial gun law reform."
Citing constitutional protections for gun ownership, Republicans in Congress have generally blocked efforts to significantly reform gun safety laws, opposing President Biden's proposal to reinstate the ban on assault weapons.
Separately, Philadelphia officials appealed to state and federal lawmakers to act.
"We implore Congress to protect life and do something about America's gun problem," Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney told a news conference.
Meanwhile, city district attorney Larry Krasner asked Philadelphia State lawmakers for "reasonable legislation" of similar legislation found in neighboring New Jersey and Delaware.
"Some of those laws might make a difference here," Krasner said at the same briefing.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia police said the suspect was a 40-year-old man who had an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a 9mm pistol, and was wearing body armor and a ski mask. The dead ranged in age from 15 to 59 years.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told reporters the shooter acted "deliberately," and Krasner vowed to file multiple charges of murder and other misconduct at the perpetrator's first court hearing on Wednesday.
In Fort Worth, local police said no arrests had been made in relation to the shooting.
"We don't know if it's household related, if it's gang related. It's too early to tell at this point," said Shawn Murray, a senior local police official.
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Meanwhile in Baltimore, police said they were looking for several suspects.
The latest shooting occurred around the anniversary of last year's Highland Park mass shooting near Chicago, in which seven people were killed and 48 injured at an Independence Day parade.
The United States has struggled with a large number of mass shootings and incidents of gun violence. There have been more than 340 mass shootings so far in 2023 in the country, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as incidents in which at least four people are shot, not including the shooter.
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