Fourth of July shooting sees several gunned down in Texas

Three people, including a teenager, were shot in a backyard in San Antonio, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday.

Officers responded to a shooting at around 2:30 a.m. at a home off Steves Avenue, where police said a group of men had been walking around and firing gun shots, including into the backyard.

After arriving at the scene, police found a 17-year-old who had been shot in the arm, and they were informed that two other men in their 30s had also been hit. The men had suffered wounds to the abdomen, and one had also been hit in the shoulder and leg.

The three victims were transported to the hospital, with two in a stable condition and one in a serious condition, according to KENS 5. Four men were subsequently detained in connection with the incident, the San Antonio Police Department told the news outlet.

The shooting is being investigated, and so far no information has been released about what led to the incident and whether those detained knew the victims.

Newsweek reached out to the San Antonio Police Department for more information via the contact form on their website outside of regular working hours.

In the early hours of Thursday, another shooting took place in Dallas, which left one man dead. The incident, which happened at just after 1 a.m., was an officer-involved shooting while police were responding to a robbery.

Police said that three suspects were fleeing out of the back door of an illegal game room when one of the men pointed a gun at an officer and sparked a struggle.

The officer discharged his weapon, leading to the suspect being struck and killed.

Newsweek also reached out to the Dallas Police Department for more information via email outside of regular working hours.

Under Governor Greg Abbott, Texas has relaxed its gun laws in recent years to allow Texans to carry handguns without a license or training, a policy often referred to by Republicans as “constitutional carry.”

Gun violence has risen in the state in recent years, increasing by 46% between 2012 and 2021, according to gun control nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety.

The U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, last month declared that gun violence was a public health crisis, in the first statement of its kind.

He cited a study that found that gun violence has been the leading cause of death among Americans aged between one and 19 since 2020.

The report said that 54 percent of American adults or their family members have experienced a “firearm‑related incident”—including 19 percent who have lost a family member to gun violence.