From Fox News:
Cities in parts of the U.S. grappled with high numbers of shootings and killings over Memorial Day weekend, with at least one reporting as many as 10 murders over the extended holiday, according to officials and reports.
The warmer-weather months are often notorious for yielding higher crime rates in parts of the country and causing some agencies, such as the New York Police Department, to deploy more officers to high-crime areas.
Crime analysts and experts have said they anticipated summer 2021 violence could be just as bad as – if not worse than last year amid upticks in shootings and murders that started earlier than usual.
Cities such as Houston, Miami and New Orleans saw startling spates of violence over the extended weekend.
There were 10 murders reported throughout the Texas city from Friday afternoon through Monday evening, local news station KPRC 2 reported.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner told reporters on Monday the city had grappled with “a very violent weekend, Memorial Day weekend.”
Just Monday morning, a gunman opened fire inside a Houston nightclub, where he killed one person and wounded two others before he was mortally wounded, according to police officials.
An off-duty Harris County sheriff’s deputy was working security at the nightclub at the time and fatally shot the suspect after shots rang out around 1:15 p.m., police said.
Police said one other person was pronounced dead at the scene. A second person was struck several times and was in critical condition, police said, while a third person was treated for a gunshot wound to the leg.
Read the full report here.
ATLANTA SPIRALS: Mayor Attacks the Governor for Sending in National Guard to Protect Monuments
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms attacked Georgia Governor Brian Kemp for his decision to deploy 1,000 troops to protect monuments in her city; saying she never asked for the help despite weeks of civil unrest.
“The irony of that is that I asked Governor Kemp to allow us to mandate masks in Atlanta and he said no,” Bottoms said. “But he has called in the National Guard without asking if we needed the National Guard.”
"The irony of that is that I asked Governor Kemp to allow us to mandate masks in Atlanta and he said no," Bottoms said. "But he has called in the National Guard without asking if we needed the National Guard." https://t.co/w1QmWMc9Oo
— The Hill (@thehill) July 7, 2020
“It’s this perfect storm of stress in America.”
Atlanta Mayor @KeishaBottoms speaks on what's causing the surge of violence that’s happening in Atlanta and how to end it. https://t.co/SQqVaevRUz pic.twitter.com/qjmzi6BGUN
— Good Morning America (@GMA) July 7, 2020
“We are shooting each other up on our streets in this city. And you shot and killed a baby,” Bottoms said during a press conference on Sunday. “An 8-year-old baby. We are doing each other more harm than any police officer on this force.”
Watch the Mayor’s comments above.
ATLANTA SPIRALS: Mayor Blames Spike in Gun Violence on ‘Trump’s Lack of Leadership’
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms spoke with CNN Monday following the shooting-death of an 8-year-old girl; blaming the spike in gun violence on President Trump’s “lack of leadership.”
“I don’t know the answers because I don’t know the questions to ask… We talk about systemic racism and the trauma and anxiety… It’s this convergence, this perfect storm, it’s where we are in this country. Think about the leadership -or lack thereof- coming from the highest office in the land.”
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms responds to a weekend of violence in her city describing a "perfect storm," and pointing to President Trump, saying his lack of leadership is stirring emotions which are playing out as "violence in our streets." https://t.co/Gke7JcI5nU pic.twitter.com/yFHIEikGh0
— CNN News Central (@NewsCentralCNN) July 6, 2020
Watch the Mayor’s comments above.
Thank you for visiting