Authorities in Kentucky charged an ۱۸-year-old man with murder and several counts of assault after a shooting in Lexington park left a teenager dead and four others injured – one of multiple similar cases around the US over the weekend.
Jametrius Griffin was arrested less than ۲۴ hours after Saturday night’s mass shooting at Charles Young Park in the city’s downtown. According to the Lexington police department, officers responded to reports of gunfire in the park at about ۷pm and found five people shot, including two adults, a ۱۴-year-old and a four-year-old.
A ۱۶-year-old boy, named by the Fayette county coroner’s office as Di’Zhon Robertson, was declared dead at a local hospital, CBS News affiliate WLKY reported.
Griffin, the outlet said, was charged with murder, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and tampering with physical evidence.
The shooting took place during the so-called East End Day community celebration. Devine Camara, head of the One Lexington community advocacy group, said in a social media post that counsellors would be at local high schools on Monday to help students “with heavy hearts and distracted minds” process the weekend’s events.
The case in Lexington was one of nine mass shootings in the US over the weekend beginning Saturday. The Gun Violence Archive (GVA) classifies a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims are killed or wounded.
As of Monday morning, the number of mass shootings in the US in ۲۰۲۶ stood at ۳۰۵, with ۸,۱۵۲ lives lost to gun violence. Almost ۷۰۰ of the victims were children aged up to ۱۷, according to the GVA, which is a non-partisan reference resource.
The US has perennially registered high numbers of mass shootings. Those grim statistics have led to calls for more substantial federal gun control, but Congress over the years has not implemented such measures.
Three other people died in mass shootings over the weekend, two of them also at events involving large gatherings. One person was killed and four others were shot early Sunday outside a Hartford, Connecticut, nightclub, authorities said, as reported by the New Haven ABC News affiliate WTNH.
The other two were killed in separate cases in Texas. A ۴۴-year-old mother and grandmother named by relatives as Rosalyn Williams was shot on Saturday as she tried to help a friend escape a domestic violence situation in a suburb south-east of Houston, KHOU۱۱ reported.
A shooting during a fight at a parking lot in Houston’s south side early on Sunday left one person dead and multiple others injured, the same outlet said, citing the city’s police department.
According to authorities, the episode occurred as hundreds of people attended a regular weekly event named for its venue by locals as “Club Chevron”.
Alexander Vinogradov, Houston police department detective, told KHOU۱۱: “My understanding is it’s based of the gas station – it’s been happening for the last several weeks.
“It’s sort of a mini takeover of a parking lot, but it’s not. People come hang out, they park cars, they drink, they smoke, and do whatever they do out here. And the end result is people are bringing guns to these things and alcohol and guns don’t mix.”
