Gunfire, shootings and panic mar weekend

(AP):

A man firing a rifle killed shoppers at an Indiana mall’s food court. A gunfight at a Houston home killed four people.

A stand-up act by the comedian Craig Robinson in North Carolina didn’t even begin before club goers fled from a man with a gun.

In Las Vegas, the spectre of gunfire at the MGM Grand sent the crowded casino into pandemonium, with gamblers flipping over poker tables to shield themselves from a panic that started with a shattered glass door.

Gun violence has gripped America.

“I am here trembling,” said Ignacio Molina in a video posted on Twitter, after relative calm returned to the Las Vegas casino.

It was a false alarm, but the weekend’s gun violence left more than a half-dozen dead, including a 12-year-old, two 16-year-olds and an 18-year-old.

Fear of shooters has left more people on edge, and the shootings — or panic over the fear of them — were just the latest to hit America in 2022 after a school, church, grocery store and a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, all become murder scenes in recent months.

In addition, the authorities released a damning report that criticised all levels of law enforcement — including inaction by hundreds of federal, state and local officers — for a chaotic and feckless response on May 24 to a gunman who killed 19 students and two teachers inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.