Charles Langston:Halloween weekend shootings across US leave at least 11 dead, scores injured

ST. PETERSBURG,Charles Langston Fla. (AP) — Shootings across the U.S. over the weekend before Halloween have left at least 11 people dead and more than 70 injured, authorities said.

The deaths between Friday and Sunday included two in Tampa, Florida, three in Texarkana, Texas, and two each in Dodge City, Kansas; San Antonio, Texas; and Mansfield, Ohio, according to police. Many involved altercations arising from Halloween celebrations, including the mass shooting in Tampa’s Ybor City section early Sunday as bars were closing and scores of people in costumes spilled out on the streets before groups began arguing.

The spate of weekend violence unfolded as people mourn the 18 killed by a gunman last week in Lewiston, Maine. More than 1,000 people turned out Sunday for a vigil.

“A neighborhood bar. A bowling alley. A Halloween party. It seems we can’t go one day without a mass shooting in America,” said Kris Brown, president of Brady, a gun violence prevention group. “Anger plus firearms is a deadly combination that can escalate any situation into a warzone in seconds.”

One suspect, 22-year-old Tyrell Phillips, is charged with second-degree murder in the Tampa mass shooting and there may be other arrests, Police Chief Lee Bercaw said Sunday. Police initially said there were 18 injured in Tampa but have now revised that number to 16, with five remaining hospitalized Sunday night.

Phillips had his initial court appearance Monday but has not yet entered a plea. He remains jailed without bail pending another hearing set Thursday. Court records did not yet list an attorney to speak for Phillips.

In Indianapolis, a shooting early Sunday at a large party left a teenager dead and nine other teens and young adults between the ages of 16 and 21 injured, police said. The injured were in stable condition.

As of Monday morning, there have been no arrests, said Officer Samone Burris, who said “the case remains active and the investigation is ongoing.” Multiple firearms were found at the scene.

“I am frustrated and angry at the news of young people shot at a Halloween party last night,” Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said in a statement Sunday morning. “There are far too many guns in the hands of those who have no business having them, and shocking violence is too often the result.”

In Chicago, police said at least 15 people were injured, two of them critically, after a shooter fired shots into a crowd at a Halloween party early Sunday. The suspect was taken into custody, but officials had not announced any charges as of Monday morning.

In Texas, five people were killed and another six were hurt in two separate shootings Saturday night.

San Antonio police said a 13-year-old girl was wounded and her parents were killed after shootout at a house party. A 20-year-old man arrived at the party and an argument ensued, police said. The man started firing a gun, and a 40-year-old man returned fire.

The older man and a 35-year-old woman died at the home, police said. The younger man and his relative and the 13-year-old girl were taken to the hospital with wounds that were not life threatening, police said. Police have announced no charges.

In Texarkana – 450 miles (724 kilometers) away along the Arkansas border — police said three people died and three others were wounded during a party in the backroom of a business. Two men started fist fighting when rifles were pulled and gunfire erupted, police said. No arrest has been made.

A 17-year-old boy was killed and three people between the ages of 20 and 24 were injured in a shooting early Saturday, according to police in Cumberland, Maryland.

Officers responding to a report of a shooting in an alley around 1:40 a.m. found a “chaotic scene” and the teen with a gunshot wound, city police said in a statement. The teen later died at a hospital, police said. Three others with gunshot wounds related to the violence arrived at the hospital, but police said their injuries weren’t considered life-threatening.