• At least 80 people shot in Chicago, 14 fatally, over holiday • Chicago police superintendent puts blame on lax gun laws

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A spate of violence over Fourth of July weekend left more than a dozen people dead and scores injured in several US cities.

In Chicago, more than 80 people were shot over the extended weekend, 14 fatally, according to the Chicago Tribune, which aims to track every shooting in the city.

"It's Groundhog Day in Chicago," said Chicago police superintendent Garry McCarthy at a press conference on Monday, in which he called the level of violence over the weekend "unacceptable".

McCarthy said the department's strategy for combating gun violence over holiday weekends appeared to work Thursday through Saturday, but failed on Sunday when more than 20 people were shot, leaving four dead.

In the 84 hours between mid-afternoon Thursday and early Monday morning, at least 82 people were shot, the Tribune reported.

McCarthy said eight of the incidents involved police being threatened or returning fire. Two teenage boys aged 14 and 16 were shot dead by police, the Tribune reported. All incidents involving police are being independently investigated, as is standard procedure.

The city is all too familiar with the ravages of gun violence. During last year’s Fourth of July weekend, shootings in Chicago left at least 12 people dead and more than 70 injured over the four-day holiday weekend, according to local reports at the time.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a long-time advocate of tougher gun laws, has called gun violence the city’s most urgent problem. But despite having some of the nation's strictest gun laws and a mayor who has made the issue a priority, gun violence continues to devastate Chicago.

"The number of shootings and murders that took place over the holiday weekend is simply unacceptable, and points out that we still have work to do," Emanuel said in a statement on Monday. "The solution does not just include policing."

McCarthy blamed the persistent violence in part on lax gun laws, especially in neighboring states, and said harsher punishments for people who commit gun crimes are needed.

"It all comes down to guns," he said. "There's too many guns coming in and too little punishment going out."

In Indianapolis, Indiana, two police officers died in separate incidents following a bloody Saturday morning in which seven people were shot, police said.

Indianapolis metropolitan police department officer Perry Renn was shot and killed during a gunfight on Saturday night and a police officer in Gary, Indiana, identified as Jeffrey Westerfield, was found shot dead in his car by a passing motorist on Sunday morning, the Indianapolis Star reported.

The seven victims shot in Broad Ripple, an area of the city known for its nightlife, were between the ages of 23 and 28, according to a police report.

Meanwhile in Texas, four people were shot and several more injured after a man opened fire inside an arena filled with thousands fans attending the Houston Caribbean Festival on Saturday morning, police said.

Police said a fight broke out on the floor and at least one person pulled a gun and began shooting. The shooter hit four people, including a 16-year-old who suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Several people were injured after the crowd panicked and rushed to exit the venue.

Authorities are asking eyewitnesses to come forward with more information.

In New York City, 12 people were shot, three fatally, in an overnight burst of gun violence that took place Saturday night and Sunday morning, the New York Post reported.

In St Louis, Missouri, three people were killed and several more injured in a series of shootings that took place across the city over the holiday weekend, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

