Fourth of July weekend marked by dozens of US deaths from gun violence

A badge worn by an LA county deputy sheriff before the World Cup match between Spain and Austria at Los Angeles stadium on 2 July. Photograph: Charlotte Wilson/Getty Images View image in fullscreen A badge worn by an LA county deputy sheriff before the World Cup match between Spain and Austria at Los Angeles stadium on 2 July. Photograph: Charlotte Wilson/Getty Images Fourth of July weekend marked by dozens of US deaths from gun violence At least 43 killed and many wounded, including woman and child hurt at World Cup gathering in Los Angeles A weekend of celebrations as the US marked its semiquincentennial was marred by outbreaks of gun violence that claimed dozens of lives and left multiple other people wounded. Those hurt included a woman and a child among four shot during a gathering of Mexico soccer supporters in Los Angeles following their team’s World Cup elimination on Sunday night. According to the Gun Violence Archive, which keeps a running total of cases, deaths and injuries involving firearms, at least 43 people were killed since early Saturday – the 250th anniversary of the US’s declaration of independence from the UK – in a succession of shootings in numerous cities and neighborhoods. The database has recorded 6,604 fatalities to gun violence in the year to date as of Monday morning. The database listed at least 224 mass shootings, which it considers to be cases in which at least four people were killed or injured, not including the shooter. In one of the most prominent episodes over the weekend, four people were shot in an east Los Angeles neighborhood where soccer fans had assembled during Mexico’s World Cup defeat to England . The Los Angeles police department said that a suspect pulled out a gun during an argument at about 9.30pm local time – after the match ended in a 3-2 eliminating defeat for Mexico – and started firing, as reported by the news channel KTLA. The shots struck two intended victims and two bystanders, a woman and a boy who left the scene to seek help, the department said. All four victims were treated at local hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries, the outlet said. No other details about the victims or the age of the minor were released. Elsewhere, two people were killed on Sunday in a shooting while in a large crowd in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, authorities said. Officers responded to reports of gunfire to find three people shot, including Ronald Cleveland Brown, 39; and Devante Elliott, 34; who were both later declared dead, according to the local ABC news affiliate WJBF . In Austin, Texas, a man and a woman, in their late teens or early 20s, were shot dead in the parking lot of a nightclub in the early hours of Sunday, CBS Austin reported . The shooting followed an altercation at about 4am, the local Travis county sheriff’s office spokesperson, Kristen Dark, told the outlet. “I can’t say that it stems from the nightclub at all,” she said. “It happened in the parking lot of the nightclub, but we