Trio of Saturday mass shootings rock U.S.
09 May 2021
The U.S. was hit by mass shootings in New York City's Times Square, a shopping mall in Florida and at a townhome near Baltimore that left four people dead, including the suspected shooter.
The big picture: Since President Biden took office in January, over 700 people have been injured or killed in 139 mass shootings as of late last month.
- Biden has called gun violence in the U.S. an "epidemic" and "international embarrassment"
What's happening: In the shooting in Woodlawn, Baltimore County, Maryland, police said in a statement that officers were called to a shooting and fire in which two men and a woman died.
- Baltimore County Police spokesperson Joy Stewart confirmed the suspect had been killed by police and the threat to the community "was neutralized," per the Baltimore Sun.
In Times Square, a fight among a group of resulted in two women and a 4-year-old girl being wounded after "at least" one of the men drew a gun, the New York Times reports.
- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted, "Thankfully these innocent bystanders are in stable condition.
"The perpetrators of this senseless violence are being tracked down and the NYPD will bring them to justice. The flood of illegal guns into our city must stop."
In Florida, three people were being treated in hospitals with non-life threatening injuries after being wounded in a shooting at the Aventura Mall near Miami, according to an Aventura Police statement.
- Guns were drawn after a fight between two groups of people escalated, sending " panicked shoppers fleeing," AP notes.
Go deeper: It's set to be a hot, violent summer
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.