What's new
One person was killed and nine others were injured in what local police described as a mass shooting in Towson, Baltimore, on Tuesday evening.
The majority of the nine injured victims were transported to trauma centers with gunshot wounds, Baltimore County police said in a statement.
It is not yet clear who carried out the shooting or what the motive was. Newsweek Baltimore County Police emailed outside normal work hours seeking comment.
Why it matters
It came less than a month after a mass shooting on Thanksgiving in San Antonio, Texas, left two people dead and two others injured.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are injured or killed, there have been more than 490 mass shootings in the U.S. to date as of December 18.
What you should know
The first officer to arrive at the scene discovered a burning vehicle on its side near a funeral home before finding several victims, Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough said in a news conference.
“There appears to have been an incident which resulted in the vehicle colliding and catching fire,” he said. “Investigators are looking into the circumstances that led to this.
“We will leave no stone unturned and use all resources to achieve this. Such incidents generally do not occur in our community in Baltimore County. I assure you as your police chief that we will use every resource to try to resolve this case.”
Investigators believe the shooting was an isolated incident and do not believe there is any further threat to the community.
AP
What people say
Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski said, “This is an incident that is shocking, especially to those of us in Baltimore County. Incidents of this kind are unheard of here, so it really shocks the conscience.”
“However, we want our residents to know that, as always, we are fully committed to ensuring that both our fire and police departments receive the full support and resources they need from Baltimore County government to ensure that they start this investigation.” a conclusion.
What happens next
Investigators are offering a cash reward of up to $2,000 in exchange for information about Tuesday night's violence. You can contact anonymously through Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-756-2587 (7LOCKUP) or through the Baltimore County Police Department's iWATCH program.
