‘Tragedy upon tragedy’ in California: 44 hours. 3 mass shootings. 19 dead
The victims in suburban Monterey Park included people between the ages of 57 and 76, ringing in the Lunar New Year Saturday night at a dance studio in the heart of the city’s Asian American community.
Then it happened again.
Before authorities had released all of their names, another seven people were gunned down on Monday afternoon in a rural seaside town in northern California. The victims were immigrant laborers who toiled the land on a mushroom farm where some also lived in mobile homes and trailers.
And then again, this time in Oakland.
Communities in big cities and small towns across the US are being upended nearly every day as mass shootings in workplaces, schools and houses of worship become commonplace.
Gov. Gavin Newsom had been at a hospital with victims of the Monterey Park massacre on Monday when he was pulled away for a briefing on the rampage in Half Moon Bay.
«Tragedy upon tragedy,» Newsom tweeted.
The Democrat could have been referring to the first weeks of 2023 in America, which has already suffered 40 mass shootings this month – more than in any other start of the year on record.
A few threads connected the violence in California – elderly Asian gunmen in two of the cases, many victims were Asian American, as well as proximity and time. However, the greatest common denominator is a gun violence epidemic the United States seems incapable of eradicating.
«Only in America,» Newsom said of the bloodshed. «The devastation is felt for generations in some cases. Communities being torn asunder. No one feeling safe.»
Photo: dw.com