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Five people killed in separate shooting incidents across the US

rahimi20130401031651953Five people, including a 4-year-old girl, have been killed in a string of separate shootings across the United States as gun violence continues to plague the country.

The first killing occurred on Saturday evening at about 6:10 p.m. (local time) in the US city of Miami when 4-year-old girl Rahquel Carr was shot as she was waiting in a car outside her grandfather’s home.

The girl was airlifted to a hospital where she was later pronounced dead by police. Meanwhile, the detectives are trying to find out whether another young child inside the vehicle fired the gun.

In a separate incident, three people in their 20s were killed and another was seriously injured in a shooting outside a bar in the US city of Auburn in the state of Washington.

The shooting happened early Sunday in the parking lot of a bar in the city, which is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Seattle, according to Auburn Police Cmdr. Mike Hirman.

Hirman said the gunfire erupted following a fight in the parking lot when several people pulled out their handguns, firing shots. The incident led to the death of three men while a fourth victim suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was rushed to a medical center in Seattle.

“We know there this dispute escalated to gunfire but in terms of why, we don’t know that yet,” Hirman said, adding, “We’ve had several dozen people at the scene… Trying to piece together all those stories does take time.”

The latest fatal shooting took place in Ashtabula, in northeast Ohio, outside a church, which claimed at least one life according to a parishioner.

Police have launched an investigation into the gunfire incident while a member of the church said that a man was shot after Easter services ended, about 1:15 p.m. on Sunday.

Every year, more than 30,000 people are shot and killed in the United States. This is while about 4.5 million firearms are sold annually in the country at a cost of two to three billion dollars.

According to the University of Chicago Crime Lab and the Centers for Disease Control, the US has an average of 87 deaths each day as a result of gun violence, with an average of 183 injured.

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