America has endured yet another bloody weekend of gun violence, with at least 82 people shot and 13 killed across Chicago, Philadelphia and NYC alone.
Chicago was the worst hit, with at least 52 shootings recorded, and five killed - including a 7-year-old girl - from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening.
Philadelphia saw 11 shootings, and five killed as a result, while 16 people were shot in New York City during a single, two-hour period.
Eight of those were gunned down in a single-incident at a housing complex in Brooklyn's Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood. That came after three people were shot and killed in New York on Saturday.
In Chicago, a seven year-old girl sitting in the back of a parked car was one of those killed during the city's latest orgy of violence, while her six year-old sister suffered a pieced lung after she was also shot.
A weekend of gun violence in three cities across the country saw sisters Serenity, 7, left, and Aubrey, 6, Broughton shot in Chicago. Serenity would die from her injuries
The girls were shot at around 2pm on Sunday, just as their parents had buckled them into the family car on a trip to their grandmother's house
The girls' paternal grandmother, Regina Broughton, identified the sisters at Serenity - who died - and Aubrey Broughton, who is being treated for serious wounds in hospital following the shooting in the Windy City's Belmont neighborhood.
Both suffered multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said, and Serenity died at the hospital from her injuries, while Aubrey had been moved out of the ICU as of Sunday evening, suffering from a pierced lung, CBS2 reported.
Police had responded to the scene at around 2.50pm to reports of rapid gunfire in the area to find the two girls injured in the back of their mother's parked vehicle.
Serenity had been shot in the chest and torso, while Aubrey suffered gunshot wounds to her chest and right armpit.
Both were rushed to Loyola University Medical Center, where Serenity was pronounced dead.
Their grandmother, Regina Broughton was expecting a visit from her two grandaughters that afternoon. Instead she made a trip to the hospital
The two had been heading out from a visit to their maternal grandmother's house to visit Regina, who after hearing of the shooting rushed to the hospital to find Serenity had died.
'She was getting in a car coming from her grandma’s house, and her life was ended at that moment. I mean, that’s just senseless,' She told CBS2. '
'And you know, someone should come forth and say something. Someone should come forth and help the family, and help us – because it didn’t have to happen to her. It shouldn’t have happened to her. She was innocent. She was 7. Her birthday was coming up in November.'
Serenity was due to take a plane trip with her grandmother to South Carolina on Tuesday
As of Sunday, she said, Aubrey did not know her sister had died.
Both parents were on the scene, Regina said, and her son was on the driver's side of the car. Their mother had just finished buckling Aubrey into the back seat.
'The other sister was already in her car seat buttoned up, and my son said he grabbed her – and she was just lifeless,' the grandmother recounted.
Regina noted that she was due to take a plane trip with the girls to South Carolina on Tuesday for a visit to Myrtle Beach. It would have been Serenity's first trip on a plane, she said.
'How do you prepare yourself for something like this?' she said. 'She was a beautiful child. Her spirit was beautiful. Everything about her was innocent.'
Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Brian McDermott said the girls were not believed to be the intended target, and that the investigation into their death was ongoing.
'To say that I am sad and outraged would be an understatement. I can only hope that every resident of the city is as angry, saddened, and outraged as I am at this time,' he said during a news conference Sunday evening.
'Too many young people have lost their lives to senseless gun violence in the city of Chicago.'
The Chicago shooting came as the city was rocked by gun violence this weekend, with 52 shootings recording and five killed
The weekend carnage in the city began at 5.15pm on Friday, when 18-year-old Nikko Mercado was killed in a drive-by shooting, CBS2 also reported.
Then, at 8.34pm on Friday a 17-year-old boy was killed and two others badly injured in a shooting on the Eisenhower Expressway.
At 12.40pm, Saturday a 59-year-old man was shot multiple times and killed while driving in the West Humboldt Park section of the city.
At 8.15pm Saturday a 26-year-old man was shot in the torso while walking down the sidewalk in the Hyde Park neighborhood of the city. He was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
At 1.59am Sunday, a 33 and 34-year-old man were standing in a group in the Grand Crossing neighborhood in the city when both were shot. The 33 year old was hit in the chest and later pronounced dead.
The gun slayings come as, more than 2,123 people had been recorded shot in Chicago before this weekend, a 12 percent increase from the same period last year, according to ABC News.
In Philadelphia, a string of separate shootings saw five people killed and 11 injured.
In Philadelphia, a string of shootings on Friday and Saturday saw five people killed and 11 injured
The last was reported on Saturday at 9pm, when a a 25-year-old man was shot multiple times in the Toga-Nicetown section of the neighborhood, ABC6 reported.
At 5am Saturday morning police found a man shot lying in the parking lot of a gas station at around 5am in Philadelphia's Wynnefield neighborhood. He was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Before that, two men, aged 25 and 30, were shot multiple times at around midnight Saturday in the city's Tioga-Nicetown neighborhood, leaving the 25 year old in critical condition. The 30 year old died from his injuries.
In the southwest area of the city, a man was shot and killed at around 2am Saturday in a Rite Aid parking lot, and shortly after that a man in his 30s was shot in the head and killed at around 3am in the city's Kensington neighborhood.
No arrests had been made in any of the shootings, police reported.
As of this weekend, 1,333 had been shot in Philadelphia this year, a 19 percent increase over the same period in 2020.
In New York, the city saw three gun homicides in a four hour span on Saturday, and a shooting spree on Sunday that injured 16 in the span of about 90 minutes.
New York City also saw its share of gun violence. Police are pictured at the scene of a party shooting in Brooklyn at 12.30am Monday, when eight people were shot and injured
The killing started at 12.20am Saturday, when a man was found lying next to a motorcycle with a bullet wound to the head in the Bronx. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Then, at around 1am, a 38-year-old man was shot in Queens, and was rushed to a hospital where he too was pronounced dead.
Finally at 4 am a 27-year-old man was shot and killed while standing on the street in the Bronx. Alongside him was a 23-year-old man who was wounded.
On Sunday, a quick series of shootings began at around 11pm, Pix 11 reported, when three men in their 20s were shot on a street corner in Queens.
Then, a half hour later, a 32-year-old man in Brooklyn was shot in the leg.
In another shooting at 12.25am Monday, eight people were shot and injured at a large party in Brooklyn. The victims ranged in aged from 18 to 27, and one was reportedly struck in the face and left in critical condition.
Just five minutes later, another man was shot in the head in Queens and was also left in critical condition.
Finally, at 12.35am three teenagers were shot and wounded while sitting in an SUV in Brooklyn. The driver, 18, was shot in the head and he was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
No arrests have so far been made in the shootings, an they came as 1,109 people have been shot in the city in 2021, a 10.9 percent increase over the same period last year.
