Indianapolis block party attack brings mass shooting death toll to 11 in the month of July

Police say a mass shooting at a block party in Indianapolis on Monday evening has killed at least one person and injured four, according to CNN. It adds to ten other mass shootings in July, according to the Gun Violence Archives.

"Several weapons were located at the scene of the shooting, which occurred along Forest Manor Avenue around 11 p.m. Monday, police said Tuesday," reported Mitchell McCluskey. "Officers responded to a report of a person shot and found a woman who had suffered a gunshot wound, police said in a news release. She was pronounced dead at the scene by Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services. Soon after, multiple people walked into hospitals with gunshot wounds," the report said, citing the release.

According to the report, authorities believe these injuries stem from the same incident at a block party on Forest Manor Avenue. People frantically tried to flee the scene as shots were fired, damaging several cars, said police.

The incident in Indianapolis marks another in a series of mass shootings reported nationwide in the leadup to the Fourth of July celebrations.

In Philadelphia, a man sporting multiple guns, including an AR-style semiautomatic rifle, a ballistic vest, and a police scanner, killed five and injured four in the Kingsessing area before being captured. And in Fort Worth, another gunman killed three and injured eight in a parking lot in the city's Como neighborhood.

No motive is known for these shootings, the three of which combined killed nine people.

Shootings of all types, not simply mass shootings, tend to increase around the July 4 festivities; in 2021, over 230 people were killed and over 600 injured in shootings over the July 4 weekend.

Some experts believe that shooters use fireworks as cover to attack and to escape, as it is initially hard to distinguish gunshots from fireworks and to identify their source. The confusion works both ways. Last year in two separate incidents in Philadelphia and Orlando, crowds panicked and devolved into a stampede after mistaking fireworks for gunfire.

Since July 1, 11 people have been killed in mass shootings, and 75 people have been injured.