The St. Louis Juneteenth weekend, which included Father’s Day, was rocked early Sunday by a mass shooting that left 17-year-old Makao Moore dead and at least nine others wounded.
Mayor Tishaura Jones, Robert Tracy, the chief of St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, and other city leaders took immediate action by extending Friday and Saturday hours of two St. Louis recreation centers, Wohl and Marquette.
The goal is giving teens safe alternatives to gatherings like the one in an office building in the 1400 block of Washington.
Jones said other programs are available to help youths avoid trouble during the summer.
The St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment is offering summer and year-round youth jobs, including its YouthBuild program that connects at-risk youth ages 16-24 with training and education opportunities
The St. Louis Office of Violence Prevention is using federal resources to hold pop up activities, like movie nights and music events to give kids opportunities to safely gather, the mayor said.
During a Sunday press conference at Wohl Community Center, Jones said, “This Father’s Day, families across the St. Louis region woke to the news of yet another mass shooting.”
“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare, tenfold. My heart goes out to all the families in pain today. All those attending will carry with them the scars, physical and mental, from the gun violence that tore into their lives.”
She then chastised state politicians for allowing easy access to guns, including for youths.
“Our state’s lax gun laws make our challenge even more difficult,” Jones said.
“The Missouri legislature failed to restrict minors from carrying guns, a commonsense solution to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of children.”
Jones and Congresswoman Cori Bush, who made appearances throughout the 1st Congressional District during Juneteenth weekend, vowed to push on with local and national efforts to take more guns off American streets.
Bush spoke on the shootings, saying state and federal legislators that could address gun violence “are within the pockets of the [National Rifle Association.]
“They are choosing guns over our children,” Bush said.
“They are choosing violence over safety. They are choosing death over life. We need to save lives.”
The event that led to the shootings was publicized on several social media platforms and attracted people from throughout the area.
According to Chief Robert Tracy, police had not been called to the building in the past, adding that investigators are determining how people gained entrance.
Police have one juvenile suspect in custody, and on Tuesday released photos of two other people who could be involved.
Shell casings from multiple weapons were found at the scene, including those from a handgun and an AR-style weapon.
St. Louis was not the lone city that experienced gun violence on a frightening level during the past weekend.
-At least 23 people were shot, one fatally, during a gathering in a parking lot that drew hundreds of people in a suburban town southwest of Chicago early Sunday, authorities said.
-In Washington State, two people were killed and three injured in a shooting near a campground where many people were staying for a two-day music festival.
-A state trooper was killed and a second critically wounded just hours apart Saturday in central Pennsylvania after a shooter attacked a state police barracks. The suspect drove his truck into the parking lot of the Lewistown barracks about 11 a.m. Saturday and opened fire with a large-caliber rifle on marked patrol cars before fleeing, authorities said Sunday. Police later killed him.
-A shooting at a pool party in Carson, California, a city about 17 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, left eight people wounded, authorities said Saturday.
There have been more than 310 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
