Nine people, including a 17-year-old, suffered injuries following a shooting in Newark, N.J. Thursday night, PIX11 reports.
Officers were called the scene of the incident outside of a bodega after receiving a ShotSpotter notification around 6:20 p.m. ET. It was initially believed that there were seven people who sustained gunshot wounds, but another adult victim was later reported. Officials said all nine individuals were taken to local hospitals where they are in stable condition.
An investigation into the shooting is underway. A motive has not yet been determined. Officials have identified a white Honda Pilot stolen out of Jersey City as a vehicle of interest, and believe the car was part of a drive-by shooting, per ABC7 New York.
According to Gun Violence Archive, there have been 296 mass shootings in 2022. Among the horrifying gun violence-related statistics from this year, injuries were reported for over 1,700 children between the ages of 12 and 17.
Most notably, the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas where 19 students and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman resulted in Congress passing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act earlier this month.
The law, which has been lauded by the Biden Administration as “one of the most significant steps Congress has taken to reduce gun violence in decades,” enhances background checks for those between the age of 18 and 21, and encourages states to pass red flag laws, which allow a state court to prevent someone from accessing a firearm if the person is deemed a threat to themselves or others.
While Biden claimed the bill would “save lives,” he also admitted that it “doesn’t do everything I want” in terms of addressing gun violence. Following the massacre in Uvalde, Biden pleaded for “commonsense laws to combat the epidemic of gun violence” and urged for reinstatement the 1994 ban on assault rifles and other semiautomatic rifles.
According to The Washington Post, there were 12 gun massacre incidents and 89 deaths from 1994 to 2004, the year the ban expired. Over the next decade when assault rifles were back on the market, there were 34 incidents and 304 deaths.
It’s unclear what type of firearm was used in the Newark shooting.
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