July Fourth holiday marked by shootings in several cities and a fireworks-related death
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Chris Bailey told reporters early Saturday morning that the mayhem was 'completely unacceptable and unnecessary' and that parents and guardians needed to better control their children.
'Hundreds of unsupervised kids down here,' he said, while speaking in the city's downtown. 'I don't know how many times I had to say it: We are not your children's keepers. You are! And parents and guardians have got to step up. A kid is dead tonight.'
Mass shootings were reported in other cities, including Philadelphia and Chicago and Brockton, Massachusetts, where six people were hospitalized following an early morning fight on Saturday.
Violence and shootings often surge in the summer months, especially around the Fourth of July, historically one of the deadliest days of the year in the U.S.
The shooting in Chicago, which left seven people in serious or critical condition, came on the heels of another mass shooting that happened late Wednesday in a busy neighborhood known for its restaurants and nightlife. Four people were killed and 14 others injured.
In the New York City borough of Queens, police said one person was dead and three injured following a post-fireworks triple stabbing.
Meanwhile, a Wareham, Massachusetts, man is dead after being hit by a firework. Police said they found 70-year-old Robert Spagnuolo with a 'facial injury." He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officials in Georgia reported two boat explosions on lakes on Friday.
Seven people ranging in age from 5 to 45 suffered second- and third-degree burns when a boat exploded on Lake Lanier, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Seven more people suffered burns when a boat exploded and then sank on Lake Nottely, the department said.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
SoraNews24
6 hours ago
- SoraNews24
Two Americans decide to hike Mt. Fuji before trails open, both need rescues on back-to-back days
In separate instances, man in sandals and woman who'd never been to Mt. Fuji before both require emergency assistance to get off Japan's tallest mountain. July 4 is just another day in Japan, but as an American living in the country, I usually try to do something fun to celebrate my home country's Independence Day. Eat a hamburger, go to the beach, or maybe even go to a local Japanese fireworks festival if one just so happens to coincidentally fall on the same day. But I 've never spent the Fourth of July in Japan the way one of my countrymen did this year: needing to be rescued from the side of Mt. Fuji despite the trail still being officially closed. There are four trails that lead to the top of Mt. Fuji. One of them, Yamanashi Prefecture's Yoshida Trail, opened on July 1, but the other three, Shizuoka Prefecture's Fujinomiya, Gotemba, and Subashiri Trails, aren't open for climbing until July 10. So none of them were open when a 67-year-old American man decided to start hiking up the mountain on June 26, but while he was apparently in a hurry to get onto the mountain, he doesn't seem to have been in a rush to leave, having set up a tent near the Fujinomiya Trail's seventh station to camp out in. On July 4, a call came in to Japan's 119 emergency services number from other people who were in the area that 'A foreign man is calling out for help from his tent.' The police were then able to coordinate with the operator of a mountain hut who was able to locate the man and transport him using maintenance equipment back down to the trail's fifth station, where police and fire officials took over. The American man appeared to be suffering from hypothermia, and despite being dressed in cold-weather clothing had sandals on his feet, though it's unclear if he he'd been wearing more appropriate footwear while making his ascent to where he'd set up his tent. The man told rescue workers that he'd hiked to the summit of Mt. Fuji twice before this trip, which seems to have contributed to his overconfidence regarding his mountaineering capabilities. Then, in a lightning-fast example of history repeating itself, a similar situation happened the very next day. On the night of July 5, the Shizuoka Prefectural Police received a call, forwarded from a mobile phone service provider, informing them that a 59-year-old American woman was lost and needed to be rescued from, once again, the Shizuoka side of Mt. Fuji. The call came slightly after 8 p.m., and the woman had said 'I'm lost on Mt. Fuji. It's dark and I'm very frightened, so please help me.' So once again, a rescue team was dispatched, and thankfully they were able to find her and escort her down safely. The woman, who had entered the Gotemba Trail earlier that day, had been able to make it to the summit of Mt. Fuji, but then became lost while making her descent, taking a wrong turn onto a path that connects the Gotemba and Fujinomiya Trails via Mt. Hoei, a flank volcano next to Mt. Fuji. This means she was making her descent through unfamiliar terrain in the dark, and on a separate mountain from the one she'd just hiked up, all of which no doubt contributed to her feeling of disorientation and fear. The woman told the rescue team that she was traveling in Japan on vacation, and while she's done mountain hikes outside Japan, this was her first time at Mt. Fuji. So to review, in both cases the people who needed to be rescued weren't just hiking outside of the official climbing season, which is already a bad idea, but compounded the risk by hiking alone. Despite how gently Mt. Fuji's slopes appear when viewed from a distance, and how popular it's become as a tourism destination in recent years, it's still the tallest mountain in Japan, and trekking to the top can be very dangerous. Odds are both of the American hikers who needed rescuing figured they'd be fine, since they weren't hiking all that much ahead of when the Shizuoka trails open. However, the trails still being closed means that the full array of on-site support systems aren't up and running yet either, which in turn means longer response times for rescue teams, which could have life-threatening results, so if you're going to climb Mt. Fuji this summer, make sure you do it the right way. Source: Shizuoka Broadcasting System (1, 2) via Yahoo! Japan News via Otakomu Top image: Pakutaso ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Japan Today
2 days ago
- Japan Today
July Fourth holiday marked by shootings in several cities and a fireworks-related death
This year's Fourth of July holiday was marked by multiple shootings across the U.S., including one in Indianapolis that left at least two dead and a police chief voicing public frustration over the latest acts of violence in his city. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Chris Bailey told reporters early Saturday morning that the mayhem was 'completely unacceptable and unnecessary' and that parents and guardians needed to better control their children. 'Hundreds of unsupervised kids down here,' he said, while speaking in the city's downtown. 'I don't know how many times I had to say it: We are not your children's keepers. You are! And parents and guardians have got to step up. A kid is dead tonight.' Mass shootings were reported in other cities, including Philadelphia and Chicago and Brockton, Massachusetts, where six people were hospitalized following an early morning fight on Saturday. Violence and shootings often surge in the summer months, especially around the Fourth of July, historically one of the deadliest days of the year in the U.S. The shooting in Chicago, which left seven people in serious or critical condition, came on the heels of another mass shooting that happened late Wednesday in a busy neighborhood known for its restaurants and nightlife. Four people were killed and 14 others injured. In the New York City borough of Queens, police said one person was dead and three injured following a post-fireworks triple stabbing. Meanwhile, a Wareham, Massachusetts, man is dead after being hit by a firework. Police said they found 70-year-old Robert Spagnuolo with a 'facial injury." He was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials in Georgia reported two boat explosions on lakes on Friday. Seven people ranging in age from 5 to 45 suffered second- and third-degree burns when a boat exploded on Lake Lanier, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Seven more people suffered burns when a boat exploded and then sank on Lake Nottely, the department said. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
3 days ago
- Japan Today
Russia hammers Kyiv in largest missile and drone barrage since war in Ukraine began
By HANNA ARHIROVA Waves of drone and missile attacks targeted Kyiv overnight into Friday in the largest aerial assault since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began more than three years ago, officials said, amid a renewed Russian push to capture more of its neighbor's land. The barrage killed one person and wounded at least 26 others, including a child, and inflicted severe damage across multiple districts of the capital in a seven-hour onslaught, authorities said. Blasts lit up the night sky and echoed across the city as air raid sirens wailed. The blue lights of emergency vehicles reflected off high-rise buildings, and debris blocked city streets. 'It was a harsh, sleepless night,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Russia has been stepping up its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities. Less than a week ago, Russia launched what was then the largest aerial assault of the war. That strategy has coincided with a concerted Russian effort to break through parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometer front line, where Ukrainian troops are under severe pressure. Russia launched 550 drones and missiles across Ukraine during the night, the country's air force said. The majority were Shahed drones, but Russia also launched 11 missiles in the attack. Alya Shahlai, a 23-year-old Kyiv wedding photographer, said that her home was destroyed in the attack. 'We were all in the (basement) shelter because it was so loud, staying home would have been suicidal,' she told The Associated Press. 'We went down 10 minutes before and then there was a loud explosion and the lights went out in the shelter, people were panicking.' Five ambulances were damaged while responding to calls, officials said, and emergency services removed more than 300 tons of rubble. The attack on Kyiv began the same day a phone call took place between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Friday, Trump and Zelenskyy had a 'very important and meaningful' conversation by phone, said Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office. He said that details of the talks would be provided later. U.S-led international peace efforts have been fruitless so far. Recent direct peace talks have led only to sporadic exchanges of prisoners of war, wounded troops and the bodies of fallen soldiers. No date has been set for further negotiations. Ukrainian officials and the Russian Defense Ministry said another prisoner swap took place Friday, though neither side said how many soldiers were involved. Zelenskyy said most of the Ukrainians had been in Russian captivity since 2022. The Ukrainian soldiers were classified as 'wounded and seriously ill.' When asked if he made any progress during his call with Putin on a deal to end the fighting in Ukraine, Trump said: 'No, I didn't make any progress with him today at all.' 'I'm very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin because I don't think he's there. I don't think he's looking to stop (the fighting), and that's too bad,' Trump said. According to Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign affairs adviser, the Russian leader emphasized that Moscow will seek to achieve its goals in Ukraine and remove the 'root causes' of the conflict. 'Russia will not back down from these goals,' Ushakov told reporters after the call. Russia's army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO. Zelenskyy has repeatedly called out Russian disinformation efforts. The U.S. has paused some shipments of military aid to Ukraine, including crucial air defense missiles. Ukraine's main European backers are considering how they can help pick up the slack. Zelenskyy says plans are afoot to build up Ukraine's domestic arms industry, but scaling up will take time. The Ukrainian response needs to be speedy as Russia escalates its aerial attacks. Russia launched 5,438 drones at Ukraine in June, a new monthly record, according to official data collated by The Associated Press. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said earlier this week that Russia also launched more than 330 missiles, including nearly 80 ballistic missiles, at Ukrainian towns and cities that month. Throughout the night, AP journalists in Kyiv heard the constant buzzing of drones overhead and the sound of explosions and intense machine gun fire as Ukrainian forces tried to intercept the aerial assault. 'Absolutely horrible and sleepless night in Kyiv,' Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on social media platform X. 'One of the worst so far.' Ukraine's Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko described 'families running into metro stations, basements, underground parking garages, mass destruction in the heart of our capital.' 'What Kyiv endured last night, cannot be called anything but a deliberate act of terror,' she wrote on X. Kyiv was the primary target of the countrywide attack. At least 14 people were hospitalized, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Zelenskyy called the Kyiv attack 'cynical.' In Moscow, the Defense Ministry claimed its forces targeted factories producing drones and other military equipment in Kyiv. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 270 targets, including two cruise missiles. Another 208 targets were lost from radar and presumed jammed. Russia successfully hit eight locations with nine missiles and 63 drones. Debris from intercepted drones fell across at least 33 sites. In addition to the capital, the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Kyiv regions also sustained damage, Zelenskyy said. Emergency services reported damage in at least five of Kyiv's 10 districts. Vasilisa Stepanenko contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
