Nearly five minors under the age of 17 are killed on average in the United States every day by bullets and more than 11 are injured, according to a tally available Tuesday on the Gun Violence Archive website.
According to the source so far this year, 520 children and adolescents have died and 1,262 have suffered injuries due to firearms, in a country where the number of mass shootings has risen to 164.
The country has experienced more than one tragedy in which the youngest lose their lives in just over 100 days. Among the deadliest is the one last month in the city of Nashville, Tennessee, when an armed woman entered a school and killed three 9-year-old boys.
Also, last weekend, four people died and at least 15 teenagers were injured as a result of a shooting at a birthday party in Alabama.
One of the events receiving the most media attention these days is the case in Kansas City, Missouri, of 16-year-old Afro-descendant Ralph Yarl, who was shot twice after ringing the doorbell of a house that he mistook for the address where he had to go to pick up his little brothers.
Cleo Nagbe, the victim’s mother, told CBS News that her son suffered injuries to his upper right arm and left frontal lobe above the eye. She said the bullet in his head was not removed for up to 12 hours, and that the “residual effect” of the wound will stay with him “for quite some time.”
The owner of the home who shot Yarl last Thursday, Andrew D. Lester, 84, has been charged with first-degree assault and armed felony.
According to Clay County District Attorney Zachary Thompson, “there was a racial component to the case,” though he did not elaborate.
While Yarl’s relatives are pleased with the felony indictment, they are unclear why the attempted murder was not a charge and plan to speak with prosecutors and federal investigators to determine whether the family’s civil rights were violated, specifically in terms of due process.
According to a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center, the number of children and adolescents killed by gunshots increased by almost 50 percent between 2019 and 2021 in the United States. In 2021, the study detailed, 46 percent of all deaths among the youngest involved black victims, although only 14 percent of the population under 18 in the country belonged to that racial group.
