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    At Least 8 Dead After Shooting in South Africa

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    The police said they had started a manhunt and were investigating a possible motive.Eight people in one small house in a South African township were found shot dead, the police said on Saturday, the latest such mass shooting in a country battling a wave of gun violence and gang turf wars.Six men and two women, ages 22 to 40, were found “lying in a pool of blood with multiple gunshot wounds,” the police said in a statement. An unknown number of assailants had reportedly entered the home Friday night and opened fire, killing those inside, the statement said.It is unclear whether the victims were related. The police said they had started a manhunt and were investigating a possible motive.South Africa has long recorded high rates of violent crime, but more recently gunmen have started targeting taverns and family gatherings in assassination-style hits. Experts say the violence is often the result of turf wars and reprisals between criminal networks. The police say such shootings also highlight the role of family networks in criminal activity, as well as the targeting of relatives in revenge killings.“These tragic incidents underscore the urgent need to address deeply rooted familial conflicts and improve community engagement to prevent such violence,” Senzo Mchunu, the country’s police minister, said in November during a presentation of quarterly crime statistics.In September, 18 members of a multigenerational family were gunned down in a rural homestead in the Eastern Cape Province. Most of the victims were women who had gathered to prepare for a traditional ceremony, the police said. The police charged a 45-year-old man for the shooting.In January 2023, gunmen killed eight people at a birthday party in Gqeberha, a coastal city in the same province. In April of that year, gunmen stormed a house and killed 10 people at a homestead outside the city of Pietermaritzburg, which is in the east of the country. And in July 2022, at least 19 people were shot dead in multiple taverns, including in Johannesburg’s Soweto township.On Saturday, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal Province, Thamsanqa Ntuli, visited the latest crime scene, looking inside the house in an informal settlement in Umlazi, a township outside the eastern city of Durban, according to the South African Broadcasting Corporation and other local outlets. With a yearslong housing backlog, millions of South Africans live in crowded neighborhoods without proper running water, electricity or policing.In recent months, South African police officials began a campaign to crack down on crime, but said that the high number of illegal firearms in circulation had contributed to the gun violence. The latest crime figures available reported that 6,953 people were murdered in the country from October 2024 to December 2024, a slight decrease from the figures over that period a year earlier. More

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      Arizona Restaurant Shooting Leaves at Least 3 Dead and 5 Injured

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      Witnesses told local news stations that the shooting took place at a Cinco de Mayo event.At least three people were killed and five people were wounded in a shooting that erupted on Sunday at a restaurant in Arizona where a crowd of people was celebrating Cinco de Mayo, the police and a witness said.The police in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix, responded at about 7:45 p.m. to calls saying that shots had been fired at the El Camaron Gigante Mariscos & Steakhouse, a spokesman for the Glendale Police Department, Officer Moroni Mendez, told local news stations in a briefing late on Sunday.Officers found a “chaotic” scene in which multiple people had been shot, he said. Detectives were investigating but they believed there was more than one shooter.It was not immediately clear whether the shooting was an exchange of gunfire or if several people had acted together in firing on the crowd, Officer Mendez said.There were no arrests, although Officer Mendez said that the public was not in danger.Officer Mendez did not identify the victims or provide their ages. The injuries of those wounded were either caused by shrapnel or gunfire, he said.He could not immediately be reached early on Monday, and calls to the restaurant went unanswered.A witness told 12 News that dozens of people, including families with children, were at the restaurant for Cinco de Mayo, an annual celebration that commemorates Mexico’s victory over France in the Battle of Puebla.The witness said there were several rounds of gunfire, and then a pause before a second set of shots was fired. More

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      Houston Shooting Leaves at Least One Dead and Multiple Injured

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      Police said the incident occurred at a family barbecue in the southeastern part of the city when an uninvited guest began shooting.At least one person was killed and “multiple” others were in critical condition on Sunday after a family barbecue in Houston erupted in gunfire, police said.Officers received calls reporting a shooting just before 1 a.m. local time on Cherryhill Avenue, in the southeastern part of the city, said Assistant Chief Patricia Cantu of the Houston Police Department. The officers arrived minutes later to find ongoing gunfire and multiple victims, who were relocated to a nearby Jack in the Box restaurant to be assessed and transported to local hospitals.The incident began after midnight when an “uninvited guest” arrived at the family gathering, Chief Cantu said in a news conference early Sunday morning. After being asked to leave, the uninvited person began shooting and residents returned fire, she said.“The person that did this was uninvited, was asked to leave, and he began the incident of gunfire,” said Chief Cantu.At least 14 people were injured alongside the fatality, the police said. Several of those hurt were in critical condition and undergoing surgery,Chief Cantu added.The police had not yet apprehended a suspect and declined to identify one. Multiple people were detained “for information,” Chief Cantu said.This is a developing story. Check back for updates. More

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      Texas Prosecutors Will No Longer Pursue Death Penalty in El Paso Shooting

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      The gunman, who killed 23 people at a Walmart in 2019, was previously sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms after pleading guilty to federal hate crimes.Texas prosecutors will no longer seek the death penalty against the gunman who killed 23 people in a mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart six years ago, the local district attorney announced on Tuesday.The gunman, a self-described white nationalist, had previously been sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms after pleading guilty to federal hate crimes in the attack, one of the deadliest on Latinos in U.S. history. At the time, federal prosecutors also said they would not seek the death penalty.On Tuesday, the El Paso district attorney said his office had changed course after speaking with the families of the victims.“It was very clear as we met with the families, one by one, that there is a strong and overwhelming consensus that just wanted this case over with, that wanted finality in the court process,” said the district attorney, James Montoya, a Democrat.In exchange, the shooter, Patrick Crusius, is expected to plead guilty to capital murder and be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Mr. Montoya said. Mr. Crusius will also waive his right to any potential appeals as part of the plea agreement.Mr. Montoya is the fourth prosecutor to have been assigned to the state case. He promised during his campaign last year to seek the death penalty, and said on Tuesday that he still believed the shooter deserved it.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Shooting at Park in New Mexico Leaves at At Least 3 Dead and 16 Injured

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      The shooting happened at a gathering of drivers of modified sports cars. Witnesses said there was an altercation before the gunfire.Three people were killed and at least 16 people were injured during a shooting at a park Friday night in Las Cruces, N.M., according to Johana Bencomo, the mayor pro tem.“Part of me wanted to write that this is something you never really think is going to happen in your city, but that actually feels deeply untrue,” Ms. Bencomo wrote.The shooting happened around 10 p.m. on Friday near the parking lot at Young Park, the police said on social media.Officers arrived and found multiple people with gunshot wounds. They were sent to hospitals, including the University Medical Center of El Paso in Texas.Andrew Cummins, a spokesman for Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, said the center received six patients, all with gunshot wounds, and five of them were flown from the medical center to El Paso.Witnesses said the shooting took place at a monthly gathering where drivers of modified sports cars show them off.Around 200 people had gathered for the event, they said, which had a party-like atmosphere. They described seeing an altercation before shots rang out and people began to flee. At least one man had what looked like an assault-style weapon, witnesses said.“They just started shooting and they just started running around everybody,” said Angel Legaspy, a 20-year-old whose parked car was hit by bullets. The shooting was indiscriminate, “like all over the place,” he said.Manuel Urbina, who was visiting from Wyoming, came to the park to check out the city’s car scene. He said things were calm aside from the occasional squeal of a skidding car or the roar of its engine. Then he heard shots.“People were running everywhere,” he said. “We all started to run, and then I saw a young man laid out on the ground.”Witnesses described seeing an altercation before shots were heard and people began to flee. Paul Ratje for The New York TimesThe police said they had not identified any suspects or possible motive.“We’re still trying to identify who the shooter or shooters are,” Danny Trujillo, a public information officer for the city of Las Cruces, said early Saturday.The police asked anyone who has video or images of the events, particularly any that show the shooting or people with firearms, to submit them.While the circumstances of the shooting in Las Cruces remain unclear, New Mexico has struggled in recent years with violent crime.The violent crime rate there was twice the national average in 2023, according to the Council of State Governments Justice Center. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, has made combating crime a priority.Las Cruces became a flashpoint in the state’s debate over crime in February 2024, when a police officer, Jonah Hernandez, was stabbed to death after responding to a trespassing call.By August of 2024, violent crime in the city was up 46 percent compared to the same period in 2023.Isabelle Taft More

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      Sweden Plans Tighter Gun Laws After Orebro Mass Shooting

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      The changes would make it harder to access semiautomatic weapons, and enhance police and medical checks in license applications.Sweden will tighten its already strict gun laws, the government said on Friday, days after a lone gunman killed at least 10 people in an attack the prime minister has called the worst mass shooting in the country’s history.New legislation was already being planned, based on the findings of a 2022 inquiry. After the mass shooting on Tuesday, at an adult education center in the central city of Orebro, it has been fast-tracked.The proposal has not been formalized, but it will likely strengthen the basic requirements for acquiring a gun license, instructing the police to take into account age, weapons knowledge and skills as well as the person’s criminal history. It will also likely call for broader checks on the applicant’s medical history.The new rules would make it more difficult to access semiautomatic assault weapons such as AR-15-style rifles. The firearm, lightweight and compatible with large magazines, has been permitted as a hunting rifle in Sweden since 2023. Under the new act, access to the weapon and similar types of firearms will be greatly restricted.“The rules on gun possession are about balancing society’s interest in preventing crime and accidents involving firearms and the interest in individuals and organizations having the opportunity to possess firearms in justified cases,” the government said in a statement.“We want to ensure that only the right people have guns in Sweden,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told the Swedish news agency TT while on a working visit to Latvia.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      An N.Y.P.D. Manhunt Caught a Subway Shooter. This Time, It’s Different.

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      Capturing a suspect who slips away from a crime scene requires solid police work, help from the public and a little luck, experts say. So far, it’s not working.A shocking early morning act of violence, a frantic New York Police Department search for a suspect and a gunman seemingly in the wind: The year was 2022, and the man the police had fanned out to find was Frank R. James, who had set off smoke grenades inside a crowded subway car in Brooklyn and opened fire.Now, more than two years later, another manhunt has gripped the city. But unlike Mr. James, who was apprehended the day after his rampage, the man who assassinated the chief executive of a health insurance company just before dawn on Wednesday in Midtown Manhattan has not been caught or even identified after more than four days.The two most recent fugitive searches in New York City have involved gunmen who made seemingly improbable escapes in a city teeming with surveillance cameras and people. But despite some similarities between the cases and the investigative tactics being used to try to solve them, the search for the man who killed Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, has proved far more challenging.The suspect’s ability to evade capture appears to be tied to his methodical planning, including wearing a mask and a hood during nearly all of his time in New York City and paying with cash everywhere, along with using a fake driver’s license.And unlike Mr. James, who did essentially nothing to conceal himself after slipping away amid the chaotic aftermath of the shooting that wounded 10 people, the suspect in Mr. Thompson’s killing fled quickly into Central Park, away from the surveillance cameras that blanket much of Manhattan. He also appears to have left the state long before the police could possibly have begun to track his movements.“I don’t think I’ve seen this level of operational preplanning in any crime, never mind in a murder,” said Kenneth E. Corey, a former chief of department in the New York Police Department.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Man Arrested in Shooting That Killed One at Tuskegee University

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      The shooting, which wounded 12 people, happened early on Sunday as crowds gathered at the historically Black school to celebrate the final day of its 100th homecoming week.A 25-year-old man was charged in connection with a shooting on the campus of Tuskegee University in Alabama early Sunday morning that left one person dead and a dozen others wounded as crowds gathered for the school’s homecoming celebration, the authorities said.The man, Jaquez Myrick, 25, of Montgomery, was arrested on Sunday and charged under federal law with possessing a machine gun, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said on Facebook.Officers found Mr. Myrick leaving the scene of the shooting with a handgun equipped with a machine gun conversion device, the agency said. It was not immediately clear what led to the shooting, which took place about 1:40 a.m. on the campus.The identity of the person who was killed, 18, was not released. The victim was not a student at the university, the university said in a statement.“The parents of this individual have been notified,” the university said. “Several others, including Tuskegee University students, were injured.”Twelve people were wounded in the shooting and taken to hospitals, the authorities said. Their conditions were not immediately clear on Sunday. Four other people were also hurt.The shooting took place as crowds gathered at the historically Black liberal arts university, which has 3,000 students, to celebrate the last day of its 100th homecoming week, which began on Nov. 3.In a video posted on social media, a young woman could be heard shouting “Get down! Get down!” as she and others ducked behind a car during the gunfire.The university is in the city of Tuskegee, which has a population of about 8,700 residents and is about 40 miles east of the state capital of Montgomery, Ala.The homecoming celebration included a parade, concerts and a football game between Tuskegee and Miles College on Saturday.“We extend our deepest condolences to those impacted and pray for healing and justice,” Miles College said in a statement on Sunday. “Miles College stands with you in this difficult time.”Tuskegee University said that it had canceled Monday’s classes. More

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      Biden, Eyeing His Legacy, Signs Executive Orders on Gun Safety

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      The president used a poignant White House ceremony to pass the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris, who has made gun safety an issue in her campaign.President Biden, frustrated with congressional inaction on gun violence and seeking to secure the issue as part of his legacy, said on Thursday that he was using his executive authority to improve school preparedness and to stem the tide of untraceable weapons and devices that make firearms more deadly.Mr. Biden made the announcement at a packed and poignant ceremony in the East Room of the White House, where he was introduced by the mayor of Birmingham, Ala., Randall Woodfin. Mr. Woodfin’s brother was killed by gun violence, and his city has been grieving after a mass shooting left four people dead last week. Scores of activists and gun violence survivors attended.The event was timed to the first anniversary of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which Mr. Biden created last year after signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major gun safety bill in nearly 30 years. It was also a chance for Mr. Biden to pass the baton to the official who heads that office: Vice President Kamala Harris, who is leaning into gun violence prevention as an issue as she campaigns to succeed Mr. Biden.“We know how to stop these tragedies, and it is a false choice to suggest you are either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away,” said Ms. Harris, who spoke before Mr. Biden and who has said while campaigning that she owns a firearm for self-protection. “I am in favor of the Second Amendment, and I believe we need to reinstate the assault weapons ban.”She was referring to a provision in the 1994 crime bill, spearheaded by Mr. Biden when he was a senator, that banned certain types of military-style assault weapons for 10 years. The ban expired in 2004, when Congress refused to renew it.The executive orders, which Mr. Biden signed at the conclusion of the ceremony, do not have the force of law. Should former President Donald J. Trump win the White House in November, he could easily reverse them.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More