Two young children were shot while playing in a pair of bouncy houses while attending a Fourth of July celebration, one of several violent incidents that have plagued the holiday, prompting one person to declare, “America is a horror movie”.
The incident happened Monday evening at a cookout near Arlington Village Mall in Indianapolis. Officers and medics from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department were dispatched to the scene around 6:55 pm EST after reports of a shooting.
First responders found two children, an 8-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, had been seriously injured in a shooting at the gathering while playing on bouncy houses, WISH-TV News reported. Another man, who is also believed to have been at the meeting, was later admitted to hospital with an injury likely sustained during the shooting.
Two children were seriously injured on July 4 while playing on bouncy houses when a shooting occurred in a public kitchen. Above, a representative image of a bounce house.
Regis Martin/Getty Images
While a suspect has not yet been arrested, authorities currently believe the shooting was unprovoked and that the shooter fled the scene shortly after opening fire.
“At this point, it’s still very early in the investigation, but we have initial reasons to believe that this was an unprovoked attack, that the suspects arrived on the scene and opened fire on a crowd that was holding a celebration on the 4th of July,” IMPD Capt. Mike Leepper said in a statement. “They were having a cookout with a bounce house. There were several children that were present and several adults as well.”
Little is currently known about the victims of the shooting. Leepper confirmed that both children were taken to “a Level 1 trauma center” for treatment, and WRTV News reported that they were listed in critical but stable condition. The adult victim who was checked in later was also reported to be in stable condition.
Leepper noted that information about the case is being withheld from the public as it is being reviewed amid the ongoing investigation. Numerous bystanders at the unfortunate kitchen stayed at the scene and spoke to police about what they saw.
“We want to make sure our detectives have time to verify the information they’ve been given, that it’s accurate, before we release it to the general public,” Leeper added.
Newsweek has reached out to the Indianapolis Metro Police Department for comment.
This year’s Fourth of July festivities have been marked by notable cases of violence.
Illinois
On Monday, suspect Robert E. Crimo opened fire during a Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. His actions took the lives of seven attendees and injured dozens more.
After the incident, Crimo was found to be a supporter of former President Donald Trump and the son of a former mayoral candidate who lost to a pro-gun control Democrat.
Philadelphia
At the close of Independence Day celebrations in Philadelphia, crowds of people gathered to watch the fireworks.
But the celebrations were marred when two police officers working security were shot near the Philadelphia Museum of Art around 9:50 p.m. local time.
The shooting sparked a stampede on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, with videos on social media capturing the panic as people ran for blocks in all directions in an effort to escape the violence.
“America is a horror movie,” one Twitter user he wrote alongside a clip that captured the panic on the ground as fireworks continued to explode in the night sky.
