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Mass shooting kills four in US state of Georgia, suspect at large

Sunday, 16 July 2023 2:30 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 16 July 2023 2:48 AM ]

This screen grab from a video shows US law enforcement vehicles at the scene of a mass shooting in Hampton, Georgia, on July 15, 2023.

Police in the United States' southeastern state of Georgia are searching for a suspect who is still at large after gunning down four people.

The 40-year-old suspect, identified as Andre Longmore, fatally shot the victims in a suburban neighborhood in Hampton, in Henry County, about 46 kilometers (29 miles) south of the Georgia's capital city of Atlanta, on Saturday morning.

Hampton Police Chief James Turner identified the victims as all adults, three men and one woman, while describing the suspect as "armed and dangerous."

Meanwhile, Henry County Sheriff Reginald Scandrett said an arrest warrant has been issued for Longmore on murder charges.

"I'm gonna say this directly to you, Mr. Longmore: Wherever you are, we will hunt you down in any hole that you may be residing in and bring you to custody, period," Scandrett said.

"Anyone that has any information, let us know because we will be actively looking for this individual until he's caught," the law enforcement official added, announcing a $10,000 reward for any information leading to Longmore's capture.

No earlier than on Friday, it was reported that the unrelenting gun violence and slaughter of innocent people across the US had set a new, gloomy record for the deadliest six months of mass killings in the country since at least 2006.

US sets record for deadliest 6 months of mass killings

US sets an unprecedented new record for the deadliest six months of mass killings amid persisting gun violence across the country.

In the first six months of this year, the United States endured a whopping 28 mass killings -- all but one of which involved guns -- leaving 140 people dead and hundreds injured in a constant cycle of violence, The Associated Press reported, citing a database maintained by the agency and the USA Today national newspaper in partnership with Northeastern University.

The 2023 milestone, the report noted, “beat the previous record of 27 mass killings, which was only set in the second half of 2022.”

It cited Northeaster University’s Criminology Professor James Fox as saying that he “never imagined records like this when he began overseeing the database about five years ago.”

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