A police tape blocks the access to the crime scene after a shooting in Fresno, California, USA, 17 November 2019. Photo: IC

The COVID-19 pandemic has given birth to a nationwide crime wave that shows no signs of abating. Experts, police officers and ordinary Americans fear that cities will once again plunge back into the wave of violent crime that characterized the early 1990s.

More than 180 people were shot dead nationwide over the July 4 holiday weekend, as major US cities continue to see a surge in violence, according to data gathered by the Gun Violence Archive, a database that tracks the latest acts of gun violence.

In Chicago, over 100 people were shot over the 4th of July weekend, reported the Chicago Sun-Times. Victims included two police officers who were wounded as they attempted to disperse crowds early Monday morning.

In Fort Worth, Texas, a mass shooting occurred on July 4, in which eight victims were shot after an argument at a car wash. In Norfolk, Virginia, a 15-year-old boy shot four children, media reported.

In Dallas, Texas, four victims were shot dead in a mass shooting on Independence Day. In Cincinnati, Ohio, a man opened fire during a holiday party, killing two and wounding three others. In Atlanta, Georgia, one child was shot after a brawl involving more than 50 youths broke out, media reported.

"I'm just not going to go to the downtown area," said Kelly Peyton, an office administrator in her 40s outside Washington DC. Appalled by last weekend's killings, she refuses to drive into DC at night, as the city is seeing a record surge in violent carjacking, many of which have been carried out by teenagers.

Police, conservative media and locals blamed the surge in violence on the anti-police climate that erupted after unarmed black man George Floyd was killed in 2020 by a white police officer.

Patrick Sharkey, sociologist at Princeton University and expert on crime, told the Atlantic Monthly in a recent interview that the pandemic and the ensuing closures of schools and other institutions have contributed to the violence.

"Everyday patterns of life broke down since the pandemic... Schools shut down. Young people were on their own. That type of destabilization is what creates the conditions for violence to emerge," Sharkey said.

Xinhua