Frequent shootings put U.S. mass killing incidents on record pace: AP

NEW YORK, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Four people were found shot to death in a Mojave Desert community in California last weekend, marking the 19th mass killing of 2023, the most through the end of April of any year since 2006, reported The Associated Press (AP) early this week.

In Mojave, Kern County deputies responded late Sunday night to a reported shooting in the remote community and found the four victims with gunshot wounds to their upper bodies, the Kern County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Three of them died at the scene, and the other one was pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said. "Detectives are pursuing all investigative leads to identify and arrest the suspect(s) responsible for this crime," the office said.

This year has set a record pace in mass shooting attacks in the United States with roughly one a week, the report said.

Till now, 97 people had been killed in the 19 mass killings this year, exceeding the record set in 2009 when 93 people were killed in 17 incidents by the end of April, it added.