The statistics were taken up by local media after the series of shootings that left six fatalities the day before in the state of Texas.

Police reported that a suspect, still unidentified, was arrested and linked to the homicide of four people in the city of Austin and two others in San Antonio.

Acting Austin Police Chief Robin Henderson told reporters early Wednesday that the man was arrested after he crashed his vehicle while speeding away following a confrontation with a police officer that resulted in “multiple gunshot wounds.”

He added that the series of violent incidents began in the morning and extended into the evening.

Last October, an Army reservist killed 18 people in two mass shootings in the Maine city, the worst of its kind in the country in 2023; while in May a young neo-Nazi shot eight people to death with an AR-15 rifle before being gunned down at a Texas mall.

Those are just two of the most serious incidents that shocked the country this year. President Joe Biden has called for common-sense measures to try to curb what he once defined as the epidemic bleeding the nation.

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