The wave of mass shootings over the Fourth of July highlights the challenges police face

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and COLLEEN LONG
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A rash of shootings as the U.S. celebrated the Fourth of July is spiking fears in communities across the U.S. and highlighting the challenges police face at preventing such violence as temperatures warm and festivities move outside. Policing such events is a delicate balance for law enforcement, who must weigh the right of revelers to gather with the threat of violence that looms in public and private spaces in a country awash with guns. The gun violence that flared this week in Washington, D.C, Louisiana, Florida, Philadelphia, Texas and Baltimore left more than a dozen dead and almost 60 wounded — including children as young as 2 years old.