At least 18 mass shootings hit U.S. cities over the July 4 weekend. That is according to Sandy Hook Promise, which cited data from the Gun Violence Archive. Kids and teens got shot in several of the attacks.

The holiday keeps a grim pattern going. Sandy Hook Promise says July 4 weekend ranks among the deadliest of the year for gun violence. In both 2024 and 2025, the group counted at least 21 mass shootings that same weekend. The Gun Violence Archive counts a mass shooting as four or more people shot or killed, not counting the shooter.

In Coney Island, New York, a gunman opened fire on a family cookout. Four adults and four kids got shot. The kids were between 6 and 14 years old. One adult is in critical condition. The rest are stable, police said.

In Pensacola, Florida, gunfire hit a crowded party just after 1 a.m. Sunday. A 19-year-old man died. Six more people got hurt. They were 16 to 26 years old. Pensacola Police Chief Eric Winstrom said the shooting looked like it targeted someone specific, NBC News reported. "The youngest victim in this case was 16. The age range was 16 to 26 of the seven victims, very young, innocent kids out there," Winstrom said.

In Grand Rapids, Michigan, three adults and one teen got shot at a block party. All four should recover, Sandy Hook Promise said.

Chicago had one of its worst weekends of the year. By 5 p.m. Sunday, Chicago cops had counted 21 people shot. Two died. Three more got stabbed. That count runs from Thursday night, Fox 32 Chicago said. A mass shooting on the West Side hurt six people early Sunday. Most were teens. Just 10 minutes before that, a 17-year-old girl got shot in the chest nearby. Chicago killings this year run about 5 percent above 2025. That count comes from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Texas had its own deadly night. In Austin, three people died in two shootings early Sunday. That is per KUT News. The first hit a bar parking lot in North Austin just before midnight. One man died at the hospital. A second man lived. Cops held a third man for questions. Hours later, shots rang out at a club in northeast Austin. Close to 400 people were there. A man in his 20s died on the spot. A woman in her late teens died at the hospital. The Travis County Sheriff's Office said the two sides knew each other. The sheriff's office said the public was safe. No arrests had been made in the club shooting as of Sunday. The man held after the first shooting was still being questioned.

So far in 2026, the country has had at least 224 mass shootings. That count comes from the Gun Violence Archive, cited by Sandy Hook Promise. The group's leader, Nicole Hockley, said this violence should not feel normal. "We cannot allow ourselves to accept violence as a normal fact of the Independence Day holiday, or any day, or become numb to its impact," Hockley said. Hockley lost her son Dylan in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

Hockley named steps she said can stop shootings before they start. She said programs that teach people to spot warning signs can help. So can laws on safe gun storage. "True prevention begins long before a trigger is pulled," Hockley said.

Cops in the hit cities are still working most of the weekend's cases. In Chicago, no one was in jail by Sunday afternoon for the West Side shooting. In Austin, the sheriff's office said it does not expect more arrests soon. But the case stays open. In Pensacola, police said no one was in custody as of Sunday.

Some neighbors in the hardest hit areas asked their cities for more youth programs and summer jobs. Sandy Hook Promise says this pattern comes back on most big holidays. The group says the work to stop it has to start well before the next one.