According to many American media reports, a recent shooting of an intensive care unit nurse was shot in Tennessee, USA. The murderer is still at large, causing an uproar in public opinion. In fact, during this year’s epidemic, the crime rate in American society has soared, and the number of gun violence cases far exceeds the same period last year. Now it coincides with another peak of the outbreak of the epidemic.
At a time when medical resources are in danger everywhere, the shooting of nurses in the intensive care unit has aroused public indignation. Public opinion calls on the police to take more measures to curb the continuous occurrence of violence.
Anti-epidemic nurse shot dead
On the evening of December 3rd, local time, Kaitlin Kaufman, a 26-year-old nurse in Nashville, Tennessee, was driving to the hospital. Someone fired six shots at her car, one of which hit the body of the high school doctor. Local police said at a press conference afterwards that Kaufman died immediately due to the gunshot wound, and there was no time to even call the police.
Kaufman joined the local St. Thomas West Hospital in 2018 to take care of critically ill patients in the intensive care unit. He has been fighting on the front line of the epidemic during the epidemic. On the night of the crime, Kaufman was on his way to the hospital for night shift.
According to local media reports, Kaufman, who is kind-hearted by nature, is deeply loved by colleagues and patients. Kaufman has always been her dream to be a nurse since she was a child, who especially took care of others and enjoyed helping others, her mother said. Nowadays, such a nurse who has helped many patients and has been fighting on the front line of the epidemic for a long time has been shot dead, which makes it difficult for her relatives and friends around her and even public opinion to accept.
Because the case aroused widespread concern in the American society, the police are intensifying the investigation of the case due to pressure from all parties. At present, in order to get potentially valuable clues, the local police have announced a reward, and Kaufman’s family is also asking the local people for help. But so far, the police have not identified any potential suspects.
Frequent cases of gun violence
Kaufman’s unfortunate shooting is not an exception. According to several media reports, a 45-year-old nurse in Ohio disappeared on Thanksgiving Day. On the same day, her mother was found dead at home several times. The FBI then pursued the suspect, and successfully killed the suspect and rescued the victim in a hotel in Louisiana on December 1.
As the backbone of the anti-epidemic, medical staff have frequently become victims of violent cases, which has caused an uproar of public opinion. Unfortunately, their experience is only a microcosm of the soaring crime rate during the epidemic in American society.
As of December 7, there have been 592 mass shootings with more than four victims and about 18,000 homicides in the United States this year, according to the statistics of the U.S. Gun Violence Archives Network. In comparison, there were 417 mass shootings and about 15,000 homicides in the United States in 2019. It can be seen that the situation has become more serious this year.
In addition, the crime rate has soared even more alarmingly in some areas of the United States where malignant cases are high. According to ABC, New York City has seen more shootings this year than in previous years. According to local police, there were 115 shootings in New York City in November alone, up 112% from 51 in the same period last year. Throughout this year, there have been 1,412 shootings in New York City, compared with 721 in the same period last year.
And in Chicago, there is also a trend of frequent vicious cases during the epidemic. Chicago has seen more than 700 homicides and nearly 4,000 shootings this year, according to the latest crime data released by the city police in December. The data shows that Chicago may break the homicide record this year, and most of the victims are young African-American men.
In addition, Chicago police said that the number of violence against the police this year has tripled compared with the same period last year. So far, there have been at least 71 shootings against police in Chicago, resulting in 10 policemen being shot.
The combination of multiple factors leads to a soaring crime rate.
Analysts believe that a series of events in 2020, such as the coronavirus epidemic, the death of African-American men in police brutal law enforcement, and the controversy caused by the U.S. election, have led to a soaring crime rate in the United States.
First of all, the problems of depression and unemployment caused by the COVID-19 epidemic pose a threat to social stability. Not only are there frequent violence, but drug abuse has also exploded. According to the Associated Press, 62% of counties across the United States have seen an increase in drug overdose cases after the lockdown measures were imposed this year. Because drug abuse is closely related to crime, this further leads to an increase in crime.
At the same time, the Freud incident and the U.S. presidential election also added instability to society. On the one hand, the Freud incident has exacerbated the long-standing ethnic contradictions in the United States, leading to various protests to this day, and even extremists fishing in troubled waters. On the other hand, various gossips and “conspiracy theories” during the election also intensified social antagonism and intensified the violent tendencies of extremists, and even triggered incidents of militias attempting to kidnap officials everywhere.
Regarding the frequent violent crime during the epidemic, mainstream public opinion in the United States has called on the police to take more action to curb the growth of violence. Many people think that if the United States can’t even solve its own domestic violence, how can it show advice to the outside world? ( CCTV reporter Gu Xiang)
