CHARLESTON, S.C. — The mayor of Charleston is demanding changes in gun laws after 10 people were shot in an incident Monday night.
"I don't about you but I'm angry about it," Mayor John Tecklenburg said at a news conference Tuesday, flanked by community leaders and the city's police chief. "I'm mad about it, I'm fed up. And I concur with many of our citizens that enough is enough."
A visibly emotional Tecklenburg was responding to a shooting that took place on the east side of the city. Charleston Police say there was a large party at a vacant lot on South Street and that they'd gotten several complaint calls about the noise.
After an officer arrived at the scene, someone in the crowd fired shots, with two of them going into the officer's police cruiser. The officer then got behind his vehicle to shield himself from gunfire but did suffer some injuries caused by shattered glass from the bullets striking the car.
"As we stand here right now we're lucky we don't have a dead cop, or dead citizens, or dead community members," said Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds.
Surveillance video obtained by media outlets in Charleston show a mass of people running for cover from the melee. A total of 10 people were hit by gunfire, with four of those suffering critical injuries. The victims include a 17-year-old girl as well as nine adults.
The officers called for backup and officers from surrounding agencies also assisted to get the situation under control. Police say two women were arrested for assaulting some of the officers who were attempting to subdue them, but the people who actually fired the shots remain at large.
Police spent the night recovering shell casings from the scene.
Tecklenburg said he's defining the incident as a mass shooting. "That's how we are treating this incident," he said. "It's that serious."
Mecklenburg laid out a plan to deal with crimes likes this, saying he wants to the city council to make landlords more accountable for the activity on their property and to shut down large public events that don't have permits.
But he called on state lawmakers to pass new state laws creating a graduated penalty for offenders of gun laws. And he said he'd made sure local officials enforce the laws that are on the books.
"This entire issue of gun violence has to be addressed, Tecklenburg said.