Eight-year-old girl shot dead near high school sports event in St Louis

An eight-year-old girl has been shot dead close to a high school football event in St Louis, Missouri.

She is the 12th child or teenager killed in gun violence in the city since April, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch.

Two teenage boys and a woman were also wounded in the latest shooting. One of the boys was shot several times but both are said to be in a stable condition. The woman, who is in her 40s, was shot in the leg and was in a critical but stable condition.

Several people have been detained for questioning.

St Louis police chief John Hayden said: “The little girl wasn't doing anything wrong. She was with family when this occurred. Shots rang out."

He added: "It’s just unfortunate that people aren’t being respectful of others, it’s just hard to deal with.”

Police were already in the area when the shootings occurred after reports of fights at the high school football exhibition.

The girl had been at the event.

The city, which has a population of about 320,000, has suffered a series of fatal shootings of children and teenagers this year.

They include a two-year-old boy who was killed alongside his mother, a boy killed in his backyard while playing with his sisters, and another child killed at a petrol station.

The Post-Dispatch said this week that only one arrest had been made over the killings.

The shootings come against the background of increasing scrutiny of America’s gun laws, following a series of mass shootings in Texas, Ohio and California.

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