July 4th Turns Deadly With Three Children Among Those Killed In Shootings

July 4th celebrations turned deadly in some cities, with a 7-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy killed in separate shootings in Chicago, and an 11-year-old boy killed in Washington, D.C.

Peter Newsham, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department in the nation's capital, said the boy was shot in the head in the 1400 block of Cedar Street when a group of about five men started "shooting up in the area" at around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night. The boy was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Newsham said.

In a post on Twitter, police asked the public to be on the lookout for a black sedan seen fleeing the scene through an alley.

In Chicago, a 7-year-old girl, identified as Natalie Wallace by ABC7, was shot and killed while she was visiting her grandmother for a July 4th party.

Chicago Police said in a news release that a light-colored vehicle had pulled up in the 100 block of North Latrobe Avenue and an unknown number of offenders had exited and opened fire at around 7 p.m. on Saturday.

The girl was shot in the forehead and transported to Stroger Hospital in a critical condition. Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Fred Waller confirmed that she had died in hospital, according to CBS Chicago.

"It was a family gathering so there was many kids. There were kids riding on bicycles enjoying the Fourth of July as they have should have been and now this child is gone," a police spokesperson told ABC7.

A 32-year-old man was also wounded in the shooting, police said. He took himself to hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound to the ankle and a graze wound to the leg. He is in a fair condition, police added.

The 14-year-old boy killed in Chicago later on Saturday night was among eight people—including an 11-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy— shot in the 6100 block of South Carpenter Street, police said.

Police said the victims had been at a large gathering in the street when four men approached on foot and opened fire at around 11:30 p.m. The suspects fled the scene and remain at large.

As well as the 14-year-old boy, three men who were shot have died. Two died at the scene while the other died at University of Chicago Hospital after sustaining gunshot wounds in the chest and back.

The 11-year-old sustained graze wounds to the leg and ankle and is in a fair condition at Comer Children's Hospital. The 15-year-old is also in a fair condition at the hospital after being shot in the abdomen. A 35-year-old man is in a critical condition at Stroger Hospital with gunshot wounds in the hip, leg, arm and wrist. No other information about the victims was immediately available.

Traditionally, July 4th celebrations nationwide tend to be some of the most dangerous, not only for the mishandling of fireworks, but also due to a spike in traffic accidents and crime.

Anticipating an uptick in violence, the Chicago Police Department deployed an additional 1,200 police officers to help clamp down on crime amid celebrations this weekend, according to local media reports.

Despite this, at least 13 people have been killed and 54 others wounded in dozens of shootings across Chicago so far this long holiday weekend, The Chicago-Sun Times reported.