Halloween shootings leave at least 24 dead, 94 injured nationwide

Three shootings early in the morning of November 1 left at least four people dead and 15 injured in the Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, officials confirmed Sunday.

The hail of gunfire in Texas was part of a wave of Halloween violence that left at least 24 people dead and 94 injured across the country, according to police statements. The shootings spread from California to Delaware. They took place in nightclubs, costume stores, outside stadiums and near college campuses.

The violence came as the country celebrated Halloween, a holiday that mixes costumed revelers with alcohol and drug use. These ingredients, coupled with access to guns, can lead to violence, experts say.

It’s unclear whether this weekend’s violence was disproportionate compared to recent holiday weekends, but previous studies have shown spikes in violence on Halloween.

For example, October 31 is the third most violent day of the year, after July 4 and January 1, according to an analysis of FBI data on incidents in Boston from 2005 to 2009 by James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University.

For miners, October 31 is the most dangerous day of the year, he added.

“They go out at night and interact with strangers,” Dr. Fox said in an interview on Sunday.