US: 7 people hospitalized in Orlando mass shooting

A mass shooting in downtown Orlando, Florida left 7 people hospitalized on Sunday (local time), while the assailant is still at large.

The violence erupted around 2 am ET after a large fight broke out, Orlando Police Chief Eric D Smith said.

An unidentified assailant pulled out a handgun and fired into the crowd, injuring seven people, reported CNN.

All seven victims were taken to a nearby hospital, where they were listed in stable condition, Smith said.

Authorities do not immediately have a description of the shooter.

According to the non-profit Gun Violence Archive, the US has had at least 381 mass shootings this year. That's an average of more than 1.7 mass shootings every day, reported CNN.

With increasing incidents of gun violence in the United States, President Joe Biden had said that the US needs to ban assault weapons for the sake of protecting children and families or raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21.

On June 22, a group of US lawmakers reached a much-awaited deal on a bipartisan gun safety bill after recent mass shooting incidents in Uvalde, Buffalo and Texas, that struck a nerve in the country.

The new bill aims to take firearms away from dangerous people and provide billions of dollars in new mental health funding.

The bill does not ban assault-style rifles or significantly expand background-check requirements for gun purchases, but it gives states more resources to take guns away from dangerous individuals.

In the recent incidents, two people were killed and four others including three officers were injured in a shooting in Haltom City of Texas on Saturday. Police said that one woman was found dead inside the home and a man was found fatally shot in the home's driveway. An elderly woman who called 911 was shot but expected to survive.

On May 24, a mass shooting incident took place at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas in which several people including 19 children were killed. This was the deadliest attack since the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed, according to CNN.

On June 20, a teenager was shot dead and three others including a police officer were injured in a shooting in the area of 14th and U Street Northwest in Washington, DC.

On June 1, at least four people were killed in a shooting incident at a hospital campus in Oklahoma's Tulsa city, CNN reported citing police. The shootout incidents in the US have been increasing.