by Our Foreign Desk

TWO MORE mass shootings on Saturday night horrified the US as a memorial service was held for the victims of the Charleston church massacre.

Ten people were shot, one fatally, at a party in a basketball court in the city of Detroit, Michigan.

“I think one individual was the target. The others just happened to be at this party,” said Detroit Assistant Police Chief Steve Dolunt.

He added that it was a miracle none of the many children present had been shot.

And in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a man opened fire on a street party wounding seven, including three children, one a toddler.

Investigators said that the man may have been at the party earlier before leaving and returning later with a shotgun.

“It looks like they just randomly fired down the street and hit anyone in their way,” said Philadelphia Police Lieutenant John Walker.

Democratic Party presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton called on Saturday for ­“common sense” gun control laws and a confrontation with institutional racism in response to the Charleston shooting.

Ms Clinton argued that regulations could be passed while still respecting the second amendment to the US constitution, which grants citizens the right to bear arms, and “respecting responsible gun owners.”

Fellow Democratic prospective presidential candidate and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley had called on Friday for a renewal of the ban on high-firepower assault weapons, stricter background checks and tougher requirements to buy a gun.

In an email to supporters, he wrote: “It’s time we called this what it is — a national crisis.”

A large protest on Saturday evening demanded the removal of the US civil war-era Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse.

Veteran civil rights campaigner Sarah Leverette said: “We must put that flag in its place as a part of history.”
Bringing it down, she added, would mean that the nine people killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church had not died in vain.

Republican South Carolina state Senator Doug Brannon said he would introduce a Bill to remove the flag entirely.