At least 22 people have been killed and dozens injured in multiple mass shootings in the US state of Maine, with police officials still searching for the perpetrator.

The United States has had nearly 500 mass shootings this year alone, as they speed towards a new record, however, residents of poor neighborhoods complain that gun violence in their communities is ignored.

The US is currently set to match or surpass the previous record for the most mass shootings in a single year, data shows.

No place, public or private, has been spared by the scourge of gun violence in America: schools, university campuses, hospitals, shopping malls, nightclubs, sports centers and people’s living rooms.

More than 10,000 people in the US have died from gun violence so far this year, which means an average of over 111 deaths per day, according to a non-profit research group.

At least three people were declared dead and five others critically wounded in a mass shooting on the Michigan State University (MSU) campus on Monday as the epidemic of gun violence assumes alarming proportions in the country. 

Given the alarming frequency of mass shootings and the sheer indifference of authorities to these preventable tragedies, the US may well be staring at the deadliest year in its recent history, writes Marzieh Hashemi.