Summary of the Day ✨ 2 April (02/04)
On this day, President Trump announced sweeping worldwide tariffs while the global COVID-19 pandemic reached one million confirmed cases, even as a train derailment in Taiwan killed 49 people and a 12-year-old in Finland committed a school shooting killing one classmate. In a separate incident, a Capitol Police officer was fatally wounded when an attacker deliberately drove a vehicle into a barricade outside the U.S. Capitol.
Historical Events 📜
- 2025: Liberation Day tariffs: U.S. President Donald Trump announces sweeping worldwide tariffs.
- 2024: Viertola school shooting: A 12-year-old pupil is killed and two others injured by a shooter of the same age in Vantaa, Finland.
- 2021: At least 49 people are killed in a train derailment in Taiwan after a truck accidentally rolls onto the track.
- 2021: A Capitol Police officer is killed and another injured when an attacker rams his car into a barricade outside the United States Capitol.
- 2020: COVID-19 pandemic: The total number of confirmed cases reach one million.
- 2015: Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.
- 2015: Four men steal items worth up to £200 million from an underground safe deposit facility in London’s Hatton Garden area in what has been called the “largest burglary in English legal history.”
- 2014: A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.
- 2012: A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured.
- 2012: UTair Flight 120 crashes after takeoff from Roshchino International Airport in Tyumen, Russia, killing 33 and injuring 10.
- 2011: India wins the Cricket World Cup for the second time in history under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.
- 2006: Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.
- 2004: Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.
- 2002: Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, into which armed Palestinians had retreated.
- 1992: In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.
Famous Births 👶
- 2007: Brenda Fruhvirtová, Czech tennis player
- 2005: Adrián Liso, Spanish footballer
- 2004: Diana Shnaider, Russian tennis player
- 2002: Emma Myers, American actress
- 2000: Rodrigo Riquelme, Spanish footballer
- 2000: Josip Stanišić, Croatian footballer
- 1997: Dillon Bassett, American race car driver
- 1997: Abdelhak Nouri, Dutch footballer
- 1997: Austin Riley, American baseball player
- 1996: Zach Bryan, American singer-songwriter
- 1996: André Onana, Cameroonian footballer
- 1995: Zack Steffen, American soccer player
- 1994: Pascal Siakam, Cameroonian basketball player
- 1993: Keshorn Walcott, Trinidadian javelin thrower
- 1993: Bruno Zuculini, Argentine footballer
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2025: Khamtai Siphandone, Laotian politician, 4th President of Laos (born 1924)
- 2024: Jerry Abbott, American country music songwriter and record producer (born 1942)
- 2024: John Barth, American writer (born 1930)
- 2024: Maryse Condé, Guadeloupean novelist, critic, and playwright (born 1934)
- 2024: Christopher Durang, American playwright (born 1949)
- 2024: Larry Lucchino, American attorney and baseball executive (born 1945)
- 2024: John Sinclair, American poet (born 1941)
- 2024: Juan Vicente Pérez, Venezuelan supercentenarian (born 1909)
- 2022: Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian (born 1928)
- 2021: Simon Bainbridge, British composer (born 1952)
- 2017: Alma Delia Fuentes, Mexican actress (born 1937)
- 2016: Gallieno Ferri, Italian comic book artist and illustrator (born 1929)
- 2016: Robert Abajyan, Armenian sergeant (born 1996)
- 2015: Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1908)
- 2015: Robert H. Schuller, American pastor and author (born 1926)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian feast day:
Abundius of Como - Christian feast day:
Amphianus of Lycia - Christian feast day:
Æbbe the Younger - Christian feast day:
Bronach of Glen-Seichis (Irish martyrology) - Christian feast day:
Blessed Elisabetta Vendramini - Christian feast day:
Francis of Paola - Christian feast day:
Francisco Coll Guitart - Christian feast day:
Henry Budd (Anglican Church of Canada) - Christian feast day:
Blessed Laura Evangelista Alvarado Cardozo - Christian feast day:
Blessed Nicholas Charnetsky - Christian feast day:
Nicetius of Lyon - Christian feast day:
Theodosia of Tyre - Christian feast day:
Urban of Langres - Christian feast day:
Blessed Vilmos Apor - Christian feast day:
April 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)