Police said on Sunday that six people were shot in the town of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Chattanooga Police Department Chief Celeste Murphy said at a news conference Sunday that the shooting occurred shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday near the city’s riverfront, where officers already patrolling the area responded quickly to provide assistance. Gave.
“The officers saw several parties firing, and then they saw several victims who were shot,” the chief said.
Two of the victims are in critical condition and four are hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said. Most if not all were teenagers, city officials indicated at the news conference.
“Kids always scuffle with each other,” Mayor Tim Kelly said at the event. “What’s new is that they now have access to handguns and firearms.”
“Easy access to illegal guns is killing children,” he said.
City officials said the brawl occurred between several groups of children who had moved into the area relatively late, prompting authorities to deploy to downtown and riverfront areas even before the shooting began.
Murphy said one person taken into custody for interrogation and investigation overnight was not a suspect, and the search for the two suspected shooters is ongoing.
The chief said the attackers were not involved in the firing, as the officials had said earlier, but were firing from the same side of the dispute against the other group as the two sides clashed late Saturday.
Murphy said investigators believe one person was targeted, and that those killed were “unintended.”
“Last night, our city felt the terrible price of gun violence. My heart goes out to the families whose lives have been affected by this horrific situation,” Kelly tweeted Sunday Morning. “This is unacceptable – our city and our community will take action.”
TJ Swigert, Lindsay Pipia And Josh Cradak contribution,