At least nine people have been wounded in a shooting in Denver, a city in the US state of Colorado.
The shooting happened about 12:30am (06:30 GMT) on Tuesday, just hours after the Denver Nuggets basketball team won its first NBA title.
The incident took place about a mile from Ball Arena, where the Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat.
Three of the injured were in critical condition, the Denver Police Department said in a statement, adding that a suspect was shot and is in custody.
“Preliminary information indicates there are four victims who are being transported to the hospital. Officers took a possible suspect into custody who also has a suspected gunshot injury. Investigation ongoing,” Denver Police said.
“Preliminary info indicates multiple shots were fired during an altercation involving several individuals.”
Update 2/2: This is a complex, ongoing investigation in its early stages. Preliminary info indicates multiple shots were fired during an altercation involving several individuals. Updates will be provided as they become available.
— Denver (Nuggets) Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) June 13, 2023
“As far as what led up to this altercation that resulted in the shots being fired, that’s still under investigation,” police spokesperson Doug Schepman said.
A small crowd was in the area at the time of the shooting, he said, but had “diminished quite a bit at that point”.
He said the shooting was in an area where a lot of people might have come out of bars after the game.
“It did occur in the area area where we had largest gathering of folks celebrating during the night,” he added.
Mass shootings have prompted demands for gun control action from legislators.
This year, 350 people have been killed in 291 mass shootings, according to Gun Violence Archive (GVA).
Mass shootings are incidents in which four or more people are shot – excluding the attacker – in a single incident, according to the GVA.
A man armed with four handguns killed two people and wounded five others last week, when he fired into a crowd after a high school graduation ceremony in Richmond, Virginia.
A shooting at a primary school in Nashville, Tennessee, last month triggered protests demanding gun restrictions, which faces stiff opposition from Republicans.
