At least six people have died and nine others have been injured in an early-morning shooting in Sacramento, California, the city’s police department said on Twitter.
The shooting occurred at about 2am (0900 GMT) near the Golden 1 Center, an arena where the Sacramento Kings basketball team plays and major concerts take place.
Police said several blocks were closed while they investigate, but released no details on the ages or identities of the victims. Videos posted online showed people shouting and running in the street.
Reuters could not independently verify the footage.
The scene of the shooting lies just a few streets away from the city’s Capitol building, as well as the Golden One Center stadium used by the Sacramento Kings, the local basketball team.
The incident comes a little more than a month after a man shot and killed his three children and a fourth person before taking his own life in the same city.
Community activist Barry Accius arrived at the scene just after 2.30am.
He told KXTV: “It was just horrific.
“Just as soon as I walked up you saw a chaotic scene, police all over the place, victims with blood all over their bodies, folks screaming, folks crying, people going, ‘Where is my brother?’
“Mothers crying and trying to identify who their child was.”
Mr Accius later told the Associated Press that he had also seen a “young girl with a bunch of blood in her body” screaming: “They killed my sister”.
Reacting to the news, local council member Katie Valenzuela said: “Another shooting. More lives lost. The national gun violence epidemic has hit our community – again.”
Kay Harris, 32, said she was asleep when one of her family members called to say they thought her brother had been killed. She said she thought he was at London, a nightclub at 1009 10th Street.Harris said she has been to the club a few times and described it as a place for “the younger crowd.”
