At least three people have been killed and eight others wounded in a mass shooting at a July 4 fireworks display in Fort Worth, Texas.
The massacre unfolded just before midnight on Monday night as revellers gathered to enjoy Independence Day celebrations in the area of Diaz Avenue and Horne Street in Fort Worth’s Como neighbourhood.
Fort Worth Police said that investigators believe someone opened fire into the crowd, hitting at least 11 people and sending terrified revellers running for their lives.
“We had a shooting. It appears that we had multiple victims that were shot. Probably three of them were transported to Harris Southwest,” said Fort Worth Police Captain Shawn Murray in a press conference.
“Five more victims were transported to John Peter Smith.”
Police said that emergency responders struggled to reach the victims due to the large crowds of people and the number of vehicles in the area.
Instead, officers loaded victims into their patrol cars and drove them to waiting paramedics, police said.
One shooting victim was pronounced dead at the scene while the other 10 were rushed to hospital, reported WFAA.
Two other victims were pronounced dead taking the death toll up to three.
The identities of the victims are currently unknown but one of the 11 is believed to be a juvenile.
No arrests have been made and the identities of the shooter or shooters remain unknown.
Capt. Murray said that investigators are working to determine what led up to the shooting and how many people opened fire.
Scene of the mass shooting in Fort Worth— (WFAA)
“We don’t if this was domestic related or gang related. It’s too early to tell,” he said.
“We just know someone shot a bunch of times. We don’t know if it was a single shooter or more than one shooter.
“We hope it is just a single shooter and not a crossfire situation. Homicide will figure that out... how many shooters there were.”
The mass shooting came just hours after the neighbourhood’s annual ComoFest came to an end.
This isn’t the first time Fort Worth’s ComoFest ended in tragedy.
Two years ago in 2021, eight people were shot close to a car wash on Horne Street during the celebrations. All shooting victims survived back then.
Anyone with information or videos in connection to Monday’s shooting is asked to call Fort Worth Police at 817-392-4330. You could also call Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County at 817-469-8477.
