A mass shooting has left three people dead and three more injured in Columbus, Ohio.
Columbus police said on Saturday that six people were shot with three pronounced dead, one in critical condition, and two in stable condition.
The shooting was reported shortly before 3 a.m. local time in the Italian Village neighborhood north of downtown Columbus, with what may have been semi-automatic or automatic gunfire and cars "taking off," said Columbus police.
Columbus police said they are continuing to investigate the shooting and the circumstances surrounding it.
Deputy Chief Gregory Bodker told reporters that the police officers found a "very chaotic scene" upon arrival just 2 minutes after the shooting had taken place.
He said there was a bar on the corner nearby and the motive for the shooting was immediately known to police.
However, it was unclear how many suspects were involved and the Franklin County sheriff's office was using a drone to help document the large crime scene, where police were collecting evidence and video for further investigation.
Daquian Williams, a local resident who had witnessed the shooting incident, said. “It was something like a scene from the movie as you would never want to see happen in real life, honestly.”
“(I) honestly think this is a cry for help,” he said. “It’s a cry that we need to come together. We need to learn mentally. This is my daughter. This is what we got to do it for. We have kids that live in all of these neighborhoods, no matter where we’re at in this city. And that’s our future.”
In a separate incident roughly two hours prior, Columbus police received a report of a shooting at Vineshire Drive.
Columbus police said that two men were celebrating the birthday of 34-year-old Tyler Goins when an argument broke out and one of the men, 30-year-old Alsaiah Griffin, pulled out a gun and fatally shot Goins.
Griffin surrendered to police and was charged with murder. Columbus police said Griffin had initially fled the scene but returned to surrender himself.
According to data compiled by Gun Violence Archive (GVA), the United States averages two mass shootings a day.
GVA data shows that more than 42,000 people in the United States died as a result of gun violence in 2023.