CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Two people were killed and seven others were wounded in a shooting in North Carolina’s largest city, police said, while five others were hit by vehicles afterward.
The shooting happened around midnight at an “impromptu block party” that was a continuation of Juneteenth celebrations, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Deputy Chief Johnny Jennings told reporters early Monday.
Police responding to a call about a pedestrian hit found hundreds of people in the streets, Jennings said. As emergency services arrived, several shots were fired, scattering the crowd. Jennings said there was evidence of multiple shooters, but no one was in custody as of Monday morning.
The five people were hit by vehicles while running away, Jennings said.
The conditions of the 12 people hospitalized with injuries weren’t immediately clear.
The shooting took place on Beatties Ford Road in northern Charlotte, police said.
Further details weren’t immediately available. Calls, a direct message and an email from The Associated Press to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police weren’t immediately returned.
Juneteenth, for which celebrations started Friday, commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free 155 years ago.