Police are seeking multiple suspects behind a mass shooting in which 30 people – including an estimated 14 children – were gunned down at a block party in Baltimore, leaving two dead.
The annual “Brooklyn Day” neighbourhood celebration on the Fourth of July weekend came to a horror end, with witnesses hearing some 30 shots.
Two people were killed and 28 injured – with three in a critical condition – in the incident about midnight on Sunday (local time) in the Brooklyn neighbourhood.
An 18-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene and a 20-year-old man was pronounced dead after being taken to a local hospital, police said.
It was the third mass shooting in the US already in July, and one of 338 in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
A ‘proud’ neighbourhood in Baltimore is the site of the latest US mass shooting. Photo: AAP
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said the deadly shooting was a “reckless, cowardly act” and vowed to hunt down those responsible.
“We will not stop until we find you – and we will find you,” he said.
“Until then, I hope with every single breath that you take that you think about the lives that you took and you think about the lives that you impacted here tonight.”
Mr Scott told CNN the block party attended by hundreds was held in the proud working-class neighbourhood each year.
“Folks were out there having a celebration and then at some point, gunshots rang out and folks, of course, were trying to get away, get out of there,” he said.
“It is a neighbourhood that has had its troubles, but a neighbourhood that has seen some folks in that community really determined to see it be successful and see things turn around.”
Child victims
Among the injured were some 14 people under the age of 18, said Richard Worley, acting commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department, noting that they were still trying to confirm victim’s ages.
He said police were still searching for multiple suspects, and he urged the community to come forward with any information or videos.
“We know for sure there are more than one. We don’t know how many [suspects],” he said.
The tragedy rattled the city of Baltimore, 64 kilometres north of Washington DC, at the start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, when Americans typically gather for parades, barbecues and fireworks.
A witness told TV station Fox 45 that they had heard 20 to 30 shots fired.
The crime scene where neighbours had been celebrating is ‘extensive’. Photo: AAP
Television footage of the crime scene on Sunday showed police tape blocking yards littered with cups, plates and other rubbish from the event.
Medstar Harbour Hospital’s emergency department treated 19 patients on Sunday morning (local time), all suffering varying degrees of injury from gunshot wounds.
“Nine critically injured patients were stabilised and transferred to Baltimore trauma centres,” the hospital said, adding that all but one patient had been released.
The police department said that at 12.35am on Sunday officers responded to calls of a reported shooting at 800 block of Gretna Court.
Citing officials, CNN said nine people were found with gunshot wounds and transported to area hospitals and three of them were in critical condition.
Hundreds of people were gathered in the area for an event called Brooklyn Day.
CNN quoted Baltimore Police Acting Commissioner Richard Worley as saying there was as yet no information on suspects or a motive, but investigators were “working an extensive crime scene”.
