Investigators in the US state of Georgia are on the hunt for a suspect in a mass shooting that erupted in the early hours of Sunday, killing two people and injuring 35 more.
A crowd of roughly 1,000 people had gathered for a block party in the southern rural community of Vienna when, according to officials, more than 50 shots were fired.
Two of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while another 25 were transported to multiple nearby hospitals, some in critical condition.
No known arrests have been made and authorities have not given a possible motive for the violence. Victims ranged in age from 14 to 51.
The incident occurred on Sunday morning around 01:30 local time (05:30 GMT), during a Dooly High School homecoming celebration, though it was not a school-sponsored event.
“Our hearts are with the families grieving the loss of loved ones, those who were injured, and everyone affected by this tragedy,” the school said in a statement.
Anticipating a large gathering, authorities from the Dooly County Sheriff’s Office were already positioned at both ends of the crowd as gunfire rang out.
“Some people were reporting fireworks and then someone said somebody been shot,” Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy told local media.
Peavy said officials then worked their way through the crowd, as people ran scrambling in different directions, while authorities made their way towards victims.
Ashley Gee, who was there, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution news outlet that the barrage of gunfire sounded “like a machine gun”.
Authorities arrived and found several people injured. The two deceased victims were found several blocks away from the scene of the shooting on Pine Street.
Dooly County Coroner Brett Walls told the BBC’s US media partner, CBS News, the two killed were both men, ages 20 and 23.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigations Medical Examiner’s Office said it would conduct an autopsy in each case.
The bureau also said it would join the investigation at the request of the Dooly County Sheriff’s Office, describing operations as “active and ongoing”.
