One person has died after at least 15 people were shot at a nightclub in Cincinnati.
The deceased was identified as 27-year-old O’Bryan Spikes. Hospital staff said two others were in critical condition, the police chief said one was “extremely critical.”
Cincinnati city officials say a conflict between at least two people and possibly groups earlier Saturday apparently escalated into the overnight nightclub shooting. Police Chief Eliot Isaac said there were multiple shooters.
“Several local men got into some kind of dispute inside the bar,” resulting in several individuals taking part in the shooting, Isaac said.
Officials immediately confirmed that the shooting at Cameo club wasn’t an act of terror.
“However to the victims, what difference does it make?” Mayor John Cranley said. “People were just going to have a good time and ended up getting shot. This is completely unacceptable.”
“While our hearts are broken, our spirits are not,” Cranley said, adding that officials will work hard to get the shooters off the streets.
Capt. Kim Williams said there was “just a lot of chaos, obviously, when shots were fired.”
“Saturday night, it is a very young crowd. We have had incidents here in the past, but this is by far the worst,” she said.
According to police, the Cameo Night Club does have officers who provide extra security. There were at least two officers who were working at the front entrance of the club and two others that were patrolling the parking lot. The officers performed first aid, and tried to revive the person who died, officials said.
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Police say there were multiple witnesses who fled from the scene after gunshots were fired off.
“The biggest problem when you have a large crowd like this and the shots ring out, a lot of the witnesses disappear,” Williams said. She asked anyone with information to come forward to police.
First responders had problems reaching the shooting victims because the parking lots were full, Sgt. Eric Franz told the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Authorities are interviewing several witnesses, but Williams said a lot of the clubgoers had left.
The club has a history of gun violence, including a shooting inside the club on New Year’s Day in 2015 and one in the parking lot that September, City Manager Harry Black said.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich said on Twitter that he was “saddened to learn about last night’s shooting” and that he was offering the state’s assistance.
Cameo’s Facebook profile says Saturdays are “grown and sexy night” for ages 21 and older, while it caters to college students on Friday nights, when anyone over 18 is allowed in.
*with files from the Associated Press