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At least two people have died after a mass shooting at an illegal party in a New York state city.
Another 14 were injured in the event in Rochester, which police said was breaking COVID restrictions.
The attack occurred in the 200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue at 12:25 a.m. Saturday.
Acting Police Chief Mark Simmons told reporters that none of the 14 injured suffered fatal injuries.
The identities of the two dead have not been released, but authorities say they were a man and a woman between 18 and 22 years old.
Chief Simmons said about 100 people were at the party when police arrived and that the scene was “chaotic.”
Acting Police Chief Mark Simmons said the attack was ‘truly a tragedy of epic proportions’
Those responsible were still at large, he added.
The police chief said: “When police arrived … officers observed … people running from the 200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. It was a very chaotic scene. And we could see multiple victims of gunshot wounds.”
“The event that was taking place … was a kind of backyard party that the police, up until the time the 911 calls came in for the shooting, were not aware of.
“This is yet another tragedy where people are having these illegal and unauthorized house parties on these properties that … are unsafe due to COVID, and you add alcohol and violence, it’s a recipe for disaster.
“This is truly a tragedy of epic proportions.”
Under current New York State restrictions, gatherings of more than 50 people are prohibited.
Controls have been carried out in the neighborhood, witnesses and victims are being interviewed and an appeal has been made to obtain information on who may have been responsible.
Chief Simmons said it was a very large scene with multiple locations.
A witness told ABC affiliate 13WHAM News that the shooting sounded “like the Vietnam War.”
The Rochester Police Department has been dealing with the aftermath of the suffocation death of a black man.
A video taken in March and released by Daniel Prude’s family on September 4 showed him handcuffed and naked with a hood spit over his head as one officer pushed his face into the street while another pressed one knee into his back.
He died a week later.
On Monday, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren fired former police chief La’Ron Singletary, who the mayor said initially misled her about the circumstances of Prude’s death.
