Twenty-eight people were wounded, two of whom were in critical condition, during a nightclub shooting early Saturday in the southern US state of Arkansas, officials said.
Photo from video
Authorities said three of the wounded were injured by stampeding patrons fleeing the shooting.
The mayor of Little Rock said all of the victims are expected to survive after gunfire broke out inside the downtown Power Ultra Lounge nightclub around 2:30 am (0730 GMT).
"I want to reassure our public that this was not an act of terrorism but a tragedy... It does not appear to be a planned shooting," Mayor Mark Stodola told a press conference.
We do NOT believe this incident was an active shooter or terror related incident. It appears to have been a dispute at a concert.
A disagreement involving a small number of patrons at the club quickly escalated because of "the presence of rivalries and weapons," Stodola said.
Authorities did not immediately release any names or information on a suspect or suspects.
However Police Chief Kenton Buckner said some members with the headliner group, including one with a gun, had been stopped by police after trying to enter the nightclub. They appear to have gained access to the club later through a different entry way.
Buckner said the victims ranged in age from 16 to 35, with two in critical condition.
Authorities are investigating whether a longstanding rivalry between feuding gangs was to blame for the violence, and said they have closed down the club in the wake of the shootings.
"Little Rock's crime problem appears to be intensifying," Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said in a statement, decrying "this senseless violent tragedy."
The FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the US Marshalls were working on the case, Stodola said.
