At least 10 people were shot and injured at an apartment complex in San Bernardino, California, on Sunday. This is the second mass shooting to occur in the San Bernardino area in nearly three years.
According to San Bernardino Police spokesperson Captain Richard Lawhead, three victims are in “extremely critical” condition, but none have yet to die so far. Lawhead told reporters that the shooting occurred in the common area of the apartment complex, where the residents appeared to have been playing a game of dice when the gunfire broke out.
“It was a chaotic scene,” he said, describing an “unruly crowd” at the scene of the crime.
Lawhead also noted that all of the victims were adults.
After getting a report that shots had been fired at 1277 East Lynwood Drive at around 10:45 p.m., the responding officers arrived at the scene to find 10 victims with gunshot wounds.
“We believe that there was an exchange of gunfire,” Lawhead said. Based on the bullet wounds, the offender(s) used a mix of handguns and rifles to injure victims, however, no guns were recovered at the scene. “I can tell you multiple shots were fired, I don’t want to guess how many,” he added. “We do have some people that have been transported to the station for investigative purposes so we hope that they will yield information for us.”
A neighbor, who lives relatively close to the complex, told reporters from CNN that she heard anywhere between 15 and 20 gunshots fired. “My brother-in-law could hear bullets flying past our house, he was outside at the time of the shooting,” said Alysa Marie. “About five minutes later the helicopter was circling around our street (Lynwood), talking on the loud speaker saying to put down the weapons, for the people who were on the ground to get up and get to safety and to let the law enforcement do their job.”
#UPDATE : Police say a total of 10 people were shot on Lynwood Drive in #SanBernardino . 3 people are in “extremely critical” condition but there are no fatalities. Police say a group of people were playing dice in a common area of the complex when the shooting happened. #CBSLA pic.twitter.com/J0S82iu0kg
— Mike Rogers (@MikeRogersTV) September 3, 2018
Another man, Eduardo Rivas, who lives about a block away from the scene of the shooting, also reported hearing shots fired, but claims he only heard four. “I heard around four shots, then what sounded like a motorcycle speeding off, after that just a continuation of gun shots,” Rivas said.
Other witnesses, however, reported hearing as many as 30 shots fired.
While there are reports of heavy gang activity in the area, it is still unclear if the shooting was gang-related. Investigators have also ruled out the possibility of terrorism.