LAS VEGAS (AP/Xinhua) – Fourteen people have been shot at a hookah parlor and police said one man died and that two of those hit by gunfire suffered critical injuries.
The shooting happened at about 3:15 a.m. on Saturday and preliminary information indicated there was a party during which two people got into an altercation and exchanged gunfire, striking multiple people, said police Capt. Dori Koren.
Koren told reporters no arrests have been made and no suspect descriptions were immediately available but that authorities did not believe there was any danger to the general public.
Police went to the hookah bar identified by the Las Vegas Review-Journal as Manny’s Glow Ultra Lounge & Restaurant after receiving multiple 911 calls, Koren said.
Officers secured the scene and rendered aid, including applying tourniquets and administering CPR, Koren said.
Investigators were trying to determine the types of gun or guns used in the shooting.
“It’s a fairly large scene so it’s going to take some time to go through the entire scene,” he said. “We’re not really sure exactly what kind of weapon was used, or exactly if there were two shooters. We believe there was an exchange of gunfire, but we’re still looking into all of information.”
The medical aid provided to victims by the officers who initially responded “definitely made a significance in this case,” Koren said.
Hours after the shooting, much of shopping plaza where the shooting occurred remained cordoned off by police tape as officers looked for stray bullets and other evidence.
“My thoughts are with the victim, their loved ones, and all those injured in last night’s senseless shooting at a hookah lounge,” U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said on Twitter. “We must do more to end gun violence.”
Some 400 Americans were killed and another 282 injured in gun violence in the first four days of 2022, according to the latest data by an online site tracking shooting incidents.
Citing the figure provided by the Gun Violence Archive, the media said the casualties were caused by nine mass shootings, numerous homicides and suicides as well as murders in the United States since the beginning of 2022.
The United States saw a record high of 691 mass shootings -- with at least four victims in one incident -- in 2021, as gun violence continues to surge in the country.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, nearly all indexes of gun violence in 2021 set records in the organization’s tracking history since 2013.
“Gun violence in the United States has been a chronic social problem that seems to have no solution,” the report said, noting that the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated a record number of 17 million guns were sold from January 2021 through November 2021.