Three people were killed and four injured in a drive-by shooting outside a Boys and Girls Club in western New York on Wednesday.
Shots were fired into a crowd that had gathered after a basketball game in Rochester a few minutes before 11:30 p.m. ET, police said.
"Seven victims were shot and we've now confirmed that three were deceased," Rochester police chief Michael Ciminelli told reporters at the scene.
Police said they were waiting to release the names of those killed until their families had been notified. None of those hurt — all men between 20 and 29 years old — sustained life-threatening injuries.
"At least one or more occupants in the car fired shots form the car into the crowd that had gathered after a basketball game at the Boys and Girls Club," Ciminelli said. "At this point, there was no problem at the Boys and Girls Club. There was no problem with the basketball game."
Hundreds of distraught people — some screaming and crying — were at the scene when Lauren Petracca, a photographer for the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper, arrived on the scene to cover the shooting's aftermath.
"I could hear people screaming and crying," she told NBC News. "A mother of one of the victims arrived and collapsed on the ground screaming, 'No, no, no!' These are sounds I won’t forget."
The police chief promised to go after those responsible.
"We are bringing every resource that we have at our disposal to bear on this and we will run this down and find out who did this," he said. "This was an outrageous act.”
