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‘One of the worst crimes in the Port City’: Multiple people dead after mass shooting in North Carolina

A mass shooting in North Carolina overnight has left three people dead and four others injured, WECT-TV reports.

The incident occurred shortly after midnight Saturday at a home on Kidder Street in Wilmington, North Carolina, according to tweets from the Wilmington Police Department.

Responding officers found seven people with gunshot wounds, including three who were already deceased. There had been a house party inside the residence at the time of the shooting, Wilmington Police Chief Donny Williams told the television station.

Investigators have not yet identified a suspect or motive, but they do not believe the public is in danger, according to WRAL-TV.

“This was likely not a random shooting,” Jessica Williams, the police department’s public information officer, told the Wilmington StarNews.

Witnesses told the newspaper they saw people quickly leave the scene after the shooting. One neighbor told the newspaper that after hearing gunshots, she put her granddaughter inside a bathtub as a safety precaution.

The surviving victims were hospitalized at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center but their conditions were not known publicly as of Saturday morning.

District Attorney Ben David said the shooting was among the worst he’s seen.

“In my more than two decades as a prosecutor, this is one of the worst crimes we have ever had in the Port City,” David told WECT-TV. “The community’s unimaginable grief must be met with an equal commitment to get justice for all of the victims in this case.”

The Wilmington Police Department is seeking tips about what happened.

“Our hearts go out to all affected by this senseless violence, and we ask that anyone with information surrounding this incident please come forward so that we may find justice,” the department said in a tweet.To report information about the case, call the police at 910-343-3609.

Wilmington is on the Atlantic coast about 130 miles south of Raleigh and 70 miles northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The incident comes after multiple other mass shootings around the United States.

Four people were fatally shot on Wednesday at a business in Orange, California, including a 9-year-old boy. The suspect, 44-year-old Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, allegedly knew the adult victims and is facing four counts of felony murder, among other charges.

On March 22, 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa gunned down 10 people in a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store, including a police officer. Alissa has been charged with 10 counts of felony first-degree murder.

And in metro Atlanta, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long is accused of murdering eight people at various spas on March 16. Long is facing eight counts of murder and one charge of aggravated assault.

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[Feature Photo: Pixabay]