One dead, 11 others injured in North Carolina overnight mass shooting

At least 80 shots were fired in a North Carolina neighbourhood early Sunday, killing one person and injuring 11 others in a neighbourhood where a house party was being held, authorities said.

No arrests have been made, but authorities said there was more than one shooter when the gunfire erupted about 12:45 am Sunday in the city of Hickory, the Catawba County Sheriff's Office said.

One victim was in critical condition, and 10 others were hospitalised in serious condition, officials said. 

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Hickory Police Department are investigating the shooting. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also assisting in the case.

 

The Sheriff's Department has not released the victims' names or ages.  Investigators said there were as many as 100 people attending a house party at a home on the street when one or more people discharged firearms, WSOC-TV reported. 

Eyewitnesses told local reporters that many people attending the party were from nearby high schools, and people began scattering, ducking for cover and running toward safety when the gunfire began.

Major Aaron Turk with the sheriff's office said at a news conference that the shooting occurred in a normally quiet residential area.