Columbus, Ohio — Three people were killed and three others were injured in an early morning shooting in Ohio’s capital this weekend, authorities said.
Columbus police said the shooting was reported shortly before 3 a.m. Saturday in the Italian Village neighborhood north of downtown, possibly involving semi-automatic or automatic gunfire and cars “taking off.”
Deputy Chief Gregory Bodker told reporters that officers who arrived two minutes later found a “very chaotic scene” with six people shot. Two men were pronounced dead at the scene and a third man died at a hospital, police said. They were identified later Saturday as 27-year-old Malachi Pee, 26-year-old Garcia Dixon Jr. and 18-year-old Da’ondre Bullock.
Three other people were taken to hospitals, where one was in critical condition and two others were stable, Bodker said. Police said everyone was expected to survive.
Investigators are talking to several witnesses who cooperated, Bodker said. There is a bar on the corner nearby, but it was not immediately known whether those involved were patrons of the establishment, he said.
No suspects were immediately identified. The motive for the shooting was not immediately known and it was unclear how many people were involved, Bodker said. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office used a drone to document the large crime scene, where police collected evidence and video.