WASHINGTON: One person was killed and 14 others wounded on Sunday in a shooting at a packed nightclub in Cincinnati, Ohio, police said.
Authorities initially said there were at least two shooters, but Paul Neudigate, assistant Cincinnati police chief, said in a tweet later that there was “only one reported shooter at this time, still investigating if others involved.”
He said: “Motive is still unclear but there are no indications this incident is terrorism related.”
The Cincinnati Police Department said there were “15 gunshot victims, one deceased” and that its “homicide unit and all available resources are being utilized.”
Neudigate said earlier that hundreds of people were in the Cameo nightclub when the shooting broke out, causing many to flee the scene.
It was not immediately clear where the shooter was but no one has been taken into custody, Sergeant Eric Franz told ABC News, describing the aftermath as a “large and complicated homicide scene.”
He said police were interviewing multiple witnesses to the shooting, which broke out at around 1 am (0500 GMT).
Neudigate’s tweet on the number of shooters came after Captain Kimberly Williams, the district’s police commander, told CNN there were at least two shooters.
“We are sure there was more than one, but we are not sure if there was more than two at this point,”she said.
“It was a young crowd and we have had incidents in the past, but this is the worst by far.
“By the time ... the shots were fired, individuals ran outside, so there was not a lot of people inside the club. I believe there was a large crowd earlier this evening, but just a lot of chaos when the shots went off,” she said.
Although police said there was no evidence of a terrorism connection, the attack inevitably raised memories of last year’s shooting rampage at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
That attack — which left 49 dead and 68 wounded — was the deadliest terror attack in the US since September 11, 2001.
The shooter, Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to Daesh in a 911 call to police during the assault on the Pulse nightclub.
But shootings are a common feature of life in America, where the right to bear arms is protected by the US Constitution.
On Saturday, a gunman opened fire on a double-decker bus on the Las Vegas Strip, killing one person and wounding another. Police said the suspect appeared to have “mental issues.”
On Jan. 6, a 26-year-old Iraq war veteran opened fire in the baggage claim area of the Fort Lauderdale, Florida airport, killing five people.
More notorious gun crimes in recent years include the rampage carried out by 21-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof, who shot to death nine people during a Bible study session at a historically African American church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015.
And a massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut on Dec. 14, 2012 claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults. Gunman Adam Lanza, who had a history of mental illness, also killed his mother and went on to commit suicide.
The tragedy sparked calls for stricter gun control laws, but bills banning assault weapons and expanding background checks on gun purchases were defeated in the US Congress.
Ohio shooting leaves 1 dead, 14 wounded
Ohio shooting leaves 1 dead, 14 wounded
Mine collapse in eastern Congo leaves 200 dead, authorities say, but rebels dispute the number
- Senior M23 official Fanny Kaj disputed the figure, saying that the collapse was caused by “bombings”
- Ibrahim Taluseke, a miner at the site, said that he had helped to recover more than 200 bodies from the area
GOMA, Congo: A mine collapse at a major coltan mining site in eastern Congo left at least 200 dead, according to Congolese authorities, a number disputed by the rebel group that controls the mine.
The collapse took place Tuesday at the Rubaya mines, which are controlled by the M23 rebel group, Congo’s Ministry of Mines said in a statement on Wednesday. It was the latest such tragedy in the mineral-rich and rebel-controlled territories of the country.
But senior M23 official Fanny Kaj disputed the figure, saying that the collapse was caused by “bombings” and only five people had been killed.
“I can confirm that what people are publishing is not true. There was no landslide; there were bombings, and the death toll isn’t what people are saying. It’s simply about five people who died,” Kaj said.
Ibrahim Taluseke, a miner at the site, said that he had helped to recover more than 200 bodies from the area.
“We are afraid, but these are lives that are in danger,” said Taluseke. “The owners of the pits do not accept that the exact number of deaths be revealed.”
Rubaya lies in the heart of eastern Congo, a mineral-rich part of the Central African nation which for decades has been ripped apart by violence from government forces and different armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23 group, whose recent resurgence has escalated the conflict, worsening an already acute humanitarian crisis.
Congo is a major supplier of coltan, a black metallic ore that contains the rare metal tantalum, a key component in the production of smartphones, computers and aircraft engines.
The country produced about 40 percent of the world’s coltan in 2023, according to the US Geological Survey, with Australia, Canada and Brazil being other big suppliers. More than 15 percent of the world’s supply of tantalum comes from Rubaya’s mines.
In May 2024, M23 seized the town and took control of its mines. According to a UN report, since seizing Rubaya, the rebels have imposed taxes on the trade and transport of coltan, generating at least $800,000 a month.
Eastern Congo has been in and out of crisis for decades. Various conflicts have created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with more than 7 million people displaced, including more than 300,000 who have fled their homes since December.
In June, the Congolese and Rwandan government signed a peace deal brokered by the US and negotiations continue between rebels and Congo. However, fighting continues on several fronts in eastern Congo, continuing to claim numerous civilian and military casualties.
The deal between Congo and Rwanda also opens up access to critical minerals for the US government and American companies.
A similar collapse last month killed more than 200 people.
