Nine injured in Rhode Island shooting, police say

Nine people were wounded in a shooting on Thursday evening in Rhode Island’s capital in what police there believe to be the largest shooting in city history.

Of the nine, three were critically wounded in the shooting just before 7pm, the Providence police chief, Col Hugh T Clements, told reporters at the scene.

He said multiple guns had been used and it was linked to an “ongoing feud” involving groups known to authorities. He said the shooting had begun with gunfire emanating from a vehicle, targeting a home. A person or people inside the home then returned fire.

The shooting took place in the south-eastern neighborhood of Washington Park, which Clements described as a typically private neighborhood.

Witnesses at the scene said multiple shots had been fired outside a home; Clements later said an estimated several dozen shots were fired. Evidence markers showing where more than a dozen shell casings littered the ground could be seen in the distance.

Police sealed off the area.

No arrests have been made. Clements stressed the investigation was in its early stages. Detectives were at the hospitals interviewing the victims, who are between the ages of 19 and 25. Further details about their identities were not released.