Five people in the same car were shot and wounded while leaving a funeral after someone in a second vehicle opened fire in a brazen attack in a Maryland suburb of Washington DC, authorities say.
Police were called to a the shooting site on a bridge over the Anacostia River on Bladensburg Road, 40 miles east of Washington DC, just before 12.30pm on Friday.
The five victims received life-saving treatment from first responders at the scene before being taken to hospital, Bladensburg Police Department chief Tyrone Collington said at a press conference.
He could not provide any details on the victims’ ages or conditions, but FOX DC reported three were in a critical condition.
Mr Collington said police had not yet identified any suspects and asked for help from motorists who were in the area at the time.
Mr Collington said police were seeking surveillance footage of the incident. Police received a description of the suspects’ vehicle as “dark-coloured”.
He said police were working to establish a possible motive, including whether the suspects had attended the same funeral.
“At this time, I can’t confirm that it was road rage or not,” Mr Collington said. “We are still working through it.”
Multiple people have been wounded in a shooting on Annapolis Road in Bladensburg, Maryland— (CBS News)
He said none of those in the targeted car had fired any shots.
“There was not an exchange (of gunfire) between the two vehicles. It was one vehicle that was shot at and struck multiple victims within that vehicle,” Mr Collington said.
He described the shooting as an “unnecessary, senseless act of violence”.
“This is uncommon in this community,” he said.
Bladensburg Police Department chief Tyrone Collington gave further details about a mass shooting in the Maryland shooting on Friday— (FOX5)
Officials with the Edmonston Police Department were assisting with the investigation and said they believed the shooting was an isolated incident and didn’t pose an ongoing threat.
Bladensburg, home to about 9,400 people, has a well-known World War I memorial known as the Peace Cross situated on a median near the bridge.
