A shooting at a Kansas nightclub early Sunday left seven people with gunshot wounds and two more hospitalized after being trampled in a scramble for exits, police said.
Wichita police Lt. Aaron Moses said investigators believe multiple shooters opened fire inside the City Nightz club just before 1 a.m. A suspect was in custody Sunday morning, Moses said.
Shots were fired from at least four guns inside the club, Moses said. Police recovered four weapons and were working to determine if they were the weapons used by the shooters.
No one died, but one person was seriously injured. All the victims were being treated at an area hospital, Moses said.
The shooting victims included five men between the ages of 21 and 34, a 21-year-old woman and a 24-year-old woman, Moses said. The two people trampled on were a 30-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man.
Detective Chris Merceau said during a news conference Sunday morning that police have been called to the nightclub a dozen times this year for various incidents, including a report of aggravated assault and a drive-by shooting on May 21. .
He said police met with the club's owner after that incident and they discussed the importance of using electronic wands to detect weapons on patrons and surveillance cameras. He said investigators will work to determine if any of those recommendations were followed.
A message left by The Associated Press on the club's voice mail Sunday morning was not immediately returned. Police said the club and the surrounding area will remain closed for a while while investigators examine the scene.
The shootings were part of a particularly violent night in Wichita, a city of nearly 400,000 about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, Missouri.
According to the police department's Facebook page, a 17-year-old was found dead around 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Investigators said it appears he was shot during an argument with a 21-year-old man, who showed up at a hospital with a gunshot wound to his hand. About twenty minutes after the shootings at City Nightz on Sunday morning, a 35-year-old man was walking down a street when an unknown suspect shot him in the arm.
“We have to take action to counter this increase in gun violence that we're seeing,” Mayor Brandon Whipple said. “We have to come together as a community and talk to our youth in particular about how resorting to gun violence is not the way to solve a problem or issue.”
