Shootings at a party in North Carolina kill 2 and critically injure several others

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MAXTON, N.C. (AP) — Shootings at a large outdoor Halloween party in southeastern North Carolina early Saturday killed two people — one of them 16 years old — and critically wounded several others, a sheriff said.

Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins' office said in a news release that 13 people were shot at the party held at a home in a rural area outside of Maxton, which is about 95 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Raleigh near the South Carolina border.

Wilkins said the shootings stemmed from two groups attending the event that attracted more than 300 people, with ages in attendance ranging from pre-teenagers to about 50.

"There’s a lot of interviews taking place, but apparently there was a confrontation between a couple of groups of people and then gunfire between those two started,” Wilkins told WBTW-TV.

A 47-year-old man was killed in addition to the teenage boy, Wilkins said. Their names weren't immediately released. One of the injured was airlifted out of the county for treatment, while others were being treated at nearby hospitals, Wilkins said.

No arrests had been made as of Saturday afternoon. But the sheriff said his office had multiple persons of interest related to the shootings that happened about 1:15 a.m., The Robesonian reported. His office said that there was no current threat to the community.

Deputies believe multiple people fired shots and multiple weapons were used, the newspaper said.

More than 150 people fled the location before law enforcement officers arrived, Wilkins’ office said, while asking that anyone with information about what happened or who were at the scene to contact sheriff’s investigators.

Wilkins said law enforcement wasn't aware of the party until the reports of shots being fired because the crowd number was below the local threshold to obtain a permit, which would have also required the use of security.