Planned fight escalates to mass shooting at North Carolina park, authorities say

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — A planned fight among young people escalated into a mass shooting at a North Carolina park Monday morning as multiple people fired at each other, authorities said.

The shooting happened around 10 a.m. at Leinbach Park, which is near Jefferson Middle School, Winston-Salem police said in a social media post. Police did not have a confirmed number of victims, and they said suspects were still at large.

The shooting did not occur at the school, which was on lockdown until the scene was secure, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said.

Several people, both victims and suspects, have been identified and located, but efforts were ongoing to account for everyone, police said. Some of those involved in the incident were juveniles.

The shootings happened in a park in a suburban and residential area northwest of downtown Winston-Salem, a city of about 250,000 known for decades as the home of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

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