At least one person died and several others were wounded on Saturday night (local time) after a shooter opened fire at the Sky Meadow Country Club in New Hampshire’s Nashua district.
One person of interest has been detained, but no arrests have been made, said New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley, as per a CNN report.
He added that some people present were injured by gunshot wounds, while others sustained injuries in the chaos that ensued. However, the exact number of people injured is not yet known.
Eyewitness reports claimed that the gunman appeared to be after a specific person at the country club, rather than freely shooting everyone. They added that the shooter yelled “the children are safe” and “free Palestine”.
Another witness said that someone from the crowd quickly responded, hitting the shooter over the head with a chair (possibly when he was reloading his gun, or when his back was turned).
“I first initially hid under the table with a tablecloth. Your next thought is, am I safe here? Am I a sitting duck? What’s going to happen? Is this guy going to come through, is he going to be looking under tablecloths? Is he going to be shooting everyone in the room? You don’t know. It’s very scary to experience something like that,” she added, as per a CBS News report.
Then the bleeding suspect reportedly ran through the wedding reception and into the kitchen.
Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess called the incident a “tragedy”, expressing shock at such a shooting happening in his town.
“No matter how unlikely it seems, it can happen where you are,” Donochess told reporters on Saturday night, vowing to “bring appropriate justice” to those responsible.