6 people shot in downtown Chattanooga, police say

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Multiple people were shot in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, late Saturday night, officials with the Chattanooga Police Department confirmed to WCRB-TV and WDEF.

>> Read more trending news

Update 3:30 p.m. EDT May 29: In a Facebook post, Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp urged citizens in the Tennessee city to “have a conversation.”

“What are we doing wrong? How do mass shootings continue to occur in our community -- so many of them involving our youth?” Wamp wrote. “What happened in downtown Chattanooga last night is unacceptable. Right in the middle of where so many of us live, work, walk with our families, and enjoy this beautiful city … six young people were shot. Two in critical condition. It has to stop.”

Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly called the action “unacceptable.”

“Last night, our city felt the terrible cost of gun violence,” Kelly said in a tweet. “My heart is with the families whose lives have been upended by this horrific situation.”

Update 11:29 a.m. EDT May 29: Chattanooga Police Department spokesperson Jeremy Eames said he did not have the ages or status of the victims Sunday, but said most of them were teenagers or in their early 20s, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.

“We had large groups of juveniles walking around the downtown area this date and we believe it’s from within that group that the shooting took place,” Eames told the newspaper in an email.

Update 6:48 a.m. EDT May 29: The Chattanooga Police Department confirmed that six people were shot, WCRB-TV reported. Two people have life-threatening injuries, while the other four people have injuries that are not considered to be life-threatening, according to the television station.

Officers were patrolling downtown at about 10:48 p.m. EDT when they “observed multiple parties exchanging gunfire and numerous people fleeing the area” near Cherry Street, a police spokesperson told ABC News.

Original report: One person of interest has been detained, and all of those injured have been transferred to an area hospital, but their conditions were not immediately known, the TV station reported.

According to police, the victims range in age from teenagers to 20-year-olds, and no ongoing threat remains to the public, WCRB reported.

Check back for more on this developing story.

©2022 Cox Media Group