At least 25 shot at Little Rock nightclub
The Power Ultra Lounge nightclub in Little Rock was packed. The rapper Finese 2Tymes was performing, and patrons paid $20 a ticket, some kicking in an extra $10 for VIP access, to catch the show. The rapper had stopped for a break. Then, gunfire rang out.
Police say 28 people were injured in the incident early Saturday; 25 suffering from gunshot wounds. All the wounded are expected to survive.
"Some sort of dispute broke out between people inside," Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner told reporters, according to the Associated Press. Police were searching for multiple people believed to be involved in the shooting. The department couldn't immediately be reached by The Washington Post but planned to hold a news conference Saturday and has ruled out terrorism.
The crowd at the lounge was standing shoulder to shoulder, in Facebook live video posted by Darryl Rankin.
After a few sets, Finese 2Tymes stopped for a break. "Whatcha all doing today?" someone asks in Rankin's video -- a few seconds before more than two dozen shots ring out in rapid succession.
Rankin's screen goes dark then, as people scream and attend to the injured. He told the Associated Press that one of his friends was hospitalized with a bullet "stuck in his spine."
Courtney Swanigan told Arkansas Online she saw a handgun onstage during the melee. "I just closed my eyes, got down on the ground and put my hands on my head," she said.
Besides those shot, at least three people were reported injured as the crowd scrambled to escape the building, according to the paper.
One victim was a teenage boy who may not walk again, his family told a Fox 16 reporter.
There were also reports of gunfire at a Finese 2Tymes show in April in Memphis, Tennessee, according to WMC Action News 5. No serious injuries were reported.
The rapper even referred to the violence in the lyrics of a music video posted last month: "I had a shoot out at my show. It made the news!"
Finese couldn't be reached by The Post on Saturday, though he responded to the latest incident on his Facebook page.
"BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS THREW OUT THESE LAST 3 MONTHS BUT , THIS TO SHALL PASS," he wrote Saturday morning.
And in the afternoon, his condolences to the injured: "THE VIOLENCE IS NOT FOR THE CLUB PEOPLE."
Buckner, the police chief, said an off-duty police officer was believed to have been working security at the show, according to Arkansas Online, though police didn't know if the guard was inside during the shooting.
"I would call it a multiple shooting," Buckner said. "Some people call it a mass shooting. Too many people shot. One is too many."
On Saturday morning, the ground outside the club was littered with glass and empty cups, according to an Arkansas Online reporter, who also saw a strobe light still working inside.
Little Rock saw about a dozen drive-by shootings the previous week, the Associated Press reporting, though no cause or connection in Saturday's incident has been found.
"Little Rock's crime problem appears to be intensifying," Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, R, wrote in a statement. "Every few days a high profile shooting dominates the news, culminating with this morning's event."