1 killed, at least 8 injured in Michigan party shooting

At least one person has been killed and eight others injured during a shooting at a strip mall in the US state of Michigan, police say.

The shooting unfolded early Sunday, when unknown gunmen opened fire on the 60 to 80 people who were holding a party at the mall in Grand Rapids, Michigan, authorities said.

Police rushed to the scene at around 4 am local time. No details were immediately available on the condition of the victims or any possible suspects.

“We’re currently trying to figure out exactly what took place,” said Grand Rapids Police Sergeant Terry Dixon. “We’re very early on into this incident.”

According to local media, the person killed in the shooting was a black male in his early 20s, but his identity was not known yet.

An NBC affiliate said witnesses at the scene were arguing over what happened.

“I could actually hear people on scene arguing with one another after the shooting. Witnesses wouldn’t tell us much about what happened,” said Evan Dean, a reporter at WoodTV.

Photos released on social media showed scattered glass outside a Clearance Outlet shop, which was being inspected by police.

The location of the shooting was close to the scene of a mass murder in Kalamazoo, where in late February, Uber taxi driver Jason Dalton went on a killing spree during a night shift, shooting dead six people in four hours.

Mass shootings of this kind at parties have seen a surge in the US over the past few years.

Back in late August, two gunmen ambushed a house party in Bridgeport, Connecticut and shot 11 men and two women through the hedges of a neighboring house.

In July, a gunman raided a house party in Seattle and killed three people.

Also in July, 14 teenagers were injured at a house party in California after three armed men opened fire on a crowd of 150 people.

The trend continued with another mass shooting in late July, when at least two people were killed and 15 others injured during a nightclub shooting rampage in Ft. Myer, Florida.

In June, a similar mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, left at least 49 people dead and 53 others injured.