© 2024 Milwaukee Public Media is a service of UW-Milwaukee's College of Letters & Science
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

10 People Injured In Mass Shooting Outside Nightclub In Allentown, Pa.

Updated at 11:39 p.m. ET

Just before 2 a.m. on Thursday, multiple gunshots rang out as people exited the Deja Vu nightclub in Allentown, Pa.

Police say 10 people who were gathered on or near the sidewalk were shot and hospitalized.

"All victims are expected to survive," Allentown Police Capt. Bill Lake told NPR in an interview.

No one is in custody.

"This does not appear to be an indiscriminate shooting," Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin and Allentown Police Chief Tony Alsleben said in a joint statement emailed to NPR. They added, "it appears that at least one individual was a target."

Martin and Alsleben say they believe the attack was likely related to gang violence, stressing that their assessment has yet to be borne out by a conclusive investigation.

"Although not confirmed, in our opinion based upon investigative information...it is more likely that the outcome of the investigation will reveal a connection to gang violence," they said.

They added that witnesses as well as some of the shooting victims "have been uncooperative" with investigators.

"This is not the work of one armed suspect, but it appears that there were several shooters, likely three in number," the statement said.

Police are asking members of the public to step forward if they have any information about the shooting.

The nightclub, located in the 300 block of West Hamilton Street, hosts Latin music nights,according to its social media accounts.

Tashana Santiago, who lives near the club, told The Morning Call that she awoke to the sound of gunfire and saw people running across the road and into a shopping center.

"When everything went silent, all you could hear is the screaming and panicking," she said.

This is a breaking news story. Some things reported by the media will later turn out to be wrong. We will focus on reports from officials and other authorities, credible news outlets and reporters who are at the scene. We will update as the situation develops.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags
Amy Held is an editor on the newscast unit. She regularly reports breaking news on air and online.
Richard Gonzales is NPR's National Desk Correspondent based in San Francisco. Along with covering the daily news of region, Gonzales' reporting has included medical marijuana, gay marriage, drive-by shootings, Jerry Brown, Willie Brown, the U.S. Ninth Circuit, the California State Supreme Court and any other legal, political, or social development occurring in Northern California relevant to the rest of the country.