Planned fight near a middle school in North Carolina turned into a shooting

North Carolina Park, file: NBC News

According to CNN, the shooting took place during the morning hours at a public park and involved teenagers. The incident has raised ongoing concerns among law enforcement about youth violence and disputes escalating into gunfire. No arrests have been announced.

Authorities received a call about a fight in progress around 9:52 a.m. While officers were on their way to the scene, they were informed that shots had been fired and multiple people had been struck by gunfire, Winston-Salem Police Captain Kevin Burns said during a press conference.

Police said they found a 17-year-old male, Erubey Romero Medina, suffering from a gunshot wound in the parking lot. Officers also found 16-year-old Daniel Jimenez Millian inside the park with gunshot injuries. Both teenagers were pronounced dead at the scene.

Burns said that, in addition to the two fatalities, five more teenagers between the ages of 14 and 19 were injured in the shooting, with wounds ranging from critical to minor. The names of the injured victims were not released, but authorities said they included four girls and one boy.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, the incident marks the 117th mass shooting in the United States this year. Like CNN, the archive defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are injured or killed, excluding the shooter.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said on social media that the shooting occurred at Leinbach Park near Jefferson Middle School. The park is located next to the school, which was briefly placed on secure hold earlier in the day, although police said the shooting did not occur on school property.

Law enforcement officials urged parents and children to take gun safety more seriously.