AHOSKIE, N.C. - Police are investigating a mass shooting that happened early Saturday morning.
Around 1 a.m., Ahoskie Police Officers said they were dispatched to the Ahoskie Inn for a shooting at the Alaysia Bar & Grill. When they got to the location they saw a large crowd of over 100 people in the parking lot.
Officers found one man who was fatally shot. Police say the victim is 22-year-old Jairen Lyles of Aulander, N.C.
Police said after they dealt with crowd control and secured the scene, officers determined that an additional six people were injured inside and outside the Alaysia Bar and Grill. They said some injured victims had left the scene on the way to the hospital.
Of the six injured people that went to the hospital, five were shot and one had a leg injury from trying to run from the club where the shooting started.
Police told News 3 they are still investigating and looking for those responsible for the incident. They did add that everything at the scene is under control and safe at this time.
Police said while they were at the scene trying to investigate the homicide, there were fights breaking out by people in the parking lot while law enforcement officers were trying to contain the scene.
Chief James Asbell said, “This is a very sad night for our community. It was a chaotic crime scene with multiple guns as evidenced by the different types of gun casings found inside and outside of the nightclub. This gun violence is senseless and now we have six people shot in one night. While I cannot comment on the specifics of this case, the fact that people were allowed into this establishment with guns led to the shootings of many people which went out into a public parking lot where a man was shot to death. This type of violence cannot be tolerated in our community and I am asking for any person who knows anything about these shootings to please come forward and contact Detective Tom Helms with the Ahoskie Police Department. There were over a hundred people inside and outside of the Alaysia Grill and Bar last night. We are asking that those people who were present and left before officers arrived to contact the Ahoskie Police Department to identify these individuals who chose to open gunfire inside of a club with over a hundred people inside and continued to fire these weapons into the parking lot. I am asking that our community come together and help law enforcement apprehend those people responsible for these horrendous crimes."
One resident who went to the scene after hearing what happened said it is a small community so when something happens everyone is there.
He also said he saw the body of the man who was killed and knows him. "It was hard, it was bad, especially when you know all the family members," he said.
There is no further information at this time as police investigate.
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