Planned fight escalates to mass shooting at North Carolina park, authorities say

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — A planned fight among young people escalated into a mass shooting at a North Carolina park Monday morning that left two people dead, authorities said.

The shooting happened around 10 a.m. at Leinbach Park, which is near Jefferson Middle School, Winston-Salem police said in a social media post.

Several people were shot, including two fatally, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

Winston-Salem police Assistant Chief Jason Swaim said two juveniles had agreed to meet at the park to fight. He said a firearm was discharged during the fight, which “resulted in multiple victims being shot.” He said authorities have identified “numerous people” involved in what happened, but that investigators were still trying to determine their exact involvement, including whether they were a suspect, victim or witness.

Swaim said schools nearby the park were safe and that parents of students at Jefferson Middle School could pick up their children there.

The shooting happened in a park in a suburban and residential area northwest of downtown Winston-Salem, a city of about 250,000 known for decades as the home of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

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Associated Press writers Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, contributed to this report.