OAKLAND — Police arrested two men suspected of shooting into a crowd outside a club in downtown Oakland early Saturday, authorities said.

Eight people, including the two arrested, were wounded in the gunbattle. All are expected to recover. They range in age from 17 to 28.

Police have not yet identified the men, ages 21 and 28, who were arrested in the case and said they are looking for other suspects who were not wounded in the gunfire.

The shooting happened about 12:15 a.m. outside a club in the 400 block of 14th Street just east of Broadway where a large crowd of people were standing and talking.

Initial reports indicate that a man walked up and got into an argument with some people in the crowd and began exchanging gunshots with them as people ran in different directions seeking cover. Police were trying to determine what the argument was about.

Some of the wounded, along with others, sought refuge inside the club, police said.

Two police officers were on a call a few blocks away and were the first to respond to the scene, which was described as chaotic.

Six victims were taken to hospitals and two others with gunshot wounds got their own transportation to a hospital, authorities said.

Most of the people shot were wounded in the legs, but one person was hit in the chest and another in the back, authorities said.

Four of the victims are women, another is an adult male and the sixth is a 17-year-old boy, police said. Five — including the two men arrested — were in stable condition and one was in critical condition Saturday afternoon.

The majority were from Oakland and at least one had a Vallejo address, police said.

That stretch of 14th Street and adjacent streets have been the site of a spate of tragedies over the past year. In August, two men were killed in a shooting on 15th and Webster streets during an all-ages birthday party at an art gallery.

In June, a 16-year-old girl was killed and three other teenagers were wounded in a shooting on 13th and Franklin streets. The teens were attending a vigil for friends who drowned in Stanislaus County over Memorial Day weekend.

And, in April 2015, a musician was shot dead in the same block as Saturday’s shooting while leaving a gig.

Steve Snider, the executive director of the Downtown Oakland Association, said business owners in the neighborhood are very concerned about the continued instances of violence in the popular nightlife district.

“We’re concerned about the victims of the shooting,” Snider said. “We really are going to need to gather together as a community and ask the city to look deeply into this.”

While violent crime overall has been trending down over the past several years, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf called the shooting Saturday “heartbreaking” and said the city was committed to ending violence “in every corner of the city.” The state controls the distribution of liquor licenses, but Schaaf said there were other tools at the city’s disposal.

“We try to use local power where we can to really hold local operators accountable and to make sure there is not a connection between their operations and illegal activity,” Schaaf said. “No neighborhood gets special treatment; this is an issue of life.”

The city must do more than focus on venue operators, said Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who represents District 3, where the shooting occurred. Not only does the city need more police officers to patrol downtown, but it needs to do more to stem gun violence by focusing on prevention and by better addressing childhood trauma. Gibson McElhaney also called for the establishment of an Office of Violence Prevention.

“One thing that is driving the renaissance of Oakland is the nightlife and entertainment, and with that comes the need to staff police accordingly,” she said. “But this is a real tragedy in the lives of our young people — both the victims and the witnesses who had to experience this level of violence.”

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $30,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of a suspect. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3426 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Staff writer George Kelly contributed to this report.