Gunfire erupted early Saturday in a crowded South Carolina bar, leaving two patrons dead and eight others wounded, authorities said.

Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile called the 2:45 a.m. shooting at Old Skool Sports Bar & Grill in Lancaster “a violent incident of huge magnitude that was witnessed by lots of people.” according to the Lancaster News.

At a news conference Saturday afternoon, Faile said investigators know who was responsible for the shooting and were looking for that person.

He said the suspect and one of the victims who was killed had been involved in a dispute for a couple of months.

"I believe it was a beef between two individuals who showed up at the same place and things turned violent, and there were several others who got shot who were in the wrong place at the wrong time," the sheriff said.

In the chaos that followed the shooting, many who were in the club chose not to wait around for deputies to arrive, Lancaster News reported.

“We need to talk with everybody who was at the club when the shooting happened, and I encourage those witnesses to contact us immediately so those responsible for these deaths and injuries can be taken into custody," Faile was quoted as saying.

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Four of the wounded were airlifted to the hospital. The other four were treated at a local hospital.

The two who were killed were adult men, according to the paper. Their identities had not yet been released.

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The bar is located north of downtown Lancaster off U.S. 521. Lancaster is about 45 miles south of Charlotte, N.C.

State Rep. Mandy Powers Norrell, a lifelong Lancaster resident who represents the district that includes the bar, said the son of a high school classmate posted on social media about trying to resuscitate one of the fatally shot victims.

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“It’s just really so sad,” Norrell said. “Violence is happening everywhere, but senseless of this is so striking.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.