Video (02:53) : One person was killed and two people were hurt critically.

One person was dead and at least two others were in critical condition after seven people were shot Wednesday night in north Minneapolis, police said.

The carnage, which unfolded just before 9 p.m., added to the grim toll that a sharp escalation in shootings has taken on north Minneapolis this year.

The bloodshed erupted when many shots were fired on Newton Avenue N. between 15th and 16th avenues N., according to police Inspector Mike Kjos.

Calls to 911 from citizens and ShotSpotter notifications flooded in with reports of up to 32 shots fired, and officers were on the scene — which is near the Minneapolis Police Department’ Fourth Precinct headquarters — within two minutes, Kjos said.

Police initially said six people had been shot, but upped the number by one on Thursday morning.

Officers found one person dead and at least two others critically injured at the scene. Three other people who were wounded were taken to area hospitals by citizens or in some of the five ambulances that responded, police said. One victim was dropped off at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale with chest and stomach wounds, according to scanner reports.

Gallery: Gallery: Fatal shooting in Minneapolis Gallery: Gallery: Fatal shooting in Minneapolis

Police set up a broad perimeter and were looking for suspects, possibly in a vehicle that fled the scene, which is near North Commons Park. As midnight approached, they fanned out across the neighborhood to interview residents, conducting extensive interviews with at least 10 witnesses, Kjos said.

Other witnesses left the scene just after the shooting after refusing to talk to officers.

Just after the shooting, extra officers were called to the scene to help calm a chaotic crowd of dozens of people.

One woman could be heard screaming, “Not my son!” Later, she and a woman who told officers that she was the dead person’s sister pleaded with police to let them go to the body, and were told that they could not do so at that point as investigators worked at the scene.

They and other family members and friends at the scene cried and embraced one another, declining to speak to journalists.

Police said they could not release any more information, including the number of possible suspects.

They asked anyone with information about the shooting to call 612-692-TIPS.