This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Police said 25 people were shot early on Saturday at a rap show at a nightclub in downtown Little Rock, prompting pleas from community leaders to curb the growing violence in Arkansas’ capital city.

Police said the shooting at Power Ultra Lounge was the result of a dispute among club-goers and not an active shooter or terror-related incident. Little Rock police said later on Saturday that 25 people were shot and three others suffered unrelated injuries. All were expected to survive, police said.

Police cordoned off the block as crime-scene technicians gathered evidence from inside and outside the club. Glass from the club’s second-storey windows littered the ground, along with empty drink cups.

Little Rock police chief Kenton Buckner told reporters “some sort of dispute broke out between people inside” the club and that there were “probably multiple shooting suspects”.

A video posted online by a club patron, Darryl Rankin, showed a packed house for Finese 2Tymes, a performer from Memphis, Tennessee. About half a minute into a break in the raucous concert, several bursts of gunfire rang out. More than 24 shots were fired in an 11-second period.

Rankin said he was recording the show on Facebook Live when gunfire erupted and that one of his friends was now at a hospital with a bullet “stuck in his spine”.

Courtney Swanigan said she was near the front of the club with her sister when gunfire erupted. They were not injured. Swanigan did not know what led to the shooting, but said she saw someone onstage with a handgun.

“I just closed my eyes, got down on the ground and put my hands on my head,” she said.

The shooting follows a week in which there have been about a dozen drive-by shootings in Little Rock, though there is no indication the events are linked.

“Little Rock’s crime problem appears to be intensifying,” governor Asa Hutchinson said in a statement. “Every few days it seems a high-profile shooting dominates the news, culminating with this morning’s event.

“I have spoken this morning with Mayor Stodola and I have offered both my heartfelt concern over this senseless violent tragedy and state assets as needed to address the continued threat of violence in our community.”

Early Saturday, Raida Bunche waited outside the club after she heard from a friend that her son had been there. Later, she said she had found out her son was unharmed.

“I’m sick of all the killing and I’m tired of all the shooting, the kids getting hurt,” Bunche said.

The club’s Facebook page promoted Friday night’s show with a poster depicting a man pointing what appeared to be a gun at the camera. A call to a number listed for Finese 2Tymes’ booking agent was not immediately returned.

Little Rock mayor Mark Stodola said on Facebook: “My heart is broken this morning my prayers are with the victims of this tragedy … We are committed to doing everything possible to bring safety to our city. We need everyone to help.”

In May, one person was killed and six people were hurt in a mass shooting at a downtown concert in Jonesboro, Arkansas, about 115 miles north-east of Little Rock. In that case, two men were charged with first-degree murder and six counts of first-degree battery.