(Reuters) – A gunman shot at least four people at a bank in downtown Cincinnati on Thursday, police and local media said, and a city councilman said there were fatalities.
A police spokeswoman said a suspect was “contained” after gunfire erupted in the lobby and loading dock area of the Fifth Third Bank on Walnut Street near Fountain Square.
City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld said on Twitter the gunman was shot by officers and was in critical condition.
“Terrible shooting incident in the heart of our city this morning,” Sittenfeld wrote, adding that there were fatalities. He said police had secured the scene, and that the gunman’s motive was unclear.
“What a sick, tragic way for this day to begin,” Sittenfeld wrote. “The scourge of gun violence leaves only loss.”
Witnesses said more than a dozen shots were fired, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
One onlooker, Leonard Cain, told the newspaper he had been about to enter the bank when someone warned him about the shooting. Cain said he then saw a woman also walking into the bank, and that people tried to get her attention, but she was wearing headphones and did not hear them.
“She walked in the door and he shot her,” Cain told The Enquirer, adding that he heard up to 15 shots fired.
A police department spokeswoman said the suspect had been contained.
The Enquirer said some customers were hiding inside a bathroom at the bank, and that one gunshot victim was found inside a nearby ice cream shop. Citing radio traffic, the newspaper said no officers were hurt.
Four victims were transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, the Enquirer said.
The area around the bank was closed to pedestrians after the shooting, police said on Twitter.
Reporting by Daniel Wallis; Editing by David Gregorio