One person of interest was in custody after at least 15 people were wounded during a shootout at a funeral in Chicago's Gresham neighborhood Tuesday evening, police said.
The shooting happened just before 7:30 p.m. in the 1000 block of West 79th Street, according to authorities.
One person of interest was in custody shortly after the incident, police said, but they noted that the shooters weren't immediately known.
First Deputy Supt. Eric Carter said the shooting started when someone in a black vehicle opened fire on people attending a funeral on the block. People at the funeral in turn fired back and the vehicle crashed midway down the block, he said.
Chicago authorities initially said 14 people, all adults, were at five different hospitals following the mass shooting, but their conditions were not known. Police increased the number of victims to a total of 15 people early Wednesday.
It was also not immediately clear if all of the victims were attending the funeral.
Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said the fire department transported 11 people from the scene in total, while others were self-transported to various hospitals. Several people were believed to be in serious or critical condition.
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Police did not immediately release a motive behind the shooting.
Residents in the area reported hearing gunshots before seeing victims in the street outside of the funeral home.
"All we saw was just bodies laying everywhere," witness Arnita Gerder said at the scene. "Shot up everywhere, all over. Legs, stomach, back, all over the place. We thought it was a war out here."
"We saw a car with about six bullet holes in it and it was turned facing the grass like he lost control. We saw a hat down on the ground and evidently it was his," Kenneth Hughes, another witness at the scene, said.
Hughes and Gerder added that everyone who was shot appeared to be wearing white.
"Unfortunately it appears like it was planned because as the people were coming out of the funeral home, then the shots rang out like they were literally waiting on them to come out," Hughes said.
Chicago police reported at least 60 shell casings were found at the scene. They urged anyone who knows something or saw something to contact that department.
The incident comes just hours after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot confirmed that federal agents are being sent to the city to curb violence, but the city doesn't "see a Portland-style deployment coming."
Lightfoot said that, as of now, the Trump administration will not be deploying "unnamed agents" to Chicago's streets.
Over the weekend, Chicago saw at least 70 people shot, 11 fatally across the city.
