Gunmen Open Fire on Crowd With Children at Event Promoting Non-Violence

Gunmen opened fire Saturday night on a crowd at a car show run by a community group that promotes non-violence in Dumas, Arkansas, killing one person and injuring at least 24 people, with some being children, according to police.

Investigators said the incident that happened around 6:50 p.m. doesn't appear to be an active shooter situation, and that two of the victims were airlifted from the area, according to local news station KARK-TV.

"The Arkansas State Police is continuing to assist the Dumas Police Department in an ongoing investigation of gunfire that swept across a crowd attending a local car show," the police department said in a statement on Sunday on its website.

The Arkansas State Police also said that one suspect has been taken into custody and that the "search is continuing today for others who may have been firing into the crowd of people."

The shootings happened outside the 16th annual "Hood-Nic" Car Show, which was hosted by the Delta Neighborhood Empowerment Youth Organization. The community event included a car and bike show, as well as parades, among other activities, according to the organization's website.

The event is held every spring to raise funds for scholarships and school supplies, according to USA Today. The organization focuses on a number of objectives that includes providing food to youths in areas that are hit hard by poverty. They also host motivational speeches at schools to "encourage good choices and non-violence."

One of the event's organizers, Wallace McGehee, called the shooting a "tragedy."

"We apologize for all of this...This has never happened with us at our event ever," he said, according to USA Today. "For something like this to happen, it's a tragedy."

Arkansas police said it's continuing to assist the Dumas Police Department in the investigation and that special agents with the state's Criminal Investigation Division have worked through the night interviewing victims and witnesses.

"State troopers assigned to the Highway Patrol Division have been assisting Dumas police officers [to] restore calm to the community and securing the crime scene along U.S. Highway 65 which runs through the center of the southeast Arkansas town," police added in its statement.

A number of shootings have been reported over the past week in different parts of the country. On Thursday, a man in Frenso, California, fatally shot his father and injured his mother and sister at a trailer home where they were preparing for a party, according to ABC 30 Action News.

In Texas, a shooting broke out at a spring break gathering on Friday that left at least three people injured. The victims included two teens, who suffered non-life threatening injuries, and a 30-year-old man who was said to be in a critical condition. Authorities said the shooting happened after a fight broke out on the beach.

Gun violence incidents increased last year, according to data by the nonprofit organization Gun Violence Archive. Fatal shootings rose 55 percent during the first half of 2021 compared to the prior year. The nonprofit identifies fatal shootings as those with four or more victims and one dead person who isn't the shooter.

Newsweek contacted the Arkansas State Police, Delta Neighborhood Empowerment Youth Organization, and the Dumas Police Department for comments and will update the story once a response is received.