Three people were killed and three others were injured in a shooting on a suburban street just outside Fredericksburg, Va., on Tuesday, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office said.
The shooting was reported around 5:30 p.m. on Olde Greenwich Circle, a loop of modest townhouses in Spotsylvania County about 60 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., the sheriff’s office said.
Elizabeth Scott, a major with the sheriff’s office, said that there could be more than one attacker and that no one had been taken into custody. A motive for the shooting, which she said had not arisen from a domestic dispute, was not immediately clear.
The ages of the victims, who were all found outside, were not known. The injured victims were taken to area hospitals, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
“We still have an active, ongoing investigation with no suspects in custody,” Major Scott said. Residents who live on or near Olde Greenwich Circle were urged to stay indoors.
Reports of the shooting drew a heavy police response. A video posted on social media showed officers marching through a wooded area with their guns drawn. Another video showed yellow caution tape blocking off a row of homes and what appeared to be two bodies covered in white sheets on the pavement.
Andrea Staples, a receptionist at Strictly Ballroom, a dance studio in a shopping plaza near Olde Greenwich Circle, said a student had called at around 6:30 p.m. after leaving class to alert them to the shooting and the shelter-in-place advisory.
“I locked the door and went and checked the back,” Ms. Staples said.
A class was in session at the time, she said, and the students sheltered in place until about 8 p.m.
“We will be here all night until we find the suspects,” Major Scott said.
This is a developing story.
