A 17-year-old girl was killed and five others injured in a drive-by shooting following a large house party in California early Saturday, police said.
The mass shooting occurred in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Chico, about 90 miles north of Sacramento, Chico Police Lt. Terry Tupper told ABC News. Police responded to the scene around 3:30 a.m. and found several victims struck by gunfire, police said.
A gunman had opened fire from a vehicle into a group of people in the parking lot, Tupper said.
“The actual shooting was not random,” Tupper said, adding that it’s unclear whether any of the six shooting victims were specifically targeted.
All six victims had recently left a house party in the apartment complex that had been cleared by police, Tupper said.
The surviving victims all suffered non-life-threatening injuries and included 18-, 19-, 20- and 21-year-old men, as well as a 17-year-old female, police said.
Police believe the shooting to be an “isolated incident” and there is no threat to the community, Chico Police Chief Billy Aldridge said during a press briefing Saturday.
Chico Police Chief Billy Aldridge holds a press briefing on a mass shooting, May 6, 2023.
Chico Police Department
Investigators are “aggressively pursuing some substantial leads” in the search for a suspect in the shooting, Tupper said.
Chico police had responded to the party about 30 minutes prior to the shooting following reports of someone brandishing a firearm at the gathering, according to Aldridge. Responding officers located someone in possession of a firearm and took them into custody, Aldridge said.
That individual matched the description of a suspect from a separate incident that occurred several hours earlier at another house party in Chico, Aldridge said. Police responded to the scene around 12:30 a.m. following reports that several rounds had been discharged from a firearm, the chief said.
Responding officers learned a fight had broken out after an individual was asked to leave the party, during which one person was allegedly struck on the head with a firearm and another was allegedly hit over the head with a glass bottle, Aldridge said. Both victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were treated at an area hospital, police said.
The individual later apprehended at the second party Chico police responded to was arrested for possession of a firearm and reckless discharge, Aldridge said.