Three people were killed and a fourth person was wounded in a shooting at an oceanfront motel in Myrtle Beach, a popular tourist destination in South Carolina, The Associated Press reported.
The shootings took place around 11 p.m. Saturday at the Bermuda Sands Motel, as crowds of people gathered along the beach's new boardwalk, Myrtle Beach Police Capt. David Knipes said at a news conference on Sunday.
Police did not say whether they have any suspects in custody or what led to the shooting.
The victims are Devonte Dantzler, 21, of Summerville; Sandy Gaddis, 22, of Summerville; and Jamie Williams, 28, of Ladson, the Horry County deputy coroner Darris Fowler said. The fourth victim is hospitalized with an injury.
Local paper The Sun News spoke with a witness who said that several people were fighting on the sidewalk in front of the motel when he heard gunfire.
"At first, everyone was standing around to see who was going to win the fight. Then they started shooting and everyone scattered," the witness George Covington said.
The shooting happened during the Atlantic Beach BikeFest, an annual Memorial Day weekend festival held about 15 miles away.
Myrtle Beach, a quiet tourist town, had just two homicides in all of 2013, Knipes said.
Myrtle Beach police are yelling "OCEAN BLVD IS SHUT DOWN"
3 dead in Myrtle Beach motel shooting http://t.co/2wSwE3osgJ