Five wounded in shooting near University of Iowa campus

by · UPI

April 20 (UPI) -- Five people were wounded in a shooting near the campus of the University of Iowa over the weekend, according to authorities seeking to identify several persons of interest.

The gunshots rang out early Sunday in downtown Iowa City. The Iowa City Police Department said officers heard the gunfire as they were responding at 1:46 a.m. CDT to a report of a large fight in the 100 block of East College Street.

Officers arrived to find multiple victims who were taken to area hospitals. In an update, police said five people were wounded, including one person who was listed in critical condition. The other four victims were listed as stable, the police department said.

University of Iowa President Bard Wilson identified three of the victims as students.

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She said the university is in close communication with police.

"While we await additional information, I am thinking about these students and their families, friends and all the people who care about them. I am holding them close in my thoughts, along with everyone in our community who is hurting or feeling shaken right now," she said in a statement.

The Iowa City Police Department said it is seeking to identify five people it considers "persons of interest associated with this shooting," releasing a picture of five males while asking anyone with information to contact the authorities.

"There is no known ongoing threat associated with this incident," the police department said.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement that her morning prayers were with the victims and their families.

"This senseless act of violence has devastated the university community and our state," she said online.