Three dead after shooting in Illinois bowling alley

A shooting inside a Rockford, Ill., bowling alley Saturday has left three people dead and three others injured, according to authorities. 

Rockford Police Chief Dan O’Shea said during a news conference that a “person of interest” was taken into custody after the shooting at Don Carter Lanes, The Associated Press reported. 

O’Shea said that two people who were shot were teenagers, although he did not release any additional information about the victims or the person who was taken into custody. 

The police chief added that the situation at the bowling alley in Rockford, located about 80 miles northwest of Chicago, had been contained and that no officers were believed to have fired their weapons while detaining the person of interest. 

According to the Rockford Register Star, O’Shea said police responded to reports of shots fired inside and outside of the bowling alley and off-track betting site after receiving calls close to 7 p.m.

“We have the scene secure and a person of interest in custody,” O’Shea said. “When officers arrived on scene, the shooter was still in the building. No officers fired their weapons that we know of at this point but the individual that we believe is responsible and the only individual we believe at this point to be involved, we have in custody.”

O’Shea said the attack appears to have been random, although he said “at this point it’s all unknown.”

The Star noted that this year has been the deadliest on record since 1965 for the city, with 35 homicides. The next highest was 31 recorded in 1996.

Police data released Thursday showed there have been 49 percent more shots fired and 21 percent more violent crimes through November of this year, according to the Star.