At least one person is dead, and another is injured after a shooting near an Ohio mosque Monday afternoon.
Columbus police officers responded to the report of a shooting on Albert Avenue, near Alrahma Mosque, at around 2 p.m., local time, according to local news. There are multiple two-story apartment buildings in the area.
One person died, according to federal authorities. A second victim was found, though their condition was not immediately known, reports say.
“All the people that live in these apartments over here, they’re running away from the scene,” one witness who was dropping his car off at the mechanic when the shooting unfolded told 10 WBNS.
“Some of them are actually trying to get into the scene because they might be related to whatever happened to the situation down there,” he said, adding that it was “definitely surreal.”
A photographer with the Columbus Dispatch who was at the scene at the time said the shooting happened during a funeral at the mosque.
But Columbus police Sgt. James Fuqua said the shooting was not targeted at the mosque; rather, it was believed to have stemmed from a dispute at a nearby apartment complex.
“At the mosque, unfortunately, there was an event going on that had nothing to do with what was going on outside,” Fuqua said, per the Associated Press. "But it’s super important that I make it clear that this shooting had nothing to do with an attack on the mosque itself.”
Officers with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded to the scene. A large section of Albert Avenue was closed off with crime scene tape.
The ATF confirmed that shots were reportedly fired when funeral attendees exited the mosque, killing one person.
Federal authorities have yet to confirm the second victim or the number of shooters as the situation remains fluid.
