SYDNEY: A shooting in the Australian city of Melbourne early Sunday has left “multiple” victims, police said, but local media reported that there were no fatalities.
“Investigators believe multiple people were shot outside a nightclub near Little Chapel Street and Malvern Road about 3:20 am,” the Victoria Police said in a statement, indicating that the location was the Prahran suburb.
“Police are urging people to avoid the area,” the statement added but did not give any more details including the condition of the victims.
Two men were in hospital in critical condition, police said, while two other men had non-life-threatening injuries. A spokesperson said by telephone that there was no suggestion the attack was terror-related at this stage.
Police were investigating but no arrests have yet been made. “The exact circumstances are still being established,” they said.
Local media said there were three or four victims and that the entire area has been cordoned off.
Costalos said at least four people “are in hospital [and] 2 of whom are critical after a shooting at the venue. […] The exact circumstances are still being established.
The Age newspaper reported one of the wounded was a guard who was shot in the face in what the report described as a drive-by shooting outside the Love Machine nightclub.
Mass shootings are rare in Australia, which has strict gun laws introduced after 35 people were killed in 1996 at Port Arthur in Tasmania.
A murder-suicide last year which left seven members of a family dead in Western Australia was the country’s worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur case.
