8 injured in shooting outside Tacoma party

A shooting early Sunday morning caused panic in South Tacoma.

TACOMA, Wash. - Eight people were injured in a shooting in Tacoma early Sunday morning.

According to authorities, several people called to report gunshots near 45th Street and S Tacoma Way around 12:15 a.m. Callers reported several cars speeding away.

Tacoma police officers arrived to a large crowd of people and several shooting victims.

Eight victims were identified, and first responders started life-saving measures on all of them. They were then transported to the hospital for treatment, and authorities say they are in stable condition.

The Tacoma Police Department's Wendy Haddow said the victims ranged in age from 17 to 22 years old.

Witnesses told FOX 13 News a fight spilled out of an alley behind a group of businesses. They said it was absolute chaos when the shots started ringing out.

"I heard a ring of gunshots that sounded like 10 to 13, I believe," said a witness who didn't want to share his name for safety reasons.

"Officers arrived, the scene was really chaotic. There was a large crowd. There were multiple victims who had been shot," said Haddow.

Sacha Moore lives nearby and captured cell phone video of the scene after police arrived. She said that around 70 people were in the street around the time of the shooting. Afterwards, she spotted a young lady on the pavement with what looked like critical injuries. She said another man could be seen resting against a neighbor's car, bleeding.

"There was a lot of blood at Puget sound apartments, that was a little too close to where we were," said the other witness who wanted his name to remain anonymous.

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That man told us that he was working about a half a block away when the shooting happened.

"My manager let me know that yes, it was gunshots," he said. "I was hoping for the best, but it turned out to be the worst."

He went on to say that there was a "Black and White Party" underway prior to the shooting and showed us an online flier advertising an event that started at 8:30 p.m.

"It’s like a venue where they have private and public events. I actually went in there for the first time when there was an art gathering," he said.

"This appears to have stemmed from a private venue was hosting a music event," said Haddow. "There was an argument behind the venue and shots were fired."

Originally, Tacoma police had called the event a "rave". Some people had posted online Sunday that they believed the event was not a "rave" as police had initially described, but a different style or type of music event. We reached out to Haddow for additional comment Sunday evening. She responded, saying that she had since viewed a flier for the event, and determined it was not a rave, but instead, a "Black and White Party" which is a different type of event featuring different a different style of music. She says the event itself didn't have anything to do with the shooting, adding that it was just why there were a lot of people in the area.

Tacoma police said they’d like to talk to any victims that may have been injured in the shooting, but haven’t yet come forward.