(Courtesy: Peterson’s Breaking News of Trenton)

By: Kevin Shea and Paige Gross

TRENTON, N.J. –  Twenty-two people were wounded early Sunday – 17 from gunshots – when multiple people started shooting at each other inside the Art All Night event in Trenton.

One person, a 32 year-old male, was killed, and suspected to be one of the shooters, Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said Sunday morning. Police took a second suspect into custody at the scene.

During a press conference Sunday, Onofri said authorities “believe” the alleged gunman who died was shot and killed by police.

Among the wounded is a 13-year-old boy in extremely critical condition, the prosecutor said.

What started the shooting is under investigation, but Onofri said Art All Night itself does not appear to have been the target. “All indications are that this was a dispute between individuals that occurred at Art All Night,” Onofri said.

About 1,000 people were at the event when the gunfire erupted.

The event, billed as “24 hours of “community, creativity, and inspiration,” and held at the historic Roebling Wire Works building on South Clinton Avenue, turned to chaos shortly before 3 a.m.

People ran from the event into nearby streets as police descended on the building and alternately looked for shooters and treated victims.

Irvin Higgenbotham, a resident who said he comes to the event every year, was shot in the leg early Sunday morning. Higgenbotham said he was walking inside the event with his bike when he heard the shots going off.

“It was like, pow, pow, pow and then I was laying down on the ground,” he said.

A bullet struck his leg, he said, and a woman who was at the event helped him until he was able to be treated. Higgenbotham returned to the scene of the shooting at about 8:45 a.m. Sunday, after being released form the hospital, to find out what happened, and how he got caught in the middle of the shooting, he said.

Onofri described a chaotic and confusing scene early on: Trenton police were swamped with 911 calls reporting a shooting inside the venue, and the first police officers on scene radioed they needed critical assistance and backup.

Trenton police were working off-duty security at the event, and there were no metal detectors inside the building, authorities said. The event occurs both inside and outdoors.

Police later recovered firearms at the scene.

Videos posted on social media showed police and attendees huddling behind cars and helping the wounded.

Maurice Lennon, 31, said he wanted to get one last look at the art inside the building with his friend early Sunday when he heard gunfire.

“We heard the first shots ring out inside the art gallery. The first shot, then the second shot before it resonated that: Wow that’s gunfire,” Lennon, of Trenton said in a phone interview Sunday. “You saw the doors bust open, everyone starting running out and panicking. I ended up getting tripped and fell and I ended up crawling.”

Lennon said he has cuts on his legs and arms from crawling and being stepped on by other people fleeing the shooting.

“I’ve gone to this event for several years. I’ve been going for the past several years, never anything like this,” Lennon said. “I’ve always bragged that this is Trenton’s best event … it’s always peaceful I’ve always felt safe.”

An Art All Night Facebook page said Sunday it was canceling the rest of the event.

A major police presence remained in the area later Sunday.

This is the event’s 12th year.

Seventeen people, including 13 with gunshot wounds, were taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, spokeswoman Kate Stier said. Four of the victims are in critical condition; the alleged gunman was declared dead at the hospital.

None of the surviving victims had been released as of 11:20 a.m., but Stier said some are expected to be released later Sunday.

Outside the event space in Trenton Sunday morning, tables with food and drinks were abandoned and trash cans turned over, with garbage littered around the area as investigators remained on the scene.

Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson issued a statement Sunday saying he was saddened that the shooting happened on Father’s Day during what is typically a very positive event.

“All shootings — whether multiple or singular, whether in a city or a suburb — are a crisis,” Jackson, a Democrat, said. “In Trenton we have been tackling this issue for quite some time. This can’t be discarded as just random violence; this is a public health issue.”

Trenton’s mayor-elect, state Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-15th Dist.), issued a statement saying he attended Art All Night Saturday, and was unsure about the popular event’s future.

“I hope that Art All Night does continue but we are going to have to reevaluate security measures in the future,” he said. “It will be a top priority of my administration to make Trenton a safer city.” 

Reporters Karen Yi, Bill Duhart, and Sophie Nieto-Munoz contributed to this report.

This post has been updated to reflect the age of the deceased man — he was 32.

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