- Update: ‘Gang violence’ might have led to mass shooting with 10 hurt outside Pa. nightclub, authorities say
Ten people were wounded just before 2 a.m. Thursday in a shooting outside an Allentown nightclub, city police report.
Most of the victims had just left Deja Vu Nightclub at 343 Hamilton St. and were on the sidewalk, Capt. Bill Lake said.
Police responded at 1:56 a.m., Lake said. Victims were taken to area hospitals and are expected to survive, Lake said.
No one is in custody, Lake said.
It was one of the worst mass shootings in recent memory in the region. Lehigh County Sheriff Joe Hanna, who worked 34 years for the Allentown Police Department, eventually rising to chief, said Thursday morning he can say with a “high degree of certainty” that there were no shootings in his tenure with the city that had that many victims. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said he didn’t recall any double-digit victim counts in his 28 years in his job.
The closest would the six people wounded -- one of them died -- in the Dec. 2, 2012, shooting at the Puerto Rican Beneficial Society on East Third Street in Bethlehem, Morganelli figured. That was labeled one of the Lehigh Valley’s worst shootings.
The synagogue shooting Oct. 27 in Pittsburgh is called one of the worst mass shootings in Pennsylvania history; 11 people died and seven people, including the alleged gunman and five police officers, were wounded, according to media reports.
Lake wouldn’t go into detail on how the shooting happened early Thursday, saying he was relaying a prepared statement and may have more information later.
A man who answered the phone Thursday morning at the nightclub said nothing happened inside prior to the shooting and the club had no connection to the gunfire.
Evidence markers were placed outside the old Catch 22 nightclub, which is for sale and next to Deja Vu along Hamilton Street.
Earlier, Lake said he didn’t know if the shooting was tied to gunfire Tuesday night that wounded two 19-year-old city men.
Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.