Authorities are investigating the existence of a Facebook Live video that apparently captured a shooting in Norfolk, Va., Tuesday evening, the Virginian-Pilot reports.
Three men in a car were injured in the shooting. The video was reportedly taken by one of the victims.
In the video, the three men are sitting in a car, smoking and listening to music. About five-and-a-half minutes into the video, gunshots can be heard, with at least 30 shots being fired in a 22-second time span, the news site notes. The camera falls to the floor, but the audio can still be heard.
“Call the ambulance, please,” a man says shortly after the shooting.
Emergency-response number 911 was called, and one of the injured men can be heard talking to the dispatcher, requesting an ambulance. "There's three of us shot," he says.
Norfolk Police Department spokesman Officer Daniel Hudson told the Pilot Tuesday that he could not confirm what video the authorities were looking into. The Pilot was unable to determine the origin of the video, which was posted to a Facebook profile under the name T.J. Williams at 6:03 p.m. Tuesday.
According to the Virginian-Pilot, the three men were taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Editor’s note: The video contains language and sounds that may be disturbing to some.
The live stream continues to run for more than an hour before finally stopping.
After one of the victims called 911, other people began arriving on the scene, attempting to help the men as they waited for emergency responders to arrive.
“Hurry up,” a man tells the dispatcher. “Three of them have been shot and they can’t last long.
“Look at me. Stay with me now,” the man says, apparently comforting one of the victims. “Don’t go to sleep.”
This is not the first time a shooting has been caught on Facebook Live.
Just last week, Diamond "Lavish" Reynolds captured the aftermath of the police-shooting death of her fiance, Philando Castile, using live stream.
Last month, Antonio Perkins of Chicago captured his own slaying on the social media platform.
Read more at the Virginian-Pilot.