Multiple victims after shooting near Auburn University in Alabama

AUBURN, Ala. – The police chief in the Alabama city of Auburn said early Sunday that authorities responded overnight to a report of multiple gunshot victims at an apartment complex, but he added he was not immediately releasing any further information.

Auburn Police Chief Tommy Dawson told the Opelika-Auburn News that police answered a report of multiple shooting victims Saturday night but he had no immediate comment on the situation, the circumstances involved or whether anyone was in custody.

The newspaper reported that several emergency vehicles had converged on the University Heights apartment complex where a number of students who attend Auburn University typically reside.

An Auburn police dispatcher contacted by The Associated Press said early Sunday she had no immediate information to release. Police did not immediately return repeated telephone messages seeking comment and the dispatcher later said she had no indication on any subsequent release of information planned by authorities.

John Atkinson, a spokesman for East Alabama Medical Center, told the newspaper in the report online early Sunday that any information would be released later in coordination with the local coroner's office and the Auburn police department.

Auburn University police said they had no information to report on the situation being handled by city police.

Vasha Hunt, a photographer with the Opelika-Auburn News, was at the apartment complex and told AP by telephone early Sunday that authorities had set up a white tent there. But he said police kept several bystanders back behind yellow tape early Sunday.

Police were photographed conversing together behind the taped-off scene as, later, rain began falling. Hunt said many of those who initially gathered outside appeared to be residents waiting for permission to enter their apartments while several police cars and other vehicles were parked around the entrance.

Police also set up large lights illuminating the area and about a dozen police cars, ambulances and other emergency vehicles were photographed around the blocked-off entrance, he added.

Some other reports said students looking on at the scene appeared somber and that residents who showed identification were later let back into their apartments.