At least three persons were shot dead and 16 others were injured after a gunman opened fire on them near a nightclub in the US state of Mississippi, media reports said.

No arrests were made immediately.

The incident happened at around 1 a.m. on Sunday when officers were called to a mass shooting on Church Street in Indianola, a small city in Sunflower County, about 83 miles northwest of Jackson, BNO News reported.

the Indianola Police Department confirmed to BNO News that at least 19 people had been shot, including three teenagers who were pronounced dead.

Some of the injured people were rushed to hospital for treatment.

Witnesses told the news portal that hearing dozens of gunshots during the shooting, which occurred in the vicinity of a club.

“Several people said that they were standing out there, and they started to hear gunshots,” Indianola Police Chief Ronald Sampson told the local newspaper as quoted by BNO News, The Enterprise-Tocsin. “Nobody has really given us anything solid.”