Casualties reported after shots fired in Manhattan

New York City police were investigating reports of gunfire in lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, and one person has been taken into custody, police officials said.

It was not immediately known if there were any injuries. The incident took place near the West Side Highway and Chambers Street, which is near Battery Park City, police said.

US media said a gunman opened fire from a vehicle not far from Stuyvesant High School. An eyewitness told ABC Channel 7 that he saw a white pick-up truck. A man identified by the name “Eugene,” said bodies were lying outside Stuyvesant High School, one of the city’s elite public schools.

Witnesses also said they saw a car crash, one person exit one of the cars carrying two guns, before they heard shots. Several people may have been hit by a vehicle near Chambers Street at around the time of the reported shooting, and at least five people were hurt, news channel PIX 11 reported.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was en route to the scene of the incident and there was "no active threat," a spokesman tweeted.