Cincinnati, OH – At least three people are dead and as many as five more may have been wounded in what dispatchers described as an “active shooter” situation in downtown Cincinnati on Thursday morning.

A witness told the Cincinnati Enquirer he heard at least 15 shots fired at the Fountain Square Fifth Third bank during the rampage.

Police announced that the scene was secure at about 9:15 a.m. but they also said the crime scene was massive and that most of the downtown area would remain shut down for a good part of the day.

"The shooter is dead. Of the five victims we have word that three are dead," Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac said at a press briefing.

Police said one victim had been located at 5th and Walnut streets, and another was found inside the nearby Graeter's ice cream shop, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, but witnesses claimed to have seen two stretchers being removed from the ice cream shop.

Zach Fritzhand works nearby and told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the people he saw being taken away on the stretchers were not moving.

“There was definitely a lot of blood involved,” Fritzhand said.

Hospital officials said that three men and one woman suffering from gunshot wounds had been transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Officials said that of those victims, one had died, two were in critical condition, and one was in serious condition, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

Cincinnati Police Captain Jeff Butler said no more victims would be taken to that hospital’s emergency room.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that radio traffic indicated other victims may have been transported to Good Samaritan Hospital.

Leonard Cain said he was on his way back inside the bank when someone warned him about the shooting.

Cain told the Cincinnati Enquirer that a woman was also walking into the bank at the same time he was, but she had headphones on and could not hear the people who were alerting her to the danger of the gunman.

"She walked in the door and he shot her," Cain told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Michael Richardson said he was outside the bank’s main doors on Fountain Square having a cigarette when he heard gunfire and saw the gunman shooting inside the bank’s lobby.

“I looked behind me and saw the guy – he shot and then he shot again. After that I started running. I went around to the north side of the building and sat down,” Richardson told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

He said he saw a police officer dragging a wounded woman from the building. She was talking but appeared to be bleeding badly, he said.

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