PHOENIX — Police are investigating a triple shooting near downtown Phoenix.
Officers were called to the area of 12th Avenue and Madison Street just before 5 a.m. Tuesday.
Police say three people were wounded and taken to the hospital for treatment. One is believed to have serious injuries, while the other two have non-life-threatening injuries.
The victims are said to be two men and a woman in their late 20s to early 50s.
Initial information suggests the shooting occurred during an altercation between two people, but police are still investigating and working on a suspect description.
Later Tuesday morning, officers responded to a nearby business at 13th Avenue and Jefferson Street after an employee found a gun outside the business.
The owner told ABC15 his employee located the gun while watering plants.
"She was going, 'uh, there's a gun," said Joseph Faillace, the owner of Old Station Sandwich Shop. "I said where? She goes, in the planter. So, we went out and I said call 911. Because I was concerned about that shooting this morning and I thought it might be part of it."
Phoenix police said they are looking to see if the gun is connected to the triple shooting.
On Tuesday, police also confirmed the three victims of the shooting are homeless. While the incident occurred outside the Human Services Campus, the executive director said they believe all the victims had accessed services on the campus sometime in the past.
"I hate for incidents like this to create this sense that everyone who's experiencing homelessness is a victim or is a criminal because that's not true," said Amy Schwabenlender, the executive director of the Human Services Campus. "We'll see 800 people today here on the Human Services Campus. They don't all have violent crimes in their background, they're not all going to commit a violent crime today."
