Nine people were shot in Denver, Colorado, as the city celebrated its first NBA championship title following the Denver Nuggets victory over the Miami Heat on Monday night. 

According to the Denver Police Department, three of the victims were in critical condition, while the others sustained non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect, who was also shot, was in police custody. 

“As far as what led up to this altercation that resulted in the shots being fired, that’s still under investigation at this time,” police spokesperson Doug Schepman said. “It did occur in the area where we had the largest gathering of folks celebrating during the night.”

He added that an “expansive” investigation was underway. Schepman noted that the suspect was detained relatively easily. 

One local resident told the Denver Post that he first thought the shots were fireworks. 

“I thought it was just more fireworks going off. The percussion kind of startled me,” 55-year-old Scott Dangelo said.  “The police officers were dropping down on their knees. I’m live-streaming. Next thing I know the officers dive in and are pointing their weapons. They were pointing to where the shots were. A lady got shot, like, 10 feet away from me. Another person was struck. It was pretty crazy.” 

He added that it was chaos once the shooting began. “This was pretty, I don’t know how to put it into words,” he said. “The police officers were, like, diving down in front of me reaching for their weapons. I was trying to figure out what was going on. I thought they were pointing weapons at me. I thought they thought maybe I had a gun.” 

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The Nuggets defeated the Heat 94-89 on Monday night, giving the franchise its first title and leading to celebrations throughout downtown Denver. 

The shooting occurred in a popular part of town not far from Coor’s Field, home of the Colorado Rockies baseball team, and several popular bars, according to Fox 31.