EDMOND, Okla. (AP) — A shooting Sunday night at a party at a lake near Oklahoma City sent least 12 people to hospitals, according to police and hospital officials.
Edmond police spokesperson Emily Ward said authorities received reports of shots being fired at about 9 p.m. at a gathering of young people near Arcadia Lake. She said late Sunday that no arrests had been made yet.
“This is obviously a very terrifying situation and we understand the concern from the public and those involved and we are working extremely hard to find the suspects,” she said.
“We’re kind of all over the metro speaking with victims and witnesses,” Ward said.
She said that 10 people were taken to hospitals and others drove themselves. She said victims were in “various conditions.”
Nine people were at Integris Health Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City and three were at Integris Health Edmond Hospital, according to a hospital system spokesperson. The spokesperson said the patients were all still being assessed late Sunday night.
While police did not provide details about the party, a flyer seen on social media after the shooting suggested that an event called Sunday Funday had been scheduled near the lake Sunday evening.
Arcadia Lake, located around 13 miles (21 kilometers) north of Oklahoma City, is an artificial reservoir used for flood control that is also a popular recreational spot that offers fishing, boating, picnicking and camping. It's located in Edmond, an Oklahoma City suburb with about 100,000 residents.
Forty years ago, Edmond was the site of one of the deadliest workplace shootings in U.S. history. On Aug. 20, 1986, postal worker Patrick Sherrill shot 20 co-workers, killing 14 of them. He then killed himself.
Stengle reported from Dallas.
Emily Ward with the Edmond Police gives an update on a campground shooting at Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Okla., Saturday, May 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
Police block off near S. Air Depot boulevard in Edmond, Okla., after a campground shooting at Lake Arcadia, Saturday, May 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A hantavirus is suspected of causing an outbreak aboard a cruise ship that has killed three people and sickened others.
Studies indicate hantaviruses have been around for centuries, with outbreaks documented in Asia and Europe. In the Eastern Hemisphere, it has been linked with hemorrhagic fever and kidney failure. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that a previously unknown group of hantaviruses emerged in the southwestern United States as the cause of an acute respiratory disease now known hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
The disease gained attention last year after late actor Gene Hackman ’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico.
The World Health Organization said in a statement Sunday that detailed investigations of the cruise ship outbreak are ongoing, including further laboratory testing and epidemiological investigations. Sequencing of the virus also is ongoing.
Hantavirus is mainly spread by contact with rodents or their urine, saliva or droppings, particularly when the material is disturbed and becomes airborne, posing risk of inhalation. People are typically exposed to hantavirus around their homes, cabins or sheds, especially when cleaning out enclosed spaces with little ventilation or exploring areas where there are mouse droppings.
The WHO says that while rare, hantaviruses may spread between people.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking the virus after a 1993 outbreak in the Four Corners region — the area where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet.
It was an astute physician with the Indian Health Service who first noticed a pattern of deaths among young patients, said Michelle Harkins, a pulmonologist with the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center who for years has been studying the disease and helping patients.
Most U.S. cases are in Western states. New Mexico and Arizona are hotspots, Harkins said, likely because the odds are greater for mouse-human encounters in rural areas.
An infection can rapidly progress and become life-threatening. Experts say it can start with symptoms that include a fever, chills, muscle aches and maybe a headache.
“Early in the illness, you really may not be able to tell the difference between hantavirus and having the flu,” said Dr. Sonja Bartolome of UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome usually show between one to eight weeks after contact with an infected rodent. As the infection progresses, patients might experience tightness in the chest, as the lungs fill with fluid.
The other syndrome caused by hantavirus — hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome — usually develops within a week or two after exposure.
Death rates vary by which hantavirus causes the illness. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is fatal in nearly 40% of people infected, while the death rate for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome varies from 1% to 15% of patients, according to the CDC.
There is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival.
Despite years of research, Harkins said many questions have yet to be answered, including why it can be mild for some people and very severe for others and how antibodies are developed. She and other researchers have been following patients over long periods of time in hopes of finding a treatment.
“A lot of mysteries,” she said, noting that what researchers do know is that rodent exposure is a key.
The best way to avoid the germ is to minimize contact with rodents and their droppings. Use protective gloves and a bleach solution for cleaning up rodent droppings. Public health experts caution against sweeping or vacuuming which can cause virus to get into the air.
FILE - A woman works at her shop in Epuyen, Argentina, Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, after an outbreak of hantavirus. (AP Photo/Gustavo Zaninelli, File)
FILE - In this June 15, 2010 file photo, a rat wanders the subway tracks at Union Square in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
