A fun annual gathering turned deadly as the homicide rate rises to new records.

As youth football players participated in the annual Juice Bowl at Shawnee Park in Louisville, shots rang out leaving two people dead and five others wounded.

The Juice Bowl is a youth football tournament that brings out thousands of people every year on Thanksgiving. The Juice Bowl has been going on in the West Louisville park since the 1950s and never had a tragic event like this occur before. After the Thanksgiving Day shooting, the homicide rate in Greater Louisville has risen to new highs.   

Stephen Washburn was attending the Juice Bowl and streamed a Facebook Live video when the shooting could be heard in the background. There were 19 shots fired in the park as people ran for safety. The shooters are not visible in the video and the shooters fled the scene before Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) could aprended them. Louisville Mayor, Greg Fischer, who was about 200 yards from the gunfire, was safely taken away by security.

In a Facebook message, Mayor Fischer wrote: “To have people with guns so disrespect life, Shawnee Park, and neighborhood tradition is sad and has no place in our city.”

“We were standing on the sidelines watching the women’s team play, and all of the sudden, you heard gunshots and people started scattering,” said Antjuan Allen, coach of the River City Hurricanes football team, in an interview with WDRB.

After the gunfire stopped, friends and family members of the victims dropped to their knees to weep. “I saw one guy laid out. He was still alive. And I saw another guy over there dead. He was shot in the head,” one spectator told WDRB News.

According to police the shooters were not participating in the football games and the shooting stemmed from a dispute, but it’s unclear who the shooter was. People at the event said they saw a biker gang at the park and believed they might be involved with the shooting. Tire tracks from motorcycles are visible on the parking lot by the park where one person was fatally shot.

The deceased have been identified as Michael L. Carter, 26, and William D. McKee, 32, both from Louisville. Carter died of multiple gunshot wounds. McKee died of a single gunshot wound, according to the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office.

According to WDRB, “This is very tragic,” said Dwight Mitchell, LMPD spokesman. “I’m saddened. We’ve had over 100 homicides in our city… It is a day to be thankful and we’re thankful that more people were not hurt.” LMPD is asking for help finding the suspects in this shooting by calling the anonymous help tip line 574-LMPD.

The deadly shootings in Louisville are rapidly rising in 2016. The Thanksgiving Day deaths brought Louisville’s 2016 homicide count to 112. The record high was 110 homicides in 1971.