Five hurt in Chicago high school shooting

Five people were shot as spectators left a crowded high school basketball game in what police said may have been a gang-related attack.

Terrified youngsters fled into a snowy street on the city's South Side after five males - three in a serious condition and two critically injured - were shot at Paul Laurence Dunbar Vocational Career Academy - actress Jennifer Hudson's old school - at around 8pm yesterday, local time, said Chicago Fire Department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez.

Hospital spokesmen said later that at least three were expected to be treated and released.

"It was crazy. It was like killers on the loose," said Joshua Glaze, 15, a freshman at the school.

The game was in overtime and some students began to leave the building, he said.

A vehicle then drove up and a person or people inside started shooting into the crowd, said Chicago Police superintendent Jody Weis.

No suspect has been identified or arrested, but the shooting was "isolated" and possibly gang-related, Mr Weis said. Two hundred officers were in the area looking for suspects, he said.

Dunbar freshman Shaneisha Turman, 15, said she saw a silver truck pull up to a bus stop outside the school. People inside the truck pretended to fire a gun and then "they really started shooting", she told the Chicago Tribune.

"People were shouting, 'They're shooting!'," she said. "It was a lot of people shouting and running."

Police spokeswoman Monique Bond declined to identify the victims beyond their sex and would not say whether they had attended the basketball game.

She added that they were "not necessarily students".

The high school has about 1,600 pupils and is the alma mater of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson.