Two injured in shooting outside North Carolina Nash County Courthouse

Police officers are now searching for suspects

Nash Count Courthouse in North Carolina, where two people were shot on Tuesday (Google Maps )

Police have launched a search operation after two men were shot outside a courthouse in the state of North Carolina, sending downtown Nashville into lockdown.

Sheriff Dick Jenkins told WNCN TV that one man was shot in the hand and the leg, and the other was shot in the back in front of Nash County Courthouse.

Neither victim suffered life threatening injuries, and Jenkins added that one of the victims was lying on a stretcher and was able to speak.

Asked what he thought motivated the shooting in Nashville, around 45 miles east of the state capital Raleigh, he said he had “no clue.”

“I think it’s senseless,” he said.

Officers are now searching for two men who were believed to be in a white car – conflicting with separate reports that stating the men had escaped on foot.

“We're looking at all leads. That's all I can tell you right now," he said.

As police searched for the suspects, roads were blocked across downtown Nashville and Nashville Elementary, Nash Central Middle and W.L. Green Administrative Facility were all put in lockdown.