2 teens shot dead, 4 others injured at a party in a vacant home, police say

Two teenagers were fatally shot and four other teens were injured during a party at a vacant house in Boone County, Missouri, authorities said Sunday.

Sheriff's deputies responded to a shots fired call shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday at the house in Columbia, about 35 miles north of Jefferson City, the Boone County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post.

Dozens of people may have been in attendance when a "verbal altercation" between two groups led to gunfire, authorities said.

The two victims were 16 and 17 years old.

The four injured teens were between ages 16 and 19 and have non-life-threatening injuries, according to the sheriff's office.

Authorities have not yet arrested any suspects, the sheriff's office said. Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to contact the sheriff's office or submit an anonymous tip through CrimeStoppers.

The incident is among the 275 mass shootings thus far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as having four or more deaths or injuries not including the shooter.

There have been more than 650 teen deaths as a result of shootings this year, along with more than 1,600 injuries, according to the archive.