Three people were killed and at least 11 others were injured in a shooting in Philadelphia late Saturday, authorities said. 

Shortly before midnight, police officers on patrol in a popular nightlife area heard gunfire and witnessed "several active shooters" firing into a crowd, Inspector D.F. Pace of the Philadelphia Police Department said at a news conference early Sunday.

An officer fired at one of the gunmen as he was shooting, but it was unclear whether the man was hit, Pace said. The man dropped his weapon and fled when he was fired upon, he added.

The whereabouts of the shooters were not immediately known, Pace said.

Of the 14 people who were shot and brought to nearby hospitals, three - two men and a woman - were pronounced dead on arrival, Pace told reporters.

Officials at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital told The Washington Post that it received a total of 10 patients. Three died, six were in a "stable condition" and one had been discharged as of Sunday morning.

Police will continue to gather information and look at video surveillance footage in the bustling area, Pace said.

"There were hundreds of individuals just enjoying South Street as they do every single weekend when this shooting broke out," Pace added. "This investigation is fluid."

Two weapons, both semiautomatic handguns, were recovered, Pace said. One of them had an extended magazine. "Multiple casings" of ammunition were strewn about the South Street area, he added.

The local 6ABC news outlet showed videos of glass debris on the street and police tape cordoning off a busy shopping area.

The shooting comes amid fresh outrage across the country from police chiefs and elected officials over gun violence. President Joe Biden has renewed a push for Congress to act on gun restrictions.

It followed another shooting nearby early on Tuesday, according to a report from WPHL-TV, a local news affiliate. Surveillance video showed a woman firing multiple shots at the intersection of 4th and South Streets. One man was shot in the shoulder. He was treated at a nearby hospital, police told the station. It was not clear if the shootings are related.

In a statement Sunday morning, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney called the latest shooting "beyond devastating" in what he said was "yet another horrendous, brazen and despicable act of gun violence" that "has shaken many people in our community."

He also decried the rise in gun violence.

"We've spent these years grappling with this rising epidemic and doing everything in our power not only to stop it but to try to understand why the violence continues - it's senseless, needless and deeply troubling," Kenney, a Democrat, said.