Gunfire erupted at an ice-skating rink in Pawtucket, R.I., on Monday during a high school hockey game, leaving three people dead, including the shooter, the authorities said.
The shooting, which happened around 2:30 p.m. at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena, left three other people in serious condition.
A motive for the shooting was not known, though it appeared to arise from a family dispute, Chief Tina Goncalves of the Pawtucket Police Department said at a news conference.
The two people killed appeared to be adults, according to Chief Goncalves.
The two teams set to compete on Monday, Blackstone Valley Schools and Coventry Public Schools, were made up of players from multiple area schools.
“It was a senior night, a time for them to celebrate and remember,” Chief Goncalves said. “And it’s very unfortunate that this happened today.”
Law enforcement officials said that they would work with the schools to offer counseling services for the students who escaped the shooting.
“Obviously, you know, it’s going to all settle in probably later tonight or tomorrow for them,” Chief Goncalves said.
As one of the teams was trying to break out of its defensive zone with the puck, a burst of gunfire echoed inside the arena, a video stream of the game showed.
Players on the benches began ducking for cover behind the boards. On the ice, the referee blew his whistle to stop the game and skated off the ice.
Within seconds, the benches emptied, with the teams hopping over the boards and skating toward exits on the other side of the rink.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives said on social media that it was sending agents to the scene of the shooting. The police in Providence said they sent officers to the scene to provide help.
Don Cowart, the superintendent of the Coventry Public School District, said in a statement on Monday that all of the students on the hockey team who were at the rink during the shooting were safe and had been accounted for.
“An officer from the Coventry Police Department is on scene and remains with the students,” Mr. Cowart said. “We are grateful for the swift response of first responders and arena personnel.”
Representative Gabe Amo, Democrat of Rhode Island, who grew up in Pawtucket, urged people in a post on X to avoid the area of the shooting.
“My thoughts are with the victims of the shooting in Pawtucket,” Mr. Amo wrote. “Grateful to our law enforcement and first responders for acting swiftly.”
The Providence Bruins, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Boston Bruins, offered its support to the community and praised emergency responders on social media.
The shooting comes about two months since Rhode Island was rattled by a separate attack at Brown University that killed two students, wounded nine others, and set off a dayslong manhunt.
Investigators said the gunman also killed an M.I.T. professor before fatally shooting himself inside a storage facility in Salem, N.H.
Claire Fahy and Livia Albeck-Ripka contributed reporting.
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
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