2 Women, 4-Year-Old Girl Shot In Times Square

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Three people, including a child, were shot in Times Square on Saturday afternoon.

Moments after the triple shooting, dozens of people could be seen running through Times Square, including an NYPD officer carrying a young child, believed to be one of the victims.

One witness told CBS2's Kiran Dhillon she heard the shots and saw the victims lying in the street.

"Everybody's congregating as normal and shots ring out, three of them. And I think everybody just kind of stopped and was in a shock and was really trying to figure out, like, if we really heard this happen, and so many people swarmed around them so quickly. They didn't look good, but you didn't really hear them scream or cry or anything like that. It just happened really, really quickly," she said.

Officers in the area heard shots fired near West 44th Street and Seventh Avenue just before 5 p.m.

NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea says according to their preliminary investigation, two to four male individuals were involved in a dispute when at least one person pulled out a gun and fired several shots.

Three people were struck: a 23-year-old woman from Rhode Island was shot in the leg, a 43-year-old woman from New Jersey was shot in the foot, and a 4-year-old girl from Brooklyn was shot in the leg.

The 4-year-old girl is expected to undergo surgery. All three victims are expected to survive.

WATCH: NYPD Officials Provide Update On Times Square Shooting --

Shea says it appears the three victims are innocent bystanders and they did not know each other.

The little girl was with her family at the time of the shooting. According to Shea, she was buying toys when she was shot.

Police recovered three shell casings from the scene, but they have not recovered a gun at this time.

"Obviously, we're very concerned about the proliferation of guns, not only in this incident, but throughout New York City ... How many more kids do we need to be shot before we realize that bad policies have consequences? And we need action, and we need policies regarding laws to have consequences," Shea said.

Police have released a photo of one person of interest in the shooting.

Anyone who has information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477 or for Spanish, 1-888-577-4782. Tips can also be sent to the NYPDTips Twitter account or submitted online at NYPDCrimeStoppers.com.

Hours later, buildings remained evacuated, and in some cases, people were barricaded inside stores as the investigation continued.

Times Square was completely blocked off while police investigate. Shea said it would reopen Saturday night.

CBS2's Kiran Dhillon contributed to this story.

In:
• Shooting
• New York City Police Department
• Times Square
• Kiran Dhillon
• New York