Three people, including infant, killed in carnival shooting near Salt Lake City

The altercation escalated when a 16-year-old opened fire, prompting police response. The shooter was taken into custody amid a rise in mass shootings this year.

Three people, including an eight-month-old infant, were shot and killed and two teenagers were wounded following an altercation between two groups at an annual carnival in the suburbs of Salt Lake City, Utah, on Sunday night, police said.

The police returned fire, but did not hit the suspect, they said, adding the suspect had been taken into custody. (Getty Images via AFP)

A 41-year-old female bystander was among those killed, while an 18-year-old man in one of the groups involved in the altercation was also killed in the shooting that took place during "Westfest" at Centennial Park, West Valley City, according to the police department.

The West Valley City Police Department said that as police had approached to break up an argument between the two groups a 16-year-old male in one of them had pulled out a gun and opened fire at the other group.

The police returned fire, but did not hit the suspect, they said, adding the suspect had been taken into custody.

The wounded teenagers, a male and a female, were both hit in their arms, but it was not clear if they were connected to the groups involved, the police added.

There have been 156 such mass shootings in the United States so far this year when defined as an incident with four or more people shot or killed, not including the shooter, according to the Gun Violence Archive.