Multiple people were shot during Juneteenth celebrations in Oakland, California on Wednesday night (local Oakland time).

According to media reports, the incident took place at Lake Merritt when violence broke out during the festival.

Confirming the incident, the Oakland Police Department said that the number of deaths in the incident is not yet known.

Meanwhile, authorities have advised local people not to go to that area.

Purported videos of the incident showed massive chaos on the street where the mass shooting took place.

Juneteenth is the day of emancipation for enslaved Black Americans, celebrated on June 19 each year.

It became a US federal holiday in 2021, after President Joe Biden signed a bill.

Juneteenth is a combination of the words June and 19, also known as Emancipation Day. It commemorates the day in 1865 — after the Confederate States surrendered, ending the Civil War — when a Union general arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform a group of enslaved African Americans of their freedom under President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.