COLUMBUS, OHIO (NYTIMES) - Several people were killed in a shooting on Monday (May 25) outside Columbus, Ohio, according to local news media reports.

The shooting happened in West Jefferson, Ohio, a village of some 4,000 people about 32km (20 miles) west of the state's capital city. Authorities told The Columbus Dispatch that they found the victims' bodies inside and outside a duplex residence on the 100 block of Jackson Street.

Three bodies were found inside the apartment and there were additional bodies outside the home, television station WSYX reported. The police told the station that they received a 911 call from a passerby around 5:30 pm.

The station cited information from the village's police chief, Christopher Floyd, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night. A dispatcher at the West Jefferson Police Department referred questions to the chief.

Officials did not immediately provide details on the total number of victims, their names or information on any possible suspects.

Officers from Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigation were helping to process the crime scene at the request of local police, said Mr Steve Irwin, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office, in an e-mail Monday night.

Mr Irwin said he could not provide additional details about the shooting because the West Jefferson Police Department was leading the investigation.

Floyd said that the shooting took place on a dead-end street, which led him to believe that the victims had been targeted, WSYX reported.

"We don't know whether it's a robbery, a target, we don't know at this point," Floyd told the station. "Something brought somebody to a dead-end street."