Milwaukee police were responding to a “critical incident” at the Molson Coors Beverage Co facility on Wednesday, with local media reporting a mass shooting that had caused multiple casualties.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, citing unnamed sources, said seven people had been killed, including the shooter.
That report could not be immediately confirmed.
Local television station WISN cited unconfirmed reports of at least two fatalities.
A message posted by the Milwaukee Police Department on Twitter said only that police were “investigating a critical incident” and urged the public to “stay clear of the area” near the city centre.
“There is no active threat; however, this scene is still an active scene,” the department said in a post at about 4:40 p.m. CST. No further official information was immediately made available.
Police and fire department officials did not immediately return phone calls or email queries from Reuters.
The Molson Coors Beverage Co said in a statement: “There is an active situation at our Milwaukee facility and we are working closely with the Milwaukee Police Department. Our top priority is our employees and we’ll provide updates in conjunction with the police as we are able.”
The entire Molson Coors campus headquarters was placed under a security lock down, and the company told employees in an email that the shooter was located in or near a second-floor stairwell near a packaging facility, The Journal Sentinel reported.
Video footage from the scene showed streets near the downtown area cordoned off with numerous police and fire department vehicles ringing the area as brewery workers were being escorted from buildings in a steady snow.
Local television station WISN said police appeared to be searching a vehicle on or near the scene.
According to the Journal Sentinel, Molson Coors Beverage Co, which operates Miller Coors, announced plans last fall to close a Denver office and relocate hundreds of corporate support jobs to the Milwaukee office. It said the company now has 610 jobs at its Milwaukee corporate office, in addition to 750 jobs at two breweries in the city.
