JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Five people were rushed to an area hospital after shots rang out from a passing car in a Northwest Jacksonville community Thursday evening.

The shooting took place just before 9 p.m. near the intersection of Pearce and West Fourth streets off Kings Road, just blocks south of Edward Waters College.

"About 9 p.m. one of the officers was patrolling the area when he first heard gunfire. He rode up and discovered multiple people had been shot in an apparent drive-by,” said Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Chief Wayne Clark. “It's still sketchy at this time about the type of vehicle and the suspects.”

He said a large group of people was gathered in a yard on the corner of Fourth and Pearce streets when a car came by and opened fire.

“Several people ran. Some ran inside the house, and some ran into the back,” Clark said.

A police helicopter flew above the scene of the shooting as officers on the ground conducted their investigation. Clark said the helicopter was being used because when officers arrived at the scene they were told other people had been shot and the helicopter was conducting a canvass.

He said in addition to the helicopter officers on foot did a canvass of the area to make sure there were no other victims lying around.

All of the victims were taken to Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center. Clark said of the five people taken to the hospital, three were in serious condition and the other two had injuries not considered to be life-threatening.

The names of the victims were not immediately released. Jacksonville police continue to investigate the shooting.

“This scene is very large. We have bullet casings all over the place. As scenes go, we need to go large and make sure that we gather all of the evidence to try to solve this case. We’ve got officers doing door-to-door canvassing to make sure that we talk to every person and we keep the unanimity,” Clark said.

Anyone with information that could help detectives solve the crime can do so by calling police or Crimestoppers at 866-845-TIPS.