MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. – Two females and two males were gunned down outside of a Michigan high school following a basketball game Tuesday, prompting school officials closed down the district as police investigate.

Police believe a fight in Grand Rapids – about 40 miles from the shooting at Muskegon Heights Academy High School – preceded the incident, and four individuals traveled to Muskegon Heights — a predominantly African-American community — for Tuesday night’s boy’s basketball game against Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills High School to settle the score, MLive reports.

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“Authorities were present to keep those individuals from entering the basketball game, and those individuals then went to a parking lot by the football field,” WZZM 13 reports. “Three people were shot in that parking lot, two female and one male.”

Muskegon Heights Police Chief Joseph Thomas Jr. told the media one of the individuals turned a handgun on a Muskegon County Sheriff’s deputy assisting with security around 9:30 p.m. and the officer “did what he was trained to do,” according to the news site.

“Some person or persons chose to act in a violent manner,” Muskegon County Sheriff Dean Roesler told reporters. “They were confronted by a sheriff’s deputy, and the deputy felt his life or the life of others was in imminent danger, and he responded accordingly. … He fired, he shot, he shot an armed suspect.

“The sheriff’s office will be conducting an internal investigation, an internal review of the deputy’s actions, but from all the information I’ve been given and others have told me at this point it appears the deputy acted within policy and state law,” Roesler said.

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The police did not name the deputy or any of the individuals involved in the incident. The shooting follows a long history of violence at the school and in local Muskegon Heights community, including at least one recent incident in which a thug brought a shotgun into the school.

“We want to send a very, very strong message to the people: This is how fast we can unite, folks. Between the Michigan State Police, the sheriff’s department, and the Muskegon Heights Police Department, we are not going to tolerate the things that we had to deal with before,” Thomas said.

“We are going to be there. We’re going to try our best to prevent these things from happening … We had support from three agencies. We tried to talk to the individuals and they decided to start some unwanted activity.

“And when you do that folks, I don’t mean to be mean and nasty, but we’re going to finish it for you. This is the way it’s going to be. You’re not going to take over this area. You are not going to take over this county. We’re going to stop you by any means necessary,” he said.

Grand Rapids Public Schools officials told Wood TV8 they don’t believe Ottawa Hills students were involved in the altercation, and all student athletes were accounted for after the game.

Those injured in the shooting, who were not named by investigators, were taken to Mercy Health Hackley Campus, which was placed on a temporary lockdown, which is common procedure.

A statement by Muskegon Heights superintendent Alena Zachery-Ross confirmed that two of the individuals injured in the shootout were students in the district.

“We are sickened by the acts of violence that occurred outside of our school building last night,” she said, according to Wood TV8. “We are saddened that two of our own high school students were injured. However, we do not know what their current condition is. We will do everything we can to assist these students and their families.”

Zachary-Ross also announced that classes for all Muskegon Heights schools were canceled today, though counselors were available to students between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., MLive reports.

Muskegon Heights beat Ottawa Hills 68-53 in Tuesday’s game.