LEWISTON — At least one man was shot and police were searching for potential other victims Tuesday afternoon after a shooting downtown on Walnut Street.

Police who were in the area at the time of the shooting found a victim suffering from a gunshot wound as he fled down Pierce Street toward Pine.

The officers placed a tourniquet on the man before loading him into a cruiser and taking him to Central Maine Medical Center. Later Tuesday, the victim’s condition was listed as critical at the hospital.

Police cordoned off sections of Walnut, Pierce and Pine streets as they searched for other victims and began investigating the 3 p.m. shooting.

Witnesses at the scene described hearing multiple gunshots on a stretch of Walnut Street near the corner at Pierce. One man said he heard four shots. Others described hearing more than a dozen while a few said they heard more gunshots than they could count.

One man, working security at a construction site, said it appeared that the shots came from a car that was headed down Walnut Street, toward Bates Street. That man and several others were being questioned by police detectives later Tuesday afternoon.

Another woman said she had just stepped outside when she heard “pop, pop, pop” from Walnut Street. She then saw people running away in all directions and a car speeding off toward Bates Street.

Later Tuesday, police were interviewing witnesses and searching for the car that was described fleeing the scene. A section of Walnut Street remained cordoned off as officers directed traffic around the shooting scene.

As the drama was playing out, Lewiston school officials made the decision to shelter in place at both the Longley School and at the Dingley Building, both just blocks away from the shooting scene. School officials later put out a notice to their community advising them of the situation.

One man who lives near the shooting scene said a hall window had been struck by gunfire. In a Facebook post, a single bullet hole could be seen surrounded by a web of cracks in the window pane. The man reported that he and he had walked up the hallway stairs with his young daughter and son just minutes before the shooting.

By early evening, no additional victims of the shooting had been found and no arrests had been made, although police were still downtown investigating the shooting.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Lewiston Police Department at 513-3001 ext. 3324.