WELLS — Three people were shot – including a young child – around 4:30 p.m. Saturday at a family home in Wells.

The shooting involved family members at 97 Crediford Road, and by 5:45 p.m. the alleged shooter was being detained at the Wells Police Department, according to a posting on the department’s Facebook page. The shooting victims were taken to area hospitals, police said.

Speaking not far from the house Saturday night, Shannon Moss, spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, would not confirm how many victims there were or what their conditions were or say if anyone had been arrested. She did not answer when asked if any of the victims had died.

“This is a family. We need to be sensitive, we need to be cognizant of that,” Moss said. “There are family members and friends and neighbors who are very concerned right now and obviously so. Law enforcement is concerned. But again our priority is making sure we can figure out what happened.”

York Hospital had released a statement earlier Saturday saying that at 4:24 p.m. two adult men and one young child arrived at the hospital’s facility in Wells, “victims of gunshot wounds.” The two men had non-life-threatening injuries while the child was described as being in “critical/extremis condition.” After treatment and resuscitation efforts the child was transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland by LifeFlight of Maine, the statement said.

Moss said that the Maine State Police’s Major Crimes Unit had become the primary law enforcement agency in the investigation, after first being called in by Wells police. The MCU is responsible for major investigations, including homicides, suspicious deaths and child abuse cases, according to the Department of Public Safety website.

Moss would not say if anyone had been arrested in connection with the shooting. She said numerous people had called 911 to say that they heard shots fired at the home.

“Law enforcement needs to talk to people who were involved in the situation, whether that’s other family members, whether that’s victims, whether that’s the person who came to the police station. At this time, all of that is happening as we speak,” Moss said Saturday night. “Anytime you have a family that’s been involved in a shooting. it’s a tragedy. … It’s incredibly sad and it takes a toll on everyone.”

Wells Police Chief Jo-Ann Putnam said authorities would be working on the case through the night and most of Sunday. She said there may be more information about the case released Monday.

The small, two-story house on Crediford Road, which is on Route 9A, is in a rural neighborhood where homes are fairly far apart.

Around 7 p.m., police tape was strung across the road on both sides of the house and two Wells police officers were standing in the road. Both the front and side doors to the house were ajar, but there no outward signs of damage or of a shooting. Purple and white lilac bushes stood near the driveway.

TV crews and other media gathered in the parking lot of the nearby Mt. Zion Chapel, at 119 Crediford Road, but no neighbors or other onlookers were on hand.