Update: 11/1, 11:45 a.m. Alix Rosenthal is holding a press conference at 2:00 p.m. today at Harvey Milk Plaza (the main entrance of the MUNI stop at Market and Castro). Numerous witnesses (including a friend of ours!) report to the Chron that no real search for weapons was being done last night. Two in custody, all ten shooting victims are still alive.

Update: It's now being reported that the number of people shot is at 10. We'll be updating this all day as the news comes in.

10/31, 11:45 p.m.: We just saw this on the local news, and it's slowly making its way onto websites -- but seven people were shot right after the official closing time of the Halloween celebration in the Castro. (It sounds like they updated the shooting count after this news still from CBS 5 was on.)

From what we heard on TV, people heard shots a little after 10:30, right as the officials were announcing that the party was over, and found a bunch of people with gunshot wounds around 16th and Market. Witnesses reported seeing someone, but the only thing they saw was a person running with "a black mask." They sent ambulances and police escorts down the reserved emergency vehicle lane (unclear whether the lane was actually clear or not), one person was shot in the head, one in the leg, and they didn't have any other information. Some people are in custody but the SFPD doesn't know if they're suspects or not.

SFPD was doing screenings of people for weapons, but doesn't know how this person could have slipped through -- and as the cameras panned away, even though it was around 11:20 and a street cleaning truck was vainly trying to spray water at Market and Castro, the place still looked pretty packed to us. More on this as it happens -- and we're wondering how good or bad Bevan Dufty's plan's going to look in the cold hard light of day tomorrow.

Update: From the Chron: 2 women and 5 men shot, 2 with life-threatening injuries. SFPD also received reports of at least one stabbing and one possible sexual assault. Dufty is "disappointed." Rosenthal is "really sad."