A man is critically ill and two others have sustained head injuries after a street fight erupted in west Belfast.
A scenes of crime officer examines the car
Trouble broke out on the Whiterock Road and Moyard Parade, off the Springfield Road. There were claims some of those involved were armed with knives.
Two police officers investigating the disturbance said they were hit by a car and they fired a shot at it.
Four people have been arrested. The Police Ombudsman's office has been called in to investigate the shooting.
The area around the vehicle in Moyard Parade has been cordoned off by police.
It has a bullet hole in its bonnet and the police said it was involved in a crash with a police Land Rover and also struck the two officers.
They are not thought to have been seriously injured.
The police found three people who had been beaten up. All of them had suffered head injuries, and one is critically ill at the Royal Victoria Hospital.
It is understood a hammer may have been used.
Arthur Morgan said police should not have fired
Residents are angry at the police handling of the situation and have criticised the firing of a shot.
Local man Arthur Morgan, whose daughter's partner was in the car, said someone could have been killed.
"They had no call to fire that shot," he said.
"The two jeeps had already rammed the car and sealed the area off."
Two men and two women have been arrested.
Both Moyard Parade and part of the Whiterock Road - about a mile away - remain cordoned off.