2 children and 4 others shot dead outside a baby shower in Chicago

Two young children are among six victims who were shot dead Saturday in front of a baby shower in Chicago, police said.

A 10-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy were wounded in the Saturday night shootout in West Englewood, according to a tweet from the Chicago Police Department spokeswoman.

The shootout broke out when two men dressed in black clothes approached the rally and "opened fire," said Anthony Guglielmi, the department's communications officer.

The shooters fled the area on foot, he added. Nobody was arrested, the police said.

The girl was injured in the shin while the boy was hit in the chest and back, the police said. They were taken to local hospitals and are in critical but stable condition, Guglielmi said.

"Our prayers are with the two young children who were injured yesterday," he said in an email to ABC News.

Information on other victims was not immediately available.

The other victims are between 23 and 42 years old. Three of the victims are stable, but one of them – a 29-year-old woman who was shot in the chest and at the shoulder – was in critical condition , said the police.

None of the victims, including the children, have been identified.

The inspectors believe the shooting had been profitable for a previous incident, Guglielmi said.

"We think this could be a shootout in retaliation for a previous incident that arose out of a gang conflict in the neighborhood," he said.

The investigators were working "day and night" to find the suspects, Guglielmi said.

However, some potential witnesses of the shooting were not cooperating with the police, he added.

"The cooperation with the detectives has been very limited," he said.

Benjamin Stein, of ABC News, contributed to this report.