The ten who were wounded were transferred to a medical facility, said Eduardo Castillo, a spokesperson for volunteer firefighters. An interior ministry spokesman said officials were still gathering information about the incident.
The Pavon prison, some 10 miles (16 km) from the Guatemalan capital, houses more than 4,100 inmates, according to official data.
Local media reported that gunfire was continuing inside the prison, and that police were flying a drone overhead but had not yet taken control of the facility.
Camilo Gilberto Morales, director of Guatemala’s penitentiary system, said the gunfire in one part of the prison appeared to have stemmed from an altercation between inmates.
“According to preliminary information it was a confrontation between an inmate in an alleged state of intoxication, shooting at another inmate,” he told local television channel TN23.
More about: prison