  We present a study of three-particle correlations among a trigger particle
and two associated particles in Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV
using a multi-phase transport model (AMPT) with both partonic and hadronic
interactions. We found that three-particle correlation densities in different
angular directions with respect to the triggered particle (`center', `cone',
`deflected', `near' and `near-away') increase with the number of participants.
The ratio of `deflected' to `cone' density approaches to 1.0 with the
increasing of number of participants, which indicates that partonic Mach-like
shock waves can be produced by strong parton cascades in central Au+Au
collisions.
