Sleeping Girl Killed as Car Crashes into Building

Witnesses say the driver may have been shot at a crime scene a few blocks away

A 14-year-old girl died early Tuesday after a car plowed into an apartment building in west suburban Maywood, the Medical Examiner's Office confirms.

The girl was sleeping on a couch when the car crashed through the window of the building's basement apartment around 11:30 p.m. on the 800 block of South 19th Avenue. She has been identified as Dominique Thomas and was pronounced dead on the scene. Thomas was a student at Proviso East High School.

Police confirmed the driver of the silver Hyundai was shot at near 19th and Harrison, a few blocks away. The car also hit Thomas' 12-year-old brother who is currently at Loyola Hospital with unknown injuries.

After the crash, a male passenger fled the vehicle, police said. They wouldn't specify the driver's injuries or if he had gunshot wounds.

A witness told NBC Chicago he heard several gunshots, and many saw the car driving extremely fast, never hitting the breaks, before slamming into the house.

"It was possible that the individual that was driving that vehicle was kind of slumped over," said a witness who asked not to be identified. "He never hit the brakes or anything. I never saw brake lights remotely come on. He just barreled into the house."

Neighbors said there were two murders on the same block two weeks ago.

The car has been removed and the window of the house on South 19th was boarded.

Police are asking for public's help in the investigation.

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