A 14-year-old girl was seriously wounded by stray gunfire Tuesday near a grade school in west suburban Elgin.
The shooting happened about 4 p.m. near the intersection of Washburn and Billings streets outside Lowrie Elementary School, Elgin police said in a statement.
Someone in a vehicle began shooting toward other vehicles nearby, but struck the 14-year-old girl instead, police said.
Officers responded and found the girl a couple blocks away in a vehicle near Highland Avenue and State Street, police said. She was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.
Police said their preliminary investigation shows the girl was not the intended target, and that the shooting was not a random act.
The Elgin Courier-News reported the girl was a student at Ellis Middle School in Elgin. The principal, Yvette González-Collins, sent a note to staff saying the girl’s condition had stabilized at a hospital, the Courier-News reported.
Anyone with information is asked to call Elgin Police Sgt. David Lesko at 847-289-2528.