Girl, 13, Shot In Evanston Backyard, No One In Custody: Police

EVANSTON, IL — Authorities said someone opened fire into a group of teenagers at a gathering in an Evanston backyard Monday evening, critically wounding a 13-year-old girl.

Evanston police were dispatched to a report of a shooting around 6:20 p.m. in the 1300 block of Fowler Avenue.

Officers found the girl bleeding from a gunshot wound, and Evanston Fire Department personnel rushed her to a nearby hospital, police said.

Police said the their initial investigation indicates that an unidentified person reached over a fence and fired a gun into a backyard where "several teenage juveniles" were gathered.

The shooter fired several shots, and the girl was the only person hit, according to Evanston Police Cmdr. Ryan Glew.

Glew said the girl was not believed to be the intended target of the shooting.

Investigators did not find a gun at the scene, and no description of the attacker or indication of where they went after shooting was immediately available from police.

The girl, an Evanston resident who did not live at the scene of the shooting, was taken to St. Francis Hospital to be treated for a gunshot wound to the neck, WLS reported, before she was transferred to Lurie Children's Hospital.

Evanston police asked anyone with information about the investigation to give them a call. No one was in custody in connection with the shooting Tuesday morning.