Weekend of gun violence leaves 2 wounded victims in Decatur, police report

Detective Sgt. Steve Carroll with the Decatur Police Department said the child was hit in the arm around 3:50 p.m. Saturday while a backseat passenger of the vehicle as it drove through the intersection of Oakland and West Leafland avenues.

“Just riding in a car when he hears a gunshot and got hit in the arm,” said Carroll, who said the victim was treated in hospital and is doing OK. He said the people in the vehicle told police they had no idea who fired the shot and there was no witness information about the incident.

Carroll also reported the wounding of a 30-year-old man just over an hour later at 5:07 p.m., this time in the 1000 block of East Main Street at its intersection with South Illinois Street.

“The 30-year-old male victim said he was standing in front of a mom and pop grocery store there and he saw a flash and heard a loud noise he thought at first might have been fireworks,” said Carroll.

“But then he felt pain in his left cheek and in his shoulder; a bullet had hit the building and fragmented and it kind of hit him in two or three places. He didn’t see or hear anything else and we have no suspect information on that one. The victim was treated at hospital.”

And Carroll said police can’t rule out a connection between that violence and more gun trouble at almost the exact same location the day before on Friday around 10:15 p.m.

“Basically, there were a bunch of people hanging out over there near Main and Illinois streets and they heard a car drive by and some shots were fired," Carroll said. "Nobody was hit in this incident but a car did get hit.”

Carroll said the relatively close proximity in time between the shootings at the same intersection suggests a possible connection, and he noted the same area has been subject to other recent gun violence.

Carroll appealed for anyone with information on any of the shootings to call detectives at (217) 424-2734 or Crime Stoppers, which pays cash rewards for actionable information, at (217) 423-8477.