Durham police ask for help after 11-year-old girl shot in head
Durham police are asking the public for information after an 11-year-old girl was shot in the head Tuesday night while sitting in the back seat of a car.
The girl, whose name was not released, was shot on Guess Road near Horton Road, the Durham Police Department stated in a news release late Wednesday afternoon.
A car pulled into a parking lot on Hillandale Road at around 9:30 p.m. The driver told an officer who was in the parking lot that a child in the back seat had been shot.
The girl was alert but bleeding from the top of her head. Officers gave her medical aid until paramedics arrived and took her to the hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening, the release stated.
The child’s mother was in the car and said she could not tell where the shots came from, the release stated.
Witnesses told officers occupants of two vehicles were shooting at each other in the area, according to the release.
3rd child reported shot since Friday
The shooting of the girl follows a shooting of a 17-year-old boy in the leg early Monday and the shooting of a 10-year-old boy, also in the leg, Friday, police said.
As of Aug. 22, 26 people under the age of 18 had been shot in Durham this year. Eighteen of those people were 16 or 17 years old. Five were between the ages of 6 and 15. Three were 5 or younger.
In the same period, a total of 189 people had been shot in Durham. This number includes homicides, but does not include accidental shootings or self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
All told, as of July 25, reported violent crime in Durham was up nearly 15% this year, according to police department statistics. Non-domestic aggravated assaults, which can include shootings, were up 42%.
No charges have been filed in Tuesday night’s shooting.
Police ask anyone with information to call investigators at 919-560-4440, ext. 29414 or CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for information leading to arrests in felony cases, and callers never have to identify themselves.
Staff writer Mark Schultz contributed to this story.