Police: Girl, 2, shot in Indiana was caught in crossfire

Police establishe a large crime scene in the 330 block of Craig Drive in Hammond, Ind., Wednesday night, July 29, 2020 as they investigate a shooting that left a 2-year-old in critical condition. (Jeff Dildine /The Times via AP)

Police establishe a large crime scene in the 330 block of Craig Drive in Hammond, Ind., Wednesday night, July 29, 2020 as they investigate a shooting that left a 2-year-old in critical condition. (Jeff Dildine /The Times via AP)

A 2-year-old girl who was shot in the head and critically wounded while sitting in a car with her mother at a northwestern Indiana apartment complex was caught in crossfire as two people exchanged gunfire, police said.

Hammond police said the mother, who was not injured in Wednesday night’s shooting, did not know the people who traded gunfire in the parking lot of the Kennedy Crossing Apartment Complex.

The woman’s daughter was airlifted to Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago, where she was in critical condition Thursday after being shot in the head, Hammond police Lt. Steve Kellogg told The (Northwest Indiana) Times.

A telephone message seeking an updates on the girl’s condition and the investigation into the shooting, including whether any arrests have been made, was left Friday morning for Hammond police.

Following the shooting, police searched a wooded area nearby where one suspect had apparently fled. A police helicopter police helped in that search while police dogs scoured the area in the city about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Chicago, WLS-TV reported.

Hammond detectives used a fire truck to search the roof of an apartment building for evidence, while the FBI assisted police at the shooting shooting scene, where police had marked at least 10 shell casings.

Neighbor Ariel McBounds called the shooting was “devastating” and said she feels for the girl’s mother.

“I can only imagine what she’s going through and how she’s feeling,” McBounds told WLS-TV.