Police ‘doing everything we can’ to find shooter who fired into SUV and hit girl, 5

The police investigation continues into the shooting of a 5-year-old girl who was in an SUV with three other people when someone opened fire on it:

  • The girl has been treated and released, Trotwood police said
  • Police have no suspects in the Wednesday night shooting
  • Police don't know whether the shooting was targeted or random

UPDATE @ 8:30 p.m. (Nov. 8): Trotwood Police Chief Erik Wilson said his department is doing all it can to track down the person who fired shots at an SUV on Wednesday night, wounding a 5-year-old girl in a rear seat.

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The 5-year-old has been treated and released.

Thursday, police said they are trying to establish whether the shooting was targeted or random.

“Anytime you have a young child caught up in the middle of something like this it is definitely disconcerting, and we’re going to do everything we can to find out who did this and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law,” Wilson said the night of the shooting.

Police said they will need help from other drivers who were in the area of Salem Avenue near Olive Road, where the shooting occurred.

The girl was buckled in a car seat in the rear of the SUV, which was headed south on Salem about 6:45 p.m., Wilson said.

“An unknown vehicle pulled up next to it and opened fire, striking the vehicle multiple times," the chief said.

"Anyone who has seen anything... we're also working with the family to determine what caused this," Wilson told News Center 7's Mike Campbell on Thursday.

According to updated information about the investigation, there were four people in vehicle hit by gunfire -- The 5-year-old who was wounded, a 1-year-old girl, their mother and an adult male. The driver sped to a McDonald's nearby, on Salem Avenue, and led to a chaotic scene.

"A woman says her little girl got shot," a caller to 911 said. "I was in line and she pulled up to the parking lot and just pulled her daughter out of the car and said she'd been shot. And she was crying and bleeding."

The caller kept dispatchers informed.

"She's awake and breathing. She's crying and the mother's trying to console he," the caller told the dispatcher. "She keeps saying she's been shot. Someone else is trying to help here and they say they see blood."

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