A 17-year-old boy is in critical condition and a 17-year-old girl was also injured after the two were shot in separate shootings, one of which was a shootout, on the same block in Zion.
The Zion Police Department responded around 7:19 p.m. Saturday to the 2300 and 2400 blocks of Joanna Avenue for multiple reports of gunfire.
Zion Police Department Detective Lt. Paul Kehrli said officers located a 17-year-old boy lying in the street with a gunshot wound to the neck.
Emergency lifesaving measures were rendered and the Zion Fire and Rescue Department was called to the scene.
Paramedics transported the boy to a local hospital. Kehrli said the victim, who has a last known address out of Chicago, is in critical condition as of Monday.
The victim is not known to have any ties to the location he was found.
Several bullet casings were located in two separate areas in the 2300 and 2400 blocks of Joanna Avenue, Kehrli said.
A Lake and McHenry County Scanner photographer reported seeing over three dozen shell casings at the scene.
Kehrli said surveillance video from the area showed two groups of people exchanging gunfire with each other from approximately a block apart.
Both groups fled the area in vehicles, leaving behind the victim who was struck in the neck, Kehrli said.
Around 11 p.m. Sunday, just over a day after the first shooting, officers were dispatched again to the 2400 block of Joanna Avenue for a report of gunfire in the area.
Police located bullet casings in the roadway and quickly identified a house that sustained damage from multiple gunshots, Kehrli said.
Officers located a 17-year-old girl who suffered a gunshot wound to the foot inside the home, Kehrli said.
The girl was transported to a local hospital and has since been released after receiving treatment.
Kehrli said the two shootings are related and several people involved are known to have gang affiliations.
The incidents, which occurred near West Elementary School, remain under investigation by the Zion Police Department Street Crime Unit.