(CHAMPAIGN) Authorities say five people were shot, one of them fatally, in two separate overnight shootings within minutes of each other in the eastern Illinois city of Champaign.
Police say in a news release that they believe the two shootings may be related. They say the first apparently stemmed from an argument at an apartment party shortly after midnight. It escalated into a fight outside in which shots were fired, striking four people.
One of the four, George Korchev of Mundelein, was killed. Police say he wasn’t involved in the fight and happened to be walking by when the shots were fired. The other three were taken to a hospital for treatment of what police called non-critical gunshot wounds.
Less than half an hour later, police received a report of another shooting. Officers found a victim, who was taken to a hospital and treated for a non-critical wound.
Police are searching for a suspect or suspects in the shootings and for the driver of a vehicle that struck someone who was running away from the gunfire at the first scene. That person’s injuries were minor.
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