CHAMPAIGN, IL (Chambana Today) — Champaign Police are asking for the public’s help after two people arrived at a local emergency room in the early morning hours of Saturday, May 31, each with gunshot wounds. The incidents are being investigated separately, as police have no indication the two are connected.
The first incident occurred at 1:54 a.m., when a 17-year-old male arrived at an area hospital by personal transport with a potentially life-threatening gunshot wound to the abdomen. He told officers he had been walking in the 2000 block of Moreland Boulevard when he was struck by gunfire. He remains hospitalized in stable condition.
The second incident was reported at 5:32 a.m., when a 36-year-old man walked into the same emergency department with a head injury. He initially told medical personnel the injury was sports-related and had occurred in the Garden Hills neighborhood, but staff quickly determined it was a gunshot wound. The man provided no further information about the incident and also remains hospitalized in stable condition.
In both cases, police say available information is extremely limited. Officers have been unable to locate crime scenes or evidence of gunfire near either of the locations described by the victims, leaving investigators uncertain about exactly where the incidents took place or whether they occurred within Champaign city limits at all. No arrests have been made in either case.
Police are asking residents, businesses, and anyone with knowledge of either incident to come forward. Investigators are particularly seeking witnesses and surveillance video that may help establish what happened.
Anyone with information is asked to call Champaign Police at 217-351-4545. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers by phone at 217-373-8477, online at 373tips.com, or through the P3 Tips mobile app. Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $2,500 for tips leading to an arrest in a felony crime involving a firearm.
All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.