Dec. 17--A pregnant woman was shot at her home in Sauk Village on Wednesday afternoon, Sauk Village police Chief Robert Kowalski said Thursday.
The woman was taken to Stroger Hospital in Chicago, where her condition Thursday afternoon had been downgraded from serious to critical, said hospital spokeswoman Alex Normington, who could not provide information about the condition of the unborn baby.
Kowalski said one of three men standing outside the home in the 22400 block of Strassburg Avenue fired a shot through an exterior wall about 5:35 p.m., hitting the woman, who was behind the wall.
The woman was initially treated at Franciscan St. Margaret Mercy Hospital in Dyer, Ind., for what he called a "through-and-through" shot, Kowalski said. She was hit in the abdomen, "close to the hip," Kowalski said. She was transported to Stroger because of her pregnancy, he said.
Kowalski said a man came to the home alone seeking an individual who doesn't live there. As the owner was responding that he didn't know the individual, two other men joined the first man, Kowalski said.
Either the second or third, wielding a handgun, fired a shot into the exterior wall of the home, striking the woman. The three men immediately fled on foot.
The man who answered the door and a juvenile in the home were not injured, Kowalski said.
Kowalski said there have been no prior incidents at the home, and he had no additional information about the three men. He said a projectile recovered at the scene has been sent to the Illinois crime lab for analysis.
The home is less than two blocks south of an elementary school.
Dennis Sullivan is a freelance reporter.
