Girl, 11, hit by bullet in shootout

Monday, Nov. 25, 2002 | 9:54 a.m.

A fist fight ended with gunshots Sunday afternoon, leaving one innocent bystander, an 11-year-old girl, with a bullet wound in her hip, Metro Police said.

"She was just outside playing," Lt. Richard Collins said, adding that many children were doing the same when the shots were fired near the intersection of Lamb Boulevard and Bonanza Road.

The injured girl was taken to University Medical Center, where she was treated and released later Sunday night, a hospital spokesman said.

The shooting happened around 3:40 p.m. in the apartment-lined cul de sac Triest Court. Sunday night police were searching for three men in a blue, four-door sport utility vehicle that left the scene, Collins said.

Police don't know the exact cause of the shooting, but "it had something to do with the fight," Collins said.

Martin Thomas, who lives in the same building as the injured girl, said he first heard a lot of yelling, and then heard four or five gunshots.

"I saw enough and heard enough to know I don't want to live here anymore," he said. "It's crazy stuff what happened today."