El Cajon Shootout Leaves Three Wounded, Manhunt Underway for Suspect

A manhunt was under way Tuesday for a gunman who wounded three people in El Cajon, including a 7-year-old girl who suffered a slight injury when she was hit by a bullet meant for someone else, police said.

Officers responding to reports of gunfire rushed to the area of Graves and East Madison avenues around 7:30 p.m. yesterday and found the three victims -- the girl and the two men who apparently were targeted. All three were suffering from non-life threatening gunshot wounds, said El Cajon Police Department Lt. Mike Moulton.

One of the wounded men was found in the 100 block of East Madison Avenue and the second, in the 400 block of Ballantyne Street, Moulton said. Both had been shot near the intersection of Graves and East Madison, then ran off, he said.

The girl was found in the 500 block of Graves Avenue, Moulton said.

Beth Kell, a nurse who lives nearby and ran to the scene after some six shots rang out, told U-T San Diego that the child was with her mother and the woman's boyfriend and had been getting in or out of a car when she was hit in the back.

The girl, who was unrelated to the intended victims, was taken to a hospital and admitted overnight for observation, Moulton said, adding: "It was not a serious wound."

The El Cajon Police Department reported on its website that it is seeking a black or Hispanic man who is 5 feet 10, 170 pounds, possibly wearing a black hoodie and considered armed and dangerous.

-City News Service