Girl shot on I-80
JOLIET -- A 13-year-old girl paid dearly for her father's wild behavior early Sunday.
State police said the teen was shot when Ernesto C. Reyes , 41, was apparently putting away a gun he'd just fired into the air on Interstate 80.
Sgt. John Rattigan said the incident occurred at 1:34 a.m. as the vehicle was westbound near the Richards Street exit.
"He was a passenger in the backseat and had fired the weapon out the window just prior to the shooting," he said.
Reports say one round discharged and struck the girl, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, in the neck.
The victim was taken to Silver Cross Hospital. Her condition was unknown Sunday afternoon.
Reyes, of 919 Westwood Ave., was arrested and booked into the county jail on a charge of reckless discharge of a firearm. It was not known if he has a valid firearm owner's identification card.
