Sterling police: Teen in stolen vehicle accidentally shoots self with stolen gun, driver flees

STERLING – A chain of events that police say involved an accidental shooting, a fleeing vehicle abandoned at a Sterling school and the discovery of a gun thought to be stolen from Iowa, led Sterling police to issue a statement that no students or police officers were injured in the overnight events.

It all started at 2:55 a.m. Tuesday, when Sterling police received a 911 call about a person who had been shot. That person was said to be at a residence in the 500 block of Third Avenue, Sterling, according to a news release issued by Sterling Deputy Police Chief Pat Bartel.

He said officers responded to the residence and as they arrived, a vehicle fled the residence. Believing this vehicle was possibly involved in the shooting, Sterling police officers attempted to stop the vehicle. Bartel said that during the pursuit, the suspect vehicle, which was reported stolen on Monday, struck a fence at Sterling High School, causing minor damage.

Bartel said the brief pursuit ended when the suspect abandoned the vehicle near East Lefevre Road and 11th Avenue, in the Jefferson School parking lot. Bartel said the suspect fled on foot; the suspect was not located after a K9 track was completed.

Meanwhile, as the pursuit was occurring, other Sterling officers found a 17-year-old male who had been shot in the leg at the residence in the 500 block Third Avenue, from where the original call was received, Bartel said.

The juvenile told officers he was shot at a Rock Falls location, Bartel said. He was taken by CGH ambulance to CGH Medical Center in Sterling and later flown to Javon Bae Hospital in Rockford, where he remains. Bartel said the male’s injury is not considered life-threatening.

Then, shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday, Sterling police received information of the discovery of a gun in the road near Fifth Avenue and East 14th Street in Sterling. This gun was recovered and found to have been stolen from Clinton, Iowa, Bartel said.

Preliminary investigative information indicates the male juvenile accidentally discharged the stolen gun in the area it was recovered and struck himself in the leg, Bartel said. It is believed the male juvenile was with another subject and traveling in the stolen vehicle prior to and after the self-inflicted gunshot. The male then went to the residence in the 500 block of Third Avenue, Bartel said.

Bartel said that contrary to social media posts, there were no shooting incidents that occurred on Sterling Public School property or involved Sterling police officers. Sterling Public Schools’ only connection to the incidents occurred when the district’s property was struck and the stolen vehicle was abandoned in a school parking lot, Bartel said.

Class schedules were not affected Tuesday, Bartel said, adding that Sterling police and Sterling Public Schools’ administration communicated about incidents from their onset.

The investigation continues, Bartel said.