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Weekend shootings leave 6 injured in Champaign

CHAMPAIGN — Community leaders from the north side of Champaign are calling for an end to violence as police look for suspects after a series of weekend shootings injured six men.

A 19-year-old man was arrested in one of the shootings but had not been formally charged as of early Monday. Police said they were still looking for other suspects.

The four shootings took place Friday and Saturday in a handful of neighborhoods on the north side of town. Police aren’t sure if they’re linked and so far aren’t providing many details about the six victims or their conditions.

“From what we saw when they left the (crime scenes), everyone was alive and breathing,” Champaign police spokeswoman Rene Dunn told The News-Gazette. “Some appeared to be non-life-threatening. Others, we’re not sure because we’re not medical professionals.”

Lekevie Johnson is the pastor at Jericho Missionary Baptist Church, located near the locations of two of the shootings. He said some people in the neighborhoods where the shootings happened are now afraid to go outside their homes.

“Enough is enough. Enough is enough,” he said. “There is a reluctancy to even walk outside of your door. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

At a news conference Monday, others pleaded for peace, particularly with summer here and children out of school.

“You may be targeting one person, but far too often we know, innocent bystanders have the results of those bullets,” said Janice Mitchell, who is the parent-and-community liaison at the Urbana School District. Urbana is adjacent to Champaign and two of the shootings happened just a few blocks west of the town.

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