Wauconda woman recalls shooting

At first, Margaret Wilkosz didn't realize she'd been shot.

"It was like a bug that hit my skin," the Wauconda resident recalled Thursday. "Then (there was) the pain."

Wilkosz, 44, was shot in the right leg July 7 while walking with her husband and 10-year-old son near her home. Based on the bullet's speed and relatively minimal damage, police believe the single shot may have been fired from a rifle at least a mile away.

It was not the work of a sniper or someone targeting Wilkosz or her family, police said.

"It's a fluke thing," Wauconda police Sgt. John Thibault said.

Wilkosz was walking with her family about 8:30 p.m. on Roxbury Lane near Sutton Circle when she was shot. She heard a whooshing sound, not a gunshot, and then felt the pain, she said.

No one else was hurt.

Because the wound wasn't severe, the paramedics who treated Wilkosz on the scene thought she had be shot by a pellet gun, police said.

She learned the truth after going to Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital near Barrington that night. An X-ray showed the bullet embedded in a leg bone.

A doctor suggested Wilkosz leave the bullet in place, but that didn't sit well with her.

"I cried a little bit," she said. "I didn't want to be left with a bullet in my body."

An orthopedic surgeon removed the bullet a week ago. A removable cast now protects her leg.

Police have the bullet and are examining it for potential evidence, Thibault said.

The pain has diminished, as has her anguish about the moment.

"I do feel lucky because I might have been killed, or my son or my husband," she said.

Police believe the shot may have been fired by someone on a farm in the area.

Anyone who has information about the shooting should call police at (847) 526-2421. Nearby residents who have discovered unexplained bullet damage at their homes should call police too, Thibault said.

Wilkosz hopes publicizing her injury will prompt whoever fired the errant shot to be more careful when using a firearm.

"I want to prevent ... a tragedy," she said. "Whoever is doing it has to stop."