Eastern Illinois woman dies after being shot by child in car

TILTON, Ill. (AP) - An eastern Illinois woman died over the weekend after she was accidentally shot by a child who was riding in a car with her, police said.

Marita Hile, 64, died Sunday afternoon at a Danville hospital about an hour after she was shot and her vehicle crashed into a gas station's sign in Tilton, said Capt. Mike Hartshorn of the Vermilion County Sheriff's Office.

Hartshorn said witnesses who saw the crash and ran to help found the Westville woman mortally wounded.

Hile and the child were the only people in the car and she was shot by the youngster, who was in the back seat with a handgun, The News-Gazette reported.

Hartshorn declined to say what the child's relationship is to Hile, the child's age or how the youngster may have gotten the gun. The case remains under investigation.