A 7-year-old girl in Chicago was injured while attending a family Christmas get-together when someone opened fire from the sidewalk into her house Wednesday.

The incident happened before 3:00 a.m. EST at the 3500 block of South Washtenaw in Brighton Park, Chicago. Paramedics rushed the child to Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, where she was listed in critical condition.

Police believe the gunman was targetting a 38-year-old man with a criminal record and it was not immediately clear on what purpose he visited the area. The man also sustained gunshots to his leg and was taken to a hospital the same morning.

The identity of the girl or details about the suspect were not revealed.

The girl was in the living room watching television when a stray bullet flew through the window of the home, penetrated through the couch and hit her.

"The little girl should have been waking up to opening up presents, instead of waking up in a hospital," Andrew Holmes, an anti-violence activist, told WFLD-TV.

Chicago Police Department detectives were investigating the case and no one was taken into custody.

The girl was recovering, George Cardenas, an alderman of the city of Chigaco, told the Chicago Tribune.

One day before the incident, a 31-year-old man, identified as Michael Dumas, was shot in North Lotus Avenue, Chicago. He was standing at the sidewalk and talking with a 52-year-old man on Christmas Eve when two male suspects approached him and drew firearms. They fired at them, striking Dumas multiple times, and hitting the other man in the leg. Both of them were rushed to Stroger Hospital.

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Several bullets are pictured on a table. Pixabay
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